March 29th was the 18th World Wide Sketch Crawl & once again our small ensemble headed back in time to sketch another medieval hill town. This time we hopped across the border into Italy. I'd found this picture of Cerriana in a book of old photos by Jean Giletta & thought it looked really great to draw & it's only an hours drive from Nice, in the mountains above San Remo.
We rolled into town to find it deserted & populated entirely by 3-wheel Piaggio mini-vans. The streets of the old town are too narrow for cars so the residents use these to get around & transport heavy goods. This month's sketch-crawlers were Carlos, Emma, Francois-Xavier & myself.
We found a great spot over-looking the town & set to work.I warmed up with a sketch of F.X. drawing the old Roman church.
The architecture of the town is stunning with the ancient buildings somehow fused with the rock. There's an entire absence of town planning where houses have been built on top of each other at every angle!
I wanted to loosen up a little & went straight at the next one with diluted ink & a fat brush.
The locals were inquisitive & asked me why I was drawing the town-my Italian only extends to 'Bella, bellisima!' but they got the point.
An old lady with a hairy chin gave me a tour of the old Roman church, of which she was the guardian.
I ended the day with a drawing made from the same angle as the Giletta photograph.
Another fine sketchcrawl in glorious surroundings fine weather. Can't wait for the next one . . .
Everyones sketches from the day can be viwed here.
14 comments:
Looks like you had a great outing! All look great as usual, but the illustration done with the diluted ink and the fat brush is OUTSTANDING! Probably my new FAVORITE of yours! Brilliant. I'd love to see more like that.
Cheers.
ms
What a great idea for finding somewhere to sketch - and great sketches too!
Your diluted ink and fat brush painting is stunning. Naively, I always wonder how this can be achieved. Must be magic.
Absolutely fantastic, my favorite too is that one without outline. Top sketch.
carissimo mat.
These are exactly what i was imagining as i read your introduction. The one image I really love, is the 'loose' watercolour/fat brush.So evocative. It screams Italia!
love em' signore jonsione
these look great. I really like the loose one with just a brush
Damn--I guess I'm always fated to miss the Sketchcrawls by one day or so, every year. Grrrr.
Now that that beef is out of the way--may I say how inspired and humbled I am by your beautiful work here? Wow.
wow...you are a maestro!
Do you guys do ANY work over there?
These little villages are getting more and more remote-soon it'll be just you and a sheep in a hut. A bit like Wales.
I thoroughly enjoy your sketches-maybe more so without line work lately-hope you continue down that route!
Matt, your sketches are beautiful!! I really like the one with the old lady .
great sketches ..!
Superb, I love the fat brush one . What a wonderful trip.
That one in diluted ink & a fat brush ~wow! what a lovely piece.
Bellissimo!
Gorgeous vistas...
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