Bellagio Trip Report

What a magnificent trip! Arrived home a couple of days ago, but the jet lag hit me a bit harder this time. Still not feeling entirely "on my game", but it was worth the spent energy to be sure! I thought I'd share some of my wonderful experiences about our trip here on the blog, since for me, travel is such a huge part of what inspires me as a painter.

We based ourselves in the village of Bellagio, which is a beautifully situated hillside lake town that looks out over the three arms of Lake Como. If you look at the lake from an ariel viewpoint, it's shape forms an inverted "Y". Bellagio sits right in the middle of that Y, and it is truly the jewel of the lake.

The only difficulty with staying in Bellagio, for us, was getting there without a car. Even with the super-efficient public transportation systems in Italy, there is no direct route to this town. If one has a car (and arguably a lot of nerve), one can drive along the very winding roads and into the village of Bellagio itself. But we opted to be without a car for this trip, since the ferry systems, once there, are excellent. Also the streets in the village are tiny; in some places barely fitting one car, side mirror to side mirror!

So our route was to fly into Malpensa airport (outside of Milan) and then to take the Malpensa express train, change in Saronno (the town famous only because they make the Saronno amaretto cookies) and then arrive in Como. From Como we then took the "rapido" ferry to Bellagio. Even with all of that we still ended up arriving in Bellagio fairly early- around 12:30 local time.

Our hotel pick was Hotel Belvedere, which is situated on a hill at the top of the village. I was initially worried about it being too high up and too far out of reach from the center, but Bellagio is so small that there was no reason for such worries. My only word of caution for those of you who do not pack light, is that Bellagio is a hill town and some of it's "streets" are actually long flights of stairs. In order to get to the hotel from the pier where you are delivered by ferry, you have to either get a cab or lug your luggage up these steep streets.

We opted for the lugging, as we only had two carry on bags and purse and backpack. This way of packing is new to me, and frankly it was a miracle compared to how I have traveled before. But with a week-long trip, it was totally do-able, and I was incredibly grateful on the train, ferry, and stairs!

We were rewarded for our climb with a lovely hotel and a room with a marvelous view and balcony. We both really loved having the balcony. I would get dressed in the morning and go out and sketch and paint, and then Dave would have his time to perform his morning routine before going down for breakfast.

...No, we weren't drinking wine before breakfast! This photo was taken in the early evening before dinner, which was actually the best time to paint because I was completely in the shade. There were a few interesting views from our balcony. This little watercolor sketch is a view looking out to the left side of our balcony, over a marvelous terraced landscape. It is small- 6x8", pen & ink/ watercolor:

To see my oil paintings of Lake Como and other places in Italy, visit my website here.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist plein air Italy travel

Leaving for Lake Como Today

Today is the day! We will be heading out shortly for a most beautiful Italian destination. I plan to do some painting while I am there, but since we are going to be going to a lot of different little lake towns, I've decided to carry a minimum supply of art materials. I'd love to bring oils when I can stay for a longer period, but this trip I will bring my travel watercolor set, similar to the one shown here, (except mine has alot more pull-out palette space). In addition to the pan colors, I'm bringing a small selection of Windsor & Newton professional grade artists' colors in tubes.

Other supplies:

• cotton rag
• small selection of brushes
• watercolor journal
• watercolor papers
• tape
• small painting board
• waterproof ink drawing pens
• pencils, HB graphite and softer
• eraser
• sketch pad

Almost all of these supplies, plus my camera can fit in my big black tote (the same I took on my last trip to Italy). I am having trouble uploading images to the blog today, but you can see the bag in this picture. I couldn't fit my folding stool in my carry-on luggage, so I will just have to wing it and hope I can paint in areas where I'll be able to have a seat somewhere.

No blogging while we're gone, but I plan to post some pictures when we return. Ci vediamo!

To see my oil paintings of Lake Como and other places in Italy, visit my website here.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist

Countdown to Lake Como

I have been so busy lately getting ready for the Atlanta art show and attending to some home and family matters that I find it hard to believe I will be in Italy in 3 days! On Saturday we will leave for a fabulous trip to visit the lovely hill towns of Lake Como. I will bring my paints and do my best to record my impressions of the splendor that will surround me.

Lake Como is the deepest lake in all of Italy. In terms of its expanse, however, it is the third largest, following Lakes Garda and Maggiore. The lake, framed by a ring of pre-alpine mountains, is blessed with beautiful Mediterranean flora and formal gardens, deep azure water, and gorgeous villas along its shoreline. It is no wonder that it was a magnet for the nobility of Lombardy ever since the 18th century.

There are numerous and frequent boat services that link the lake towns to one another, and this is how we plan to navigate the area. This area is known for its magnificent villas and gardens. It is a veritable dream come true for the landscape painter! I know I say that about a lot of places, but anyone who has seen pictures of this place knows in an instant that it is hard to beat in terms of beauty.

My task in the days ahead will be to try and pack all of my personal items into one carry-on bag, and my all of my art supplies into a satchel if possible.

To see my oil paintings of Lake Como and other places in Italy, visit my website here.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist

Traveling with oil paints

From time to time I receive emails from other artists asking questions, and I thought it might be fun to try and post responses on my blog (the idea being that if there is one person asking, there may be more wondering also.) Here's the question:

I am traveling to Tuscany in June, 2007 to paint for 2 weeks. I have always used either pastels or watercolors, but this time I plan to bring oils. What paints and mediums do you bring and how do you pack them for the airlines? I don't want my stuff held back! Thanks for your help, S.P.

Ever since the tightening of the airline regulations, I have battled with this same question. When I last painted in oils overseas, my solution was to pack my easel as a carry-on and everything else (brushes, panels, palette knife, empty containers for mediums, etc.) went into the suitcase clearly labeled as artist materials. I did not pack my paints, mediums, or solvents, however. Instead, I did a bit of inquiring prior to travel to find out if there were any art stores in the vicinity of my destination. Fortunately there were and I bought my paints, mediums and solvents overseas.

Shopping for art supplies overseas can be a lot of fun. There are things that are familiar and also some wonderful products that I hadn't had the opportunity of seeing before. I felt like a kid in a candy shop and I actually ended up delighted with my purchases. I found Rembrandt oil colors in tube sizes I hadn't seen in the U.S. They were small enough to make my load a little lighter, but large enough to last me the two weeks of my stay. When I was in France, I found that the art stores only had small, expensive containers of paint thinner, so I learned how to say "turpentine" in French, and then asked for it at a hardware store. So, it can really be a fun adventure if you're up for it. However, if you are limited on time, you may prefer to just take the chance and carry your paints overseas. With that in mind, I am including a couple of articles that do a good job of addressing some of the issues that might arise:

Advice from the Gamblin Website

Advice from Pochade.com

p.s. If you do decide to shop for supplies at your destination, keep in mind that European countries use the metric system, so their canvas sizes will differ from what our "standard" sizes are in the U.S. This is not an issue if you don't frame your work, but if you use only standard size frames, this will be a matter of concern.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist plein air

Painting in the mountains- continued

On that same mountain excursion I went back again to the beautiful orchard I had attempted capturing on that first afternoon. This time I selected a different view for my 9x12" canvas, using a great red barn as a focal point. I'm very happy with the way this one developed:

If I make any adjustments, they will be very little. I love this scene so much I decided to do a larger version in the studio. Here it is, still in the "blocking in" stage, using my little plein air as a reference:

painting landscape painting artist plein air