A SKETCHING DATE IN THE MOUNTAINS

⎨A sketching date in the mountains⎬

Hi sketching friends!

This is a more detailed chronicle of one of my sketching dates in the mountains, on Lake Como, during the month of May.

I decided to go purposefully to sketch the mountains covered with thousands of ranunculus, that made my heart explode with JOY!

I brought along with me a new sketchbook, perfect to sketch landscapes. 

Actually, I tend to prefer landscape oriented sketchbooks instead of portrait oriented ones. And it proved to be the perfect choice, since I was able to capture both the yellow meadow and the lake and mountains!

There were a lot of other wildflowers blooming, so I wanted to capture them in my sketchbook as well. I actually did paint these very, very fast, since it was too hot and I was very tired, and needed to finish and pack all my stuff to go home.

I like to always experiment and come up with techniques that allow me to sketch and paint very fast, and therefore stay on top of my sketchbook journaling (I share all of them in my workshops, see at the end of this post).

For both my spreads, I used watercolors and neocolors (watersoluble wax pastels by Caran D'Ache), and I had the time of my life! :)

I also had a very lovely picnic in the shade of a generous tree that protected me from the very bright light and hot Italian sun all day long.

I decided right then and there that I needed to find a larger hat to protect me from the sun (which I have bought, now that I'm typing this post in mid July).

It was so hot that the neocolors were melting in my hands!

And here's my smile while resting in the shade, before walking back to the car and eventually, drive home.

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If you want to virtually come to sketch with me this Summer, and even make your own sketchbooks, you may like my plein air sketching dates and vlogs on Substack, and my online workshops:

"Nature Sketchbook"

"Sketching a Rose Garden"

"Expressive Bouquets"

"Make Your Sketchbook"

See you soon!

Monica xoxo