BOLOGNA BOUND

Earlier this week I posted about a trip to Italy that I have been thinking about and planning for several months. Well...since then I have "bitten the bullet" and committed myself to an apartment for the month of May and booked a flight from Paducah to Bologna. After serious thought I decided to make it a round trip ticket.

As I mentioned previously, my goal it to seek inspiration and gather new reference material for future paintings and I plan to get out into the countryside with my camera. But what I am most excited about is the opportunity to do a lot of sketching in the city, streetscapes, architecural, and the general busyness of the city shops and storefronts. In the earliest years of my art I did a great deal of on the spot drawing, but once I discovered the comfort of studio art and my goals and interests shifted, I abandoned the spontaneous street drawings. The camera became my best friend and kept me out of inclement weather. I am hoping to get back to my roots and re-discover the joy and excitement of drawing the city...first hand.

The 2 drawings here were done in the mid 70s, when I walked out of an oncology review course in Boston after the first hour and spent the next 3 days walking all over Boston and Cambridge with a small sketch book and a trusted Parker 45 fountain pen (no longer available).