These are two sketches I did on my most recent business trip to Italy. The market scene was done in Florence in my sketch notebook and the pot of pansies on a water color block in Sansepolcro, Italy. I think the marketplace sketch came out pretty fresh and the experience with line and water color encourages me to try more of that style and to experiment in some new directions.

The pansies was actually the second water color I did in the garden at Casa Buitoni. My first did not turn out so well and looks overworked, so I am not posting it. Both sketches are rather smallish, around 5x7".

Chexbres, Switzerland

These sketches were done last Sunday while I was in Chexbres, Switzerland. This is a small town on the hill above the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Vevey.

The small sketch was done out of my hotel room window as it was cold outside. It is pretty small ( actual image 5.5"x8") and took about 45 minutes counting time to let the paint dry. The larger sketch 9"X12" took around 1.5 hours. I found a great place at the end of a road in the vineyards, with a view towards the East end of the lake and the great mountains there. While I was painting, a few families were out walking and some stopped to see what I was doing. It was really a nice day and got warm in the afternoon.

I was fortunate to have been able to paint Sunday afternoon as the next day was rainy and windy all day long.

I'm going back to Switzerland and Italy next week and should be able to do a couple more water color sketches.