Ah, Italia! (x-post)
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Bartc
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Didn't dislike it, Ayin, just wasn't taken with it. Too busy for my taste at that moment. Certainly easy to get around, had its share of history on view, nice folks, terrific shopping if you were into it (I'm not.) Was prepared for a wonderful foodie time, but found myself quite disappointed in the supposedly great local specialties by comparison with many other towns. The day trip to Ravenna was much more to my liking and I would return there.I really like Bologna. So many wonderful towns in the north!
Absolutely LOVED Perugia! We'd been through Umbria at other times but somehow never stopped at Perugia. What a lovely old city in a lovely position. Art and culture events, architecture, and terrific food! Great central spot for side trips by car if you have one, although train connections to smaller towns were kind of sketchy.
Florence is always worth a stopover for me, though I've taken it in so many times that it's not a big one. Too busy and crowded. Great central spot for exploring all over and for this trip it helped break a very long train trip. I prefer Siena or Lucca or Orvieto, BTW.
Cinqueterre is old home to us. Also a good base for train side trips and certainly great for hiking if you're hearty enough.
Milan we use only as a fly in and out base. Been there enough times and never particularly impressed.
Artyczar
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I hear you on all of that. The little towns are more impressive, I agree. Other than the art, I kinda hate Florence and once I was mugged there. Not impressed with Milano either. I liked Verona (I am probably not spelling these towns correctly), and a little place outside of Venice: San Dona di Piave. My hub is Modena and the Treviso area. I loved Castelfranco too, and little towns up in the mountains/alps. They are so small they were hardly on the maps (near Trento).
Joy
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I don't know how I could have missed these gems. Props to you for doing this on your holiday. The buildings are wonderfully rendered, with just the right amount of color. In 1981, I visited several cities in Italy. Thanks for including the pic of you there! I just started using a bit of ink to do some drawings, and these are intimidating and inspirational. What pen/paper do you prefer?
Bartc
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Joy, please not intimidating! They are done out of sublime pleasure and are not work for me. I would hope you would find doing such little ditties a "joy", not a "job".
Frankly, any pen/aquarelle or paper will do in a pinch. I've done them on someone's heavy business card when pressed with whatever instrument is at hand. But my kit and current preference is for a very small Kuretake brush pen (I originally learned to paint with sumi-e techniques ages ago) and cold-pressed watercolor pads or blocks of at least 140lb. weight. Some pads expensive like Arches and some cheap like Canson, but they all work fine for this technique. My ancient kit includes a Cottman watercolor pocket/field box that I refill with pro grade W&N watercolors. That's what these were done with, except that the pen is a simple Micron.
My fanny pack travel kit contains 6 media: transparent watercolor, gouache, watercolor pencil, various inks, Inktense pencils and Ceracolors. I've done these with 4 or 5 media mixed on other trips, but honestly, just the ink and watercolor do me fine almost always.
I wouldn't want to travel anywhere - even on business - without the opportunity to do these. More recently went to Portland for a family wedding. All I needed was 25 minutes in front of Multnomah Falls or while waiting for food in a restaurant at Cannon Beach to capture a feeling. People always come and watch me paint and many ask to photo me doing it, which I do not mind as long as they leave me alone for the few minutes it takes. These mementos make the best souvenirs!
Joy
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Bart - Thanks for the erudite response! You obviously have outstanding observational skills that are readily transferred to the page. My works are painfully slow, but that will improve with practice. Your contributions to this forum and assistance to others is greatly appreciated.
Joy
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Q: How many artists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Ten. One to change the bulb and nine to tell him it looks good!
Kyle Martin
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Awesome post! I carried my easel and painted on the Cinque Terre path many years ago, and you have done a nice job to capture these places!
