True Vines

True Vines with illustrations by Sue Pownall.

Today, I received my copy of True Vines by Diana Strinati Baur and published by Gemelli Press. I love how my illustrations have been used. I originally posted the cover illustration for this novel on my blog here back in October, just before publication.

This novel by Diana is beautifully written and hard to put down. I recommend you get a copy now.

True Vines is available in soft copy, kindle & nook from Amazon (uk, com, de...) and direct from gemellipress.com

On the cover

Earlier in the year I was approached by Diana Strinati Baur to illustrate the book cover of her forthcoming novel True Vines. This was the secret project I mentioned on my facebook page back in March. It is due to be published in paperback and eformats on the 1st November by Gemelli Press.

Here is my original illustration and how it was used for the cover.

It's summertime

and this nomad is wandering.

The map shows my key stops, although the majority of the summer will be spent in Barcelona.

I'm off tomorrow morning!

I'm not sure how much time or opportunity I will get to post whilst I am away, but please pop by in case I do. (Saturday is WorldWide SketchCrawl #36, so I will definitely be sketching)

Also, I'm not sure if I'll be able to  visit your blogs, so I apologise if I miss anything.

I'm back in Muscat 23rd August.

Have a good summer everyone.

Colourful Calabria & Campania

I have just returned from 2 weeks in southern Italy and judging by the number of watercolours, it appears I wanted some colour in my life. Top is the morning view from my lounge: the light on the greenery was just perfect and cried out to be painted.

1: hanging 2: tucked between tiles & poles 3: top of wall by window

Hopefully, the roof over the future study/studio/second bedroom is being replaced next month, so I did a few sketches of the bones that currently abode there.

Then back to colour with a watercolour of the church on the hill, which overlooks the road into the village, shortly before a storm. The pre-drawing was hopeless, badly out of scale and the perspective is wrong - I could only see a small part of the roof, and I only just had enough paper on the left. Even so I like the finished result.

The blobs on the roof are large boulders to keep it secure in a wind.

I'm not a beach lover, and alone it is tedium itself, so I sat under the brolly and sketched the centro storico of Scalea stretching up behind the beach.

Colour added with brush pen, as this is the dreaded watercolour-resistant moleskin.

More colour, painted whilst sat on the kitchen steps of the evening light hitting the rooftops.

On my way to Naples airport in December I broke the journey in Roman Pompeii, this time I stopped at the fabulous Ancient Greek site of Paestum. Where, with limited time, and feeling very self-conscious, I painted the temple of Ceres or Athena (500BC).

A bit of history:

Paestum, or Poseidonia as it was originally known, was founded by Greeks from Sybaris in the 6th century BC. The Greeks built three great temples - the first dedicated to Hera and two more of uncertain dedications - between about 550 and 450 BC.

The city was colonized by the Romans in 273 BC, who Latinised its name to Paestum Christians and added the usual Roman infrastructure of roads, forum and theatres. moved in around the 5th century AD, converting at least one temple into a church and building a new church nearby.

By the 9th century AD, the land had become swampy and a combination of malaria and Saracen raids had decimated the population. The city and its great temples were abandoned and gradually overtaken by the forest, where it remained hidden until its discovery in the 18th century during the building of a road. Source: Sacred Destinations

The proof I drew on site!

 That brings me up to date and back in England again.

Chiesa di san Vittore, Pollenza

 

Heading south of Piemonte for the town of Acqui Terme, the tower of this church in Pollenza caught my eye from the road. Turning off I snapped some photos then couldn't resist trying to capture this arch.

 

  
It's still cold in the region, so I sketched in the car. Left is the initial ink sketch, then right is me painting on my lap.

I was on my way to visit my friend Diana of Baur B&B. She runs a beautiful boutique B&B with her husband, near Acqui Terme. The views are stunning as are the fabulous rooms. Check out their website, and I would thoroughly recommend staying with them to explore the area. 

What's more, Diana creates fabulous ceramics, so check out her online shop here.

A better result... Laziness 0 - Drawing 2

On Sunday, after I had published the post  Laziness 2 - drawing  0 I received a challenge from Stephen Gardner, an Urban Sketcher correspondent, and who has the great blog  Sketch of the day. He said:

Oh boy do I know all about this. ...
I'll get past the laziness if you will, next time I check back I'll expect to see a drawing of an orange.

For Stephen, here it is. The oranges were bashed, dented, and ill-shaped, anything but round, which is great as I can't draw circles, but taste Delicious!  

The orange drawing was done when I was home between students this morning. Afterwards, I headed back to work and I arrived 20 mins. early for the next appointment. The sun was shining, it was almost warm, I had time to kill, so I sat in the bus stop and started to draw the factory. Unfortunately, the time sped passed and this was all got done.
However, that is 2 drawings during a weekday, plus the Rick Tulka quickie sketch last night. Roll on Saturday's SketchCrawl #26. (I'll be in Calabria if anyone wants to join me sketching).

Sketching inside and out

Yesterday, it rained and rained and rained. I had a couple of hours to kill so went to the mall at Lingotto. Whilst there I was fascinated to watch the people sitting around. It was not the most successful sketching session: I couldn't sketch very much as I was eating a huge piece of carrot cake, which was too delicious to stop and draw; the 1st man, in the cap, moved his chair to a new position; the 2nd took off his hat; the lady reading a menu decided; and finally the young lady decided to get "friendly" with her boyfriend - too much to watch.

