The Cape

On a recent to Cape Cod to visit Eleanor's parents, we took a mid day sojourn and drove to a remote walking path. The views were alien, but inspiring and the beaming shadeless sun was a great motivator to finish these sketches with haste. Next time I am bringing a giant safari hat.

Just down the street

Just down the street a bit from my home are a couple of gas stations. One of them is where I buy my gas. The other is, due to their messier attitude about arranging objects in their parking lot, where I draw sometimes. My best guess to the name of the station is Pack Energy Auto Gas repair. Seems unlikely though...

Alas old blue subaru, Ill miss you

Luckily this is not a drawing of my old blue subaru legacy station wagon. On a trip down to NJ to visit family I stopped along the way to get my old blue subaru repaired before I got it reinspected. It cost a good bit, as it aways does. The added expense of replacing the windshield because of the tiny crack didnt help, but everything got done. While I waited for the car, I set out to use my time wisely and didnt have to walk very far to find this lovely still life.

Quick update: My car passed inspection with ease but I ended up selling it after having some problems with it. And by some problems, I mean all problems. Now I drive a little Scion! I dont regret the time I spent with old blue Subaru, but they were trying times. I hope he is having a good life with his new owner.

Itay in June 2010

In the summer of 2010 I was lucky enough to travel to Italy and stay for over a month. In that time I visited Rome, Florence, Venice, Urbino, Pesaro, Sarnano, Naples, Sienna and a few other quick stops along the way. My time there was too lovely to describe in words, but luckily I had my sketchbook along with me and drew almost all day every day. You can see more images from my trip as well as other sketches, sculptures, and paintings at my webpage www.jessethompsonart.com/artpage/italy_sketch.html

Below are some drawings from rome

This first drawing is from the Park just across from the Termini Train station in Rome. It is the first drawing I made while waiting for Eleanor to arrive. We booked separate tickets and arrived in Rome at different times. I got there just ahead of her by about 4 hours which gave me some time to wander jaw dropped and amazed. This drawing got cut just a bit short of finished when Eleanor arrived so we could hug. More from Rome below

The landlord of the apartment I rent here in Providence is Italian and she arraganed for me to visit and stay with her family in her home town of Pesaro. I stayed for 4 days in Pesaro and since most of the people I met on my trip were tourists as well, I was very happy to talk socialize and eat with a real Italian family (not that my own Italian family here in the states isn't real enough for me...) Luckily they also invited me to stay in a guest house they owned in a small and very old town called Sarnano where very few people spoke any english at all. I did more drawing than anywhere else in Italy.

Sorry for the splotchy upper half of the composition here. I was trying to be fancy with watercolors and it turned out decidedly unfancy. My advice: never try to be fancy. Bottom part is ok though...

The last 11 nights of my trip were spent in Florence. I would gladly spend so many more nights there. I was looking at so much art and having such a good time I didnt get nearly enough drawing done to satisfy me. Below is just a few from there

Last night in Florence watching the world cup at a pub just across the street from my hostel.