San Marco Basilica

I'm all over the place at the moment. Just recovering from that cold, I am jumping from one idea to the next without plan or reason (yes, I know, it's supposed to be rhyme or reason). I've only been sick for 5-6 days, but I feel I've missed out on so much and I really want to catch up and do, well, everything.

Back to the usual wake-up call - even if I live to 100, I will not get to do everything I want to do. That's the problem with being on the wrong side of 50, you look at life in terms of how much time's left. And that's scary. But then it makes me even more determined to live to 100, which, let's face it, is highly unlikely. Yes, there is longevity in my family, great-grandmother died at 92, grandmother at 89. But, despite my healthy living, I have a few medical conditions that will probably lead to complications as I get older. And I did smoke until the age of 28. Or was it 32?

Anyways. Lots to do. Lots more to do.

This one is an attempt at sketching San Marco's Basilica in watercolour only, no drawing, no measuring, no planning! I started with a negative-space rendition starting with the sky. That was a good way to draw all these domes without thinking about it too much. These large domes and turrets are tricky. But once I had a silhouette, all I had to do was work my way down that building, one feature at a time.

I know I should have added lots more people, and probably smaller people to give the sense of scale, but I got bored with it in the end!

Still, for a first time tackling this difficult subject, I was happy with how it went. I must remember this for the next time I go to Venice - it would be so fantastic to paint this from life!