Naked Artist? Painting when the luggage goes astray.......

All packed and ready to go!  Here I am at the orlando airport ready to begin my painting trip to Italy.  Minimal clothes and painting supplies are in my backpack...take a good look and let me know if you see it anywhere....it has not yet joined me in either Naples or the island of Procida.  Depending on who I speak to it is either still in Atlanta, visiting Paris or somewhere on the island.  Who knows....burning daylight so Kelly and I decide to get with the painting!

After several days in Naples (where I picked up a few necessities) we took the ferry to the island of Procida.  Thank goodness I had thrown my travel watercolor set into my purse before leaving Florida.  It was not what I came to do but I decided If I had to draw on paper towels, darn it, I would not leave without some art making under my belt.

Procida has gorgeous scenery all over the island.  Since it it small and built on a very steep hill, we could find great views all over.  This is from an evening scouting trip before dinner down at the port.

Here's Kelly from our apartment roof top painting a scene of Mount Vesuvius.  Didn't take me long to climb up and join her for an early morning warm up session.

Really, who is worried about lost luggage with a view like this?

A few warm up sketches and I was ready for a little lunch and a new venue.  We caught a bus (it seems there are two: one up and one down) and headed down to the waterfront where the ferries come in and the fishermen still head out for work.  One story regarding the brightly colored houses on the island is that it made it easy to the fishermen to spot their own home when coming back from sea.  

And I think you could easily pick out most any home you were looking for from the shoreline.

I learned something very important here, sounds obvious but...the boats do not stay still!  Most boats I have rendered have been from photos and it makes it fairly easy to line up landmarks and get a decent drawing.  I had forgotten that the water spins these beautiful subjects around and thus every time I looked up my hull had moved or the lines had tightened....something to make it exceptionally difficult!

I was not far from a gelato stand so when kelly announced she had scouted a new view I was all too eager to get a sweet and move along!

Here's my last scene of the day.  Not having earned my stripes as a "real plein air painter," I like to think of these sketches as studies for larger work to be done in the studio.  Just drawing it several times is a wonderful way to work out the composition as well as get familiar with the shapes.

By the time we found a little outdoor cafe for wine time the sun was dropping so this is a dark photo.  There is a lot wrong with this piece....but there is also a lot right.  Both lists will be enormously helpful when it comes time to review my photos and my sketches and turn this into a larger oil painting. 

Can't wait to get out tomorrow, there is always the excitement of trying something new and making new discoveries artistically, as well as uncovering some new, breathtaking scene.  Kelly has been amazingly patient in having to translate menus etc but has also provided some memorable art discussions and laughs: all part of the sport of plein air work.  Gotta get some shut eye-- we plan to get on the road early tomorrow, and who knows maybe, just maybe, my luggage will arrive and I will have my oil paints back in hand.  Ciao, ciao!

Cindy