My summertime visit to Italy – Sketchbook tour

Hello everyone! It has been a little bit since my last blog, I have been quite busy since I’ve been back from my visit to Italy (Of which this blog will be about) For this trip I made myself a handmade sketchbook, I went for a punchy green color that reminds me of summertime. The sketchbook is 9.5 x 6.75 inches, so a fairly decent size and I filled it with Fabriano 1264 mixed media paper. 

During this visit I spent most of my time drawing and painting on my Grandma’s terrace, which is one of my favorite places in the world. My Grandma is an avid gardener, so she has a very large variety of plants – some of which are Mediterranean staples, so a very large number of the artwork I made during this visit is botanical-related. 

We also made a quick visit to Germany, we met up with some family friends that I haven’t seen in almost 15 years. I was so happy to be back in Southern Germany – We visited Überlingen, Allgäu, and Salem. I also sketched a bit in the car on the way and back from Germany. I really wanted to capture the Swiss Alps. 

We also visited Milan a couple of times, We visited the Navigli, it has been quite a few years since I’ve been to this part of Milan. 

The last weekend when we were there we visited Asti in Piemonte which is about an hour and half from where my Grandma lives. I absolutely fell in love with this part of Italy. I loved the golden rolling hills and picturesque towns lost in time. There were times it reminded me of Southern Italy or even the internal countryside of Sicily. 

We went to a local restaurant named Il Grillo – They have lovely rustic dishes. I sketched and painted the surrounding area. Eating at this bistrot was a highlight of my trip.

I also made a little recap reel of this sketchbook, I’ll upload it here.

Enjoy ❤