In contrast, today it was a lovely day here in Turin. It was even warm enough for me to sit and do a quick sketch of a band playing in the Piazza Vittorio Veneto as part of a demonstration against something. After 5 minutes, I stopped as my fingers had started to freeze and coincidentally the band stopped playing. The word of Urban Sketchers must be spreading because an Italian student asked me if I was a journalist, and checked out the very rough sketch posted above.

Two more sketches

I was drawing this whilst watching a tv series. Drawing directly in ink, it was only after I'd committed myself did I realise the coat hooks were too wide apart and the angles are wrongs. I really must concentrate on the initial drawing more.

 This one is from Friday, when I was waiting outside Stefano's office. I added colour this evening.

I seem to be having a spell of  doing colour work at the moment. I have worked on the flowers from my Valentine post some more, but I stll can't get the tonal balance right so have abandoned it.

RAI Nuovamusica

I find going to a concert alone a bit daunting, but it was great for sketching, especially as the light in the auditorium wasn't too bad.

First off, in the bar with my pre-concert glass of red wine, these brothers came in and leaned casually over some coffees. I find the fashion of wearing trousers very low-slung strange as it makes the wearer appear to have very short legs. Worse, my drawing looks out of proportion.

Next, in the auditorium I drew some of the instruments whilst waiting for the concert to start. I liked the double bass lying at the front of the stage, and was fascinated as he played.

The conductor was not still throughout any of the pieces, so I recorded my impression of him.

 The second piece was played by four percussionists each with a xylophone plus drums, cymbals, whistles and other things. I started drawing the guy on the right face on, then he never stood that way again, which is why it looks like there were 5 musicians, plus the manic conductor.

 

 Along with my fascination with the bass player, I attempted to draw the lead cello too.

I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and I am quite pleased with my sketches too. 

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment please.

Procrastination

After procrastinating by reading and viewing art blogs I finally sat down to sketch this succulent in the flat. I've found it's easy to be lazy and to sit at the computer as it's set up next to a radiator. If I draw, I have to move away from it. brrr. I normally find drawing relaxing and it can normally take me away from problems with the concentration & enjoyment of creating something. However, the situation at work made it too difficult for me to concentrate on the plant, and I gave up very quickly.

Frustrated with myself, I sat down to blog the "sketch" and looked at the view from the radiator out of the window. I picked up my sketchbook again...

but as the crane was moving a lot I feel I failed to capture the foreshortening well. The sketch seems very grey and flat. The only part I really like is the stripy curtains. Ho hum. Tomorrow's another day, another opportunity to draw.

Cobbled streets

...make it difficult to sketch on buses. However, today I was brave enough to take my gloves off, albeit briefly, and did a sketch on my way to work lunchtime.

Then again on the way back, concentrating on people's hats, as everyone is wrapped up tightly against the cold.

Due to the cobbles I tried to make the strongest lines when at the bus stops, but was not always successful.

A winter industrial view.

 

My new apartment in Turin has a view of the mountains, over the rooftops of several factories. In my view, I actually have two cranes, which are on the other side of the river, alongside a gas container. On the mountain tops are power and satellite pylons. What a difference from my mountain view in Muscat. At least today the sun was out, although it's not in my picture. 

Indoor Sketching

After Oman, Europe is COLD and sketching outside is impossible, at least for me. Combined with settling into a new city, in a new country, and a new job all at the same time, I have plenty of excuses not to draw, but I will!

During my first full week, I sketched the view from my temporary accommodation (I moved out today). This was the first time I had used a brush pen to add colour.

Whilst last Sunday I went to the Galleria Civica D'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GAM), where I sketched of an aluminium sculpture by the artist Marisa Merz. The New Year's resolution to concentrate on my preferred medium of pen & ink is, I think, off to a fairly good to start .

  Now, I am looking for some inspiration  for this week's IF theme, which is clumsy, and for which I have no ideas at all.

Life drawing class

For the first time in a very long time, on Monday morning I attended a drop-in life drawing class. I was quite pleased with the results, especially on the quick poses, but reverted to drawing "as-you-are-supposed-to" rather than like me for the final long pose :(    It was the first time I had drawn in pencil for a while too, and loved using the 5B for the strong bold strokes, at least until the end when I got all tight and precious about my drawing. Oh well, it was a learning experience.

Above are 2 of the drawings from the morning, the first a 20 minute pose and the bottom one a 35 minute pose, which I moved around to get the three viewpoints.

On the Friday before, after writing in Pompeii that it was to cold to draw outside here in Europe, it was a beautiful morning when I got to Napoli airport, so I stood outside sketching the smokers and phone users.  Then, whilst waiting to board, I drew the man with his laptop (Bottom right).

Too cold to sketch outside...

for longer than 5 mins. Today I took out my sketchbook for the first time this week; last time was in transit in Dubai International airport. Here is one of the three drawings; it's not my trolley.

This afternoon, I was in the archaeological site of Pompeii. Being December, Europe, and late afternoon, after 5 minutes sketching I had to stop and start walking as I felt my hands were going numb, consequently I only did two quick sketches. I think this photo captures the essence of the afternoon.

After walking around Pompeii for an hour and half I had to find a cafe for a warming hot chocolate. Here are my 2 five minute sketches, unfinished.

Here is one of my favourite photos - stepping stones over wheel ruts.

Finally, photos of the Christmas lights in Pompeii's main square.