Campo Sant' Angelo

On the first day of our Venice painting workshop (in Oct 2013), Kelly Medford and I took our students to Campo Sant' Angelo, just a short walk West from the Piazza San Marco.  There, we set up camp for the day.  In between guiding students, I managed to quickly sketch a scene and added a touch of watercolor for interest.  Today, I pulled out that plein air sketch in my studio and gave it some final touches!  Feels so good to call it done!

    

"Campo Sant' Angelo" by Helen K. Beacham Fine Art
Image size:  12"x9" (Available unframed for $550)
www.helenKbeacham.com

Below is a picture of the Campo where you can see the leaning tower at the far end.  There are many leaning towers in Venice although none are as bad as the one in Pisa!  On the left, you can see the other side of the building that I sketched (and do you see the tree?).  

Campo Sant' Angelo
Photo courtesy of http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Venezia_flickr01.jpg

www.helenKbeacham.com

Come paint Venice, Montreal, Maine, Charleston, and Magnolia Plantation with me!

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Packing Light (for Overseas Painting Workshop)

As our October #Venice workshop gets closer, I start to make mental and physical lists of what to pack (and sadly, what to leave home).  Traveling light is the key, especially in a city like Venice where there are  no cars and walking is the prevalent mode of transportation (unless you ride a vaporetto or a gondola, which have their own issues around carrying heavy suitcases).

Vaporetto - Photo courtesy of http://www.earth-photography.com

The other day, while visiting Tanger Outlet in Charleston, I wandered into Travelpro Luggage Outlet to see what was new (lighter?) on the market.  After mentioning my preferred budget and requirements for a new suitcase, the nice gentleman that was helping me, pulled out this model below.

24" Walk About Lite 3 (about $85-95)
with Inline Wheels (the salesman said I'd love them, and I think he's right)
It weighs 11 lbs.  That leaves me about 39 lbs for my gear, in order to not exceed the max.

Here's the kicker:  this baby measures only 24"h x 16"w x 12" deep.  I AM taking a carry on with me (it's a converted laptop bag that will house my travel-sized watercolor palette and other inflight necessities).  Does it seem even remotely possible that I can get all my stuff for 2 weeks into this thing?  I told him I'd have to lay out my gear, clothes, etc on the bed and eyeball my pile before I could decide.  But it's my goal to make it work.  I bragged to #KellyMedford, my fellow teacher in Italy, that I was traveling light, and light it shall be!

Note:  I have yet to verify with U.S. Air (which is the airline I'm traveling on) to find out what exactly the maximum size and weight limitations are for carry on and checked luggage, when traveling overseas.  (That's not exactly true...I HAVE tried to read the fine print on their website to no avail and now I have to make myself phone them, or drive out to the airport to ask!  I bought my tickets with "miles" so no travel agent is involved and available to help me).  If anyone out there knows that answer, pleeease send it my way!

In case you're curious about the other watercolor supplies I'm taking with me, you may find my Supply List on my Workshop page by clicking HERE.  If any of you are oil or acrylic painters, don't feel left out.  You're invited too and we'll send Supply Lists for your preferred medium.  Just ask us!

P.S.  The only medium we won't be teaching at this Venice workshop is pastels, but for you pastelists who are thinking of traveling elsewhere with your gear, here's pastelist Richard McKinley's TIPS for traveling light, many of which can pertain to other media just as well.  Wise words!

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Come with me (Helen K. Beacham) and Kelly Medford to paint Venice this October...

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Italy: Adventures in Painting

www.helenKbeacham.com

I don't know this painter personally (yet), but I've been keeping up with her through her blog about living and painting in Italy.  Kelly Medford has been on a "Paint 120 paintings in 120 days" project, and today's painting spoke to me.  Read this paragraph from her blog, and you'll see that she's also a writer that lets you picture what she's writing about (she does her research and then tells you about the area in vivid terms).  You can read more about this painting by clicking here:  KELLYMEDFORD.BLOGSPOT.COM

Kelly says:  "There are houses and gardens tucked under the arches of these aqueducts for miles. The people who live here mostly took refuge in these places during the 1930s when Mussolini was beautifying the center of Rome. Knocking down makeshift homes and neighborhoods that were cluttered along the Roman Forum and blocking a clear way to St. Peter's, thousands of people found themselves suddenly homeless. Seen as the only option, they moved out-of-town and built shelter in the arches of the aqueducts."

Oil painting by Kelly Medford.  Kelly says " The little arch at the end of the road represents for me the portal into this other world tucked away from the noise that is modern-day Rome."

www.helenKbeacham.com

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