Pen and Ink sketches of Italy

Italian Door Front and Windows
pen/ink and watercolor
by Jane McElvany Coonce

When you travel, sometimes it's hard to take all of your equipment with you.  For an oil painter, it's really difficult because you can't take mineral spirits on a plane which means you then have to find a store at your destination that sells it.

Traveling with pen and ink and watercolor is a good solution.  You can fit a small sketch pad in your purse, along with a permanent ink pen and a small travel watercolor set.  In a half hour, you can sketch a scene.  Later on, you can go over your pencil lines with a permanent ink pen.  Then you can put in the color and have a great sketch of the place you just visited.

This is a sketch of a doorway in Umbria.  The Italians have flower pots and flower boxes everywhere.  Home fronts are beautiful.  This was a beautiful door front in Todi, a darling town where many Americans live.

Storefronts
pen/ink and watercolor
by Jane McElvany Coonce

The other sketch is of a storefront in Amsterdam.  I couldn't resist the red awnings.  Traveling with a sketch book is a great way to capture the scenes of a trip without lugging a ton of equipment.