The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

 I have been unpacking and evaluating the supplies I brought with me to Italy and wanted to do a short recap. I brought both urban sketching supplies, including a fantastic three (!) sketchbooks, two of which are accordion and one large normal hahnemühle watercolor sketchbook, two small tins with watercolor paints and postcards with a variety of pens, pencils, and fineliner, and acrylic painting supplies including two different sizes of canvas board, a table easel, and my favorite paint colors (which ended up being about 12 large tubes and 8 small ones). This is only the second trip I have done where I brought art supplies with me. Last time I only brought actual painting things and not sketching supplies whatever. Obviously, I ended up doing a lot more sketching this time as a result.
   Of the canvas boards, I brought this time I only used five. I would probably have used more had we stayed the entire amount of time planned in Caorle but we left a few days earlier than planned. I also used a more limited palette of paint than I had available to me. One of the colors I did not bring was a light blue such as Königs Blau. Although I was able to mix for the sky I did miss having it.
   How much art can an artist do while on a family vacation? Well, not as much as they would probably like to have done. I was able to do quite a bit of urban sketching while out and about in pencil but am still inking them at home.

 I also filled one of the accordion sketchbooks with drawings made at the agriturismo itself.

    Setting up my easel on the table in our room meant that we had to be creative about where we ate. We ate with friends, alla Famiglia, or outside at the outdoor tables, or the children were allowed to watch television while eating- their favorite, obviously. Somehow we worked around the 'painting station' but I still didn't get as much painting done as I would have liked. I did four paintings at the easel and two en plein air. Those were just fun and quick but pleasant to paint. 

   In terms of postcards, I used a whole deck of them and am really glad I brought so many of them. I have already posted several to Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahloeckerart/and once the rest have been inked I will be posting them as well.

   

   Of course, the benefit of not getting as much done as planned is that I still have plenty of supplies left over. Can't wait to get a few more paintings done post-vacation.

 Do you do art on vacation? Or practise your hobby on holiday? How do you capture memories while you travel? Leave me a comment.

 

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