Exercise:A sketchbook of townscape drawings

It is safe to say that my first attempt at drawing in public in the crowded centre of Naples didn't go too well. It was, therefore, with great trepidation that I embarked on this next exercise. One thing that did help was getting myself onto the OCA sketchbooks group on Facebook. I posted a question about tips for overcoming anxiety when sketching in public. I got a lot of responses some of which were very useful. In particular the suggestion to use a smaller sketchbook as this draws less attention as people think you are writing rather than drawing (an you could just be writing tour shopping list for all they know). The other was to position myself with my back against a well. People like to look aver your shoulder but are less likely to come up in front of you and twiddle all the way round to see what you are drawing. Another suggestion that made me laugh (but I haven't had the courage to try) was to put a hat down with a few coins in it - then people will hurry past without even looking in your direction!

I decided to do my drawing more likely in some quieter backwater towns and village. I tried to time it when I estimated that there would be fewest people about. My first outing was on a cloudy afternoon at about lunchtime when any Italian worth his salt would be at home enjoying a large dinner. This tactic worked as I saw very few people. At my husband's suggestion I tried to draw the Giamei church (built by my husband's ancestor for his wife in a local village). It was difficult to get into a position on the steep narrow street to get a good composition but at least I'd taken the first steep of going out on my own to draw in public. I didn't really understand the instructions clearly about drawing in 10cm squares but I tried to do that. Some of my drawings ended up spilling over onto the rest of the page though.

Unfortunately, it soon started to rain and there wasn't a sheltered area that was convenient to draw from so I had to head home. In fact I found that it was better to go out several days in a row  to this local village (Cerreto Sannita) because I was free to return home after a short period of work if I was overcome by nerves.

On my second outing, I drew the cathedral at the bottom of the hill but found the composition wasn't very interesting as the only position  convenient to draw from was directly in front of the building. I managed less than an hour before I felt I was being scrutinised and went home.

Third time lucky! On my next vista to Cerreto I peeked round the corner from the main Viale into one of the side streets. There I saw a Vespa parked next to the doorway to someone's hose. The wall of the house was rough textured and the golden sunlight o the wall accentuated the texture. The steps up to the door were wide and somewhat overgrown and the door had an attractive iron grid work pattern across it. This scene looked so very typical of the local area and so very Italian that I felt that really did give a sense of place. I made some notes in my sketchbook and rough sketches of the texture of the wall as well as the Vespa (bright and shiny against the roughness of the wall) . I also took a few reference photos of this because I couldn't count on the vespa being there again if I returned.

I decided to use this as the motif for my larger, limited palette study. However I resolved to continue trying to draw townscapes in my sketchbook as I still wasn't comfortable with it. Below are some further examples. Some are drawn from life others from photos

Experimenting with a new watercolour pack. Steep street in
Cerreto Sannita with multicoloured houses and the last of
the geraniums on the balcony

View from my front doorstep

View from my front doorstep minus car

A very old and dilapidated barn adjacent to a neatly rendered
house. Quite a typical sight in these parts

Tonal study in charcoal of a side street and the rear view
of the Giamei Church

The main piazza in Cerreto Sannita. I was attracted by the
rectangular trees! Unfortunately I got the perspective on
the low stone walls wrong so they look sloped.

Larger study of the rear-view of the jelly-mould  Giamei church and side-street worked up in
soft pastel on A2 sand paper. I used my previous tonal study but also referred to
a photograph. I especially liked the colours of the buildings, the bright sunshine on the gable
ends and the colours of the buildings and sky reflected in the sky. The yellow and blue of the
tile on the jelly-mould roof reflect may of the colours in the rest of the piece.