Guest Artist: Sketching On Location (and Being Photographed!)

9:53 AM


Donna Vacca, one of the artists from the Imaginary Trips online sketching classes, recently emailed me after she returned home from a three week trip to several European countries (lucky girl!!). Donna joined me earlier this year on an Imaginary Visit to a Japanese Garden and an Imaginary Trip to Greece

Donna is fairly new to watercolors (but not to art) and she wanted to combine two of her passions—travel and art–on her upcoming trip. She took the two online classes as a way to help her prepare. Take a look at her gorgeous pages! I'm posting her delightful email below:

Hi Laure, 
I want to thank you again for your fabulous online classes that helped me practice and achieve such personal satisfaction with my art skills. Working with different tools [in the classes] helped me pack my supplies knowing what would work for me. I often made use of the fountain pen and waterbrush for super quick sketches (something I had never used before your classes).
During August I traveled in France, Switzerland and Italy, sketching and painting in my journal as we went along. I managed to do 16 pages over 3 weeks.
Here are some of the pages:
Eiffel Tower - 15 min. on site and embellished later at the hotel 
Moulin Rouge - Painted leisurely from memory, 4 sessions on the bus
Venice - 50 min. on site (while being constantly photographed by tourists!)
Sincerely,
Donna Vacca 
Eiffel Tower by Donna Vacca
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Donna Sketching at the Eiffel Tower
(Note that she's standing up!)
Click to Enlarge
Moulin Rouge by Donna Vacca
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Gondola by Donna Vacca
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Donna sketching in Venice
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Sixteen pages in 3 weeks—that's incredible! Some of the things we work on in the classes are what tools work best for quick sketching, how to take advantage of those small windows of downtime (waiting for the bus, the train, dinner, the lost passenger, etc.) and how to go with the flow and enjoy the experience.   

Thanks, Donna, for sharing your fabulous pages and experience with us!
____________________________

P.S. Don't forget to check back for the GIVEAWAY tomorrow!

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7 Creative Thought(s)

  1. That is so awesome! Good for her. And I hope you feel good about helping her to be able to do this. I love her pages--pass on my compliments to her, will you?

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  2. I hope Donna comes back here often to read all the comments that are sure to come - her pages are wonderful. It sounds like a wonderful trip, and what memories she will have with her sketches. Thanks for sharing her pages Laure.

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  3. What an uplifting and inspirational story to start the day with! Donna - your pages are delightful! Thank you for sharing them. Laure - I continue to be amazed at all the ripples that are spawned by your love of art, your enthusiasm and your teaching!!! They say one little candle can spread a lot of light and you have and do!

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  4. Donna's pages are fabulous! Thanks Laure, for everything you teach and encourage us to do!

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  5. Thanks for the lovely comments ladies. Hope to see you in another of Laure's classes :-)

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  6. Way to go Donna. I just love the depth you got in the Eiffel Tower. I can feel my neck straining to see all the way up to the top of it! Wonderful job on all the pages we got to see.

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  7. What a treasure Donna now has! You and she both have reason to be proud!

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