Monday, September 28, 2009

My Italy Sketchbook Day 7. The Saints and Angels of Rome

An early morning train ride took us from Florence to Rome on our 7th day and we arrived early in the afternoon, with plenty of time to explore the area close to our hotel. We decided to take a walk to the Castel Sant'Angelo.
A view from the back of the Castle, showing part of the wall that surrounds Vatican city.

A sculpture close to the Castle.

Looking out over the Tevere (the Tiber River).

We were both so busy looking at the castle and the river, that we didn't realize that we were so close to Vatican City!

We went into the castle, venturing further and further skyward. A view from the castle towards the Vatican. You can see the wall surrounding the City in the lower right corner.

The Church in the distance.

While exploring the inside of the castle, I passed by this woman sitting on a window ledge. I thought this would make a lovely painting.

In another corridor I loved the light falling on the light blue walls - David kindly took this snapshot of me on the window ledge.

A view from the perimeter walls of the castle looking inward.

A view of the Castle from the Ponte St. Angelo (bridge). The following pictures are some of the angel sculptures along the bridge. I loved the sculptures, and the clouds behind made a gorgeous backdrop.








I'm looking forward to creating some paintings/drawings from these photos. So after exploring the castle inside and out we ventured over to St. Peter's square. It's over-whelming in size and grandeur.
The sunlight gleaming in a fountain.

A beam of light shining down on the sculptures .
A dramatic backdrop of clouds and sunlight.
We had a tour of the Vatican scheduled for the next day, so we headed back to the hotel for a quick power nap before dinner. However, I was restless and wanted to do some sketching, and returned to the Angel sculptures on the bridge.

The light was incredible!
I sketched for a little while from this beautiful statue.

Of course, many people stopped to check my progress as I drew...I really have to remember to put a little hat out to collect tips :)

4 comments:

Bridget said...

you took such beautiful photos on your trip...thank you for sharing...

Emily said...

I love those angel photos! You're right about the clouds in the background. Amazing.

Krystyna81 said...

thanks for the compliments! getting started on my first Angel painting from the photographs - