Quinto the traveling sketchbook update

I fully intended to be a more active blogger this summer. But seeing as it's July 23rd and this is my 2nd post since I arrived a month ago, that didn't go as planned.

Another thing that hasn't gone exactly as expected is Quinto. I still have soooo many pages left to fill and so little time to do so. I may have added too many pages without taking into account that I would essentially lose a week of sketching during the Bellissima Art Retreat. We shall see what I have to show for this summer come August 2nd. 

Here's a little peek at what I've been working on. Some pieces of Assisi, Perugia, Castiglion Fiorentino, Lucca and Florence. There's more photos on Instagram under the hashtag #QuintotheTravelingSketchbook

Our first Bellissima Art Retreat

Ciao friends! Sorry for the long silence, its been pretty crazy over in this corner of the world. Between meeting with potential location hosts, last minute preparations,and the ACTUAL retreat (which had REAL people!), it's no wonder that it has been nearly a month since my last blog post.

At the moment, I'm back in Lucca getting plans together for my last couple weeks in Italy. And also catching up on blog posts and newsletters, of course! I wanted to first give you guys a glimpse of the main purpose of this years Italy trip, our week long Bellissima Art Retreat in Florence.

Well...WE DID IT! Ah! The retreat ended almost a week ago and I still can't quite believe we did it. And it was wonderful! Our guests made some amazing art, spent a week in a gorgeous apartment in the heart of Florence, learned some Italian recipes our in the Chianti region, and feasted on two group dinners. It was amazing. And exhausting but so very worth it. We are already discussing plans for new retreats next year as well.

Here are a few little peeks of the adventures we had during our week in Florence. There are more over in Instagram under the hashtag #bellissimaartretreat2016 as well.

I Madonnari Chalk Festival

Over Memorial Day weekend, I participated in Santa Barbara Mission's annual festival, I Madonnari. It's a giant fundraiser to benefit the Children's Creative Project. Artists get sponsors for their giant squares in the parking lot of the Mission and have Saturday, Sunday and Monday to finish their piece! The sizes range from smaller than 6' square all the way up to 12'! 

The first time I did a square at I Madonnari was back in 2007 and again in 2008. But then in 2009, I studied abroad in Italy and nearly ever summer since I've been gone during Memorial Day weekend or missed the signup deadline! 

This year I was determined to actually make it into the festival, and also do a massively difficult giant piece. I decided to do an 8 ft by 8 ft square piece of my watercolor I did of the Duomo in Florence last year. A monster of a piece and a monster of a building! 

It was such a fun, long, messy and grueling weekend but I pulled it off! I was sharing the whole process on Instagram during the weekend and oddly enough the official Instagram account of the Duomo found my piece and liked it! A Duomo approved Duomo! 

Here's a peek at my I Madonnari weekend...

The most tedious part is getting the whole 8 foot beast grided and sketched out. I got to the Mission around 8:30 on Saturday morning and didn't finish this part until about 9:30. 

I think the part I'm most proud of is that dome! Ah! I still love it! It was pretty time consuming but so worth it to spend a little extra time to get the texture right on the tiles. 

The perspective was a bit of a doozy as well. SO MANY little green squares! I probably re-chalked this portion at least three times before starting to color it. 

The final piece! My sponsor, Tri County Court Reporters, sent over a photographer to get a nice overhead of the whole square which is really awesome to have. I'm much too short to take a photo like this on my own, even with the help of a step stool. 

This is probably my favorite photo of the whole weekend since it looks like I'm surfing on top of the Duomo. I went back on Monday for some last minute touch ups and my friend took this photo. 

Now the real problem is what piece to do next year! 

Quarto the traveling sketchbook: update II

Happy 4th of July! This past week has been pretty crazy. I headed back to Castiglion Fiorentino for just a couple days. I woke up just after 4 am Tuesday to take the 6:09 train in order to have a full day there. My friend Heather, who was in the same summer study abroad session as me, was waiting at the station on her way to Florence. Such perfect timing! 

I made the trek up the hill and headed straight to Santa Chiara to say hello. None of the ladies in the kitchen knew I was coming and it was so much fun to surprise all of them. I was able to eat lunch with all of them and spent the day cruising around town finding old friends. 

The UT Austin and Houston students also had their final exhibit that night at the center. It was a fantastic show! It's fun to see sketchbooks from current students and think back to the first sketches I made in that town 5 years ago. 

After dinner there was a band in the courtyard. It's the last week in Italy for all these students and it was great to see them having so much fun in this special space. Afterwards we went out to watch the USA vs Belgium soccer game. It was a very full day...

Wednesday my friend Veronica took me up into the Val di Chio to visit her friend and see her horses! I even got to ride one bareback for a bit. I caught up with a lot of friends that night too. 

Thursday my printmaking friend Rick and I went to Florence and sketched the Bargello and visited all our favorite art shops; Zecchis, Casa della Stilografica and the Fabriano shop. Afterwards, I caught the train back to Lucca and went home to fry up some stuffed zucchini blossoms! Oofah!  It was a pretty surreal couple of days but absolutely perfect. I was able to get a lot of sketches done too, and I've started collaging in Quarto. Here's a peek at the progress so far...

1. The infamous stairs that I spent many hours hauling crates of vegetables and water up during my internship. They're quite pretty when you're not struggling to carry stuff up them. Also I started easing my way back into collaging...
2. This is the sketch I started on after I made that Instagram photo I mentioned last post...
3. From my trip to Florence last week. I was able to visit Santa Croce and sketch it again! 
4. I've been playing around with different sketching techniques...color blocking and just quick lines then color. Pretty fun.
5. I've been trying to read La Testa degli Italiani...in Italian...these are my notes of words to look up, along with a watercolor from here in Lucca. 

6. Quick watercolor of the Anfiteatro in Lucca and some lists...
7. I woke up early one day and biked over to Piazza San Michele here in Lucca. The perfect spot for a cappuccino and a sketch before the tourists wake up!
8. Working on some new food related postcards. And the Loggia in Castiglion Fiorentino! 
9. The view from the courtyard at Santa Chiara in Castiglion Fiorentino. And the sweetest little chicken I met in the Val di Chio! 
10. Sketches from my horse adventure in Petreto in the Val di Chio. My favorite sculpture from the Bargello in Florence. 

The rest of the progress: Quarto update I

l'autunno...

These walls...this light...I swoon...

I have a confession...I cheated on Terzo today! *gasp* I'm still pretty shocked that I did...

So, an explanation... For some reason this morning, after an epic stormy night of rain, hail, insanely loud thunder, lightening and a power outage, I woke up wanting to make some watercolor postcards. The purpose of them being specifically to sell in my Etsy shop as originals (or on ShopLocket...I'm slowly exploring that avenue) since I won't dismantle Terzo and sell those pages off. Or at least to have a collection of smaller pieces that will be easier to make prints of. Not too bad of an idea...or so I thought...

I did my chores around the apartment then headed for the art store, purchased a block of Fabriano watercolor paper the size of postcards, then went straight for the Amphitheater. I did a quick one there before I felt bad about working outside of Terzo. I then relocated across town to make a watercolor in my fat beast to apologize for cheating on him. 

But then this afternoon, I went up on the walls (oh the walls!) to watercolor the fall leaves. This is probably my first time actually watercoloring a real Autumn. The color changes don't really happen in California, at least not to this degree. It's kind of scary how pretty the trees are right now. So, in the midst of painting another postcard, that at the beginning I had every intention of selling, I was paid probably the nicest complement I've ever received by the sweetest little Italian man who is a musician here in Lucca. And lone behold, by the time I was finished with the postcard, I was too in love with it to even think about selling it. Oops. 

I'm in LOVE with this postcard/moment...sigh...

I'm not sure how this project will go, especially if I get too attached to every piece to even consider selling them. If nothing else, it's more practice on a smaller scale. Here's the work from today, as well as Firenze work yesterday. I'll be making another trip to Castiglion Fiorentino tomorrow so I will likely not update until Monday or so. A dopo...

I fell in love with that little patch of light on the corner of that building tucked in the dark alley...

The dreaded Duomo facade! That I will never be able to call "finished"

The b/w on the left is my favorite sculpture under the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria.

bits & pieces...

Firenze date with Terzo...

Some bits and pieces lately via the instagrammy crack. It's getting redundant I'm sure, sorry most all posting lately is just Italy/food/sketching. I miss doing Friday Features and posting crafty stuff and alike. But as much as I want to do those things right now too, I just need to live here in Italy entirely for this short time. 

So, once the post-Italia blues fade away when I am stateside again I will bring back all those fun things. There will be some new stuff too! Thanks to Ann over at All Things Paper, I won a copy of a Pop-Up Cards book! Hooray! I never win things so I'm pretty stoked about this. It will be fun to make these for the holidays, and also have some new materials for teaching kiddos again. 

I'll post another sketchbook update in a couple days too. Florence was a success today! Terzo and I had a lovely day together, just the two of us. We were interrupted by a bit of shopping but we still had some quality time together. I made the mistake of deciding to sketch the facade of the Duomo. Big mistake. Don't get me wrong, I'm in love with the final sketch but hell...that thing is a PAIN to sketch. And the problem about the sketch is that I could potentially never call it finished, there are so many little details I'd love to include too but that thought is daunting. The Eiffel Tower was a cake walk in comparison...oh well, that's what I get for being too ambitious. 

Favorite photo from Lucca so far. The walls are the best spot for a serious game of chess.

Light magic on the walls...

New wheels! 

Sunset at the Arsenalle in Venice

Grand Canal, Venice

View out of our room in Venice

A park in Bologna

Tortelloni of the pros in Bologna

About to make the sfoglia for tortelloni

Spaghetti Carbonara