Monthly Archives: December 2019

Look Out

“Look Out” – a drawing in Neocolor 2 and coloured pencils. December 2019.

I don’t fall in love with Rome until there is a thunderstorm.

We are exploring Palatine Hill, the two of us huddled under one umbrella.  As we reach a magnificent lookout, the deluge ceases.  Rome, freshly washed, is before us under a dramatic thunder-sky.

As usual I am exclaiming loudly in my excitement.

A yellow legged gull swoops up from below and places himself right there.  (Some people are scared by these enormous gulls – LOOK OUT!)  But I think they are beautiful.

As we regard one another while he poses this way and that, a plan for a drawing is hatched.

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A technical note:

Neocolor 2 colour mapped onto the paper, ready to be layered over with coloured pencils.

A light Neocolor 2 underlay makes a welcome base for coloured pencil work, adding soft richness to the drawing.  Only the sharply focused seagull is 100% pencil without Neocolor undercoat.

Fixpencil 0012 by Caran d’Ache fits Neocolor and coloured pencils.

Eventide

“Eventide”     Neocolor 2 and coloured pencils. 34.5 x 42.5 cm. December 2019.

Here we are, our first evening in Venice.  We emerge from a labyrinth of claustrophobic lanes to the grand  promenade of Molo.  Before us is a floating world which takes our breath away.

Love at first sight.

“Eventide” is from that moment of euphoric discovery.

Resting gondolas bob on the high tide, San Giorgio Maggiore perches erect in the distance.  Elements of Venice are juxtaposed and all is enveloped in blue.

It is November 2nd.  All Souls Day.

(June 2021:  “Eventide” is now in the permanent collection of St John of God Hospital, Perth, Western Australia)

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I have made three drawings from the evening of 2 November 2018 (All Souls Day).  They are …

“Deep in Castello” – one of the paths taken on our walk towards Molo.

“Eventide” – as described above.

“A Room with a View”  – the view from a window of our Cannaregio apartment.

Love at first night.