Emily Sutton in Venice

Here are three pictures, by the wonderful Emily Sutton, of Rosa Salva, a cafe near where I stayed in Venice this year.

These and other works will be on show next month (3rd to 24th December) in Edinburgh, at the Scottish Gallery.  Here is their site.

Looking over photos of my trip has reminded me of the ideas that I had during that time, and that I never had time to follow up.  Since I returned people have expected me to be making art about Venice.  I'm hanging onto the claim that the Martyrs idea came from Italy.

I'll be screenprinting for much of today.

Memoirs Of Venice

I'm looking back on my time away in Italy after a couple of months headlong at life back in Britain.

Only now am I realising what I miss.  I've said all along that the effects of the trip would be clearer in hindsight.  Going through my diary, I see how much I did in my 194 days in Italy.

While based in Venice, I had nights away (sometimes multiple) for trips to Florence and Pisa; Ravenna, Rimini and San Marino; and Mantua, Parma and Bologna.  I made day trips to Udine, Aquileia, Grado, Treviso, Asolo, Padua, Vicenza and Verona; and explored the immediate area pretty thoroughly, from Jesolo to Chioggia.

The tutors asked me to give a talk about the experience:  what I did; how the Erasmus experience worked; what I learnt and how my work changed.  It was good to see my sketchbook pages on the big screen - they formed the basis of the talk.  I showed off my genuine Venetian masks and a few pieces of work.

The college is hosting a student from Liège this term, so Miriam will give a talk about her experiences in Southampton when she finishes.

Here is one of the first sketches for the Pisa booklets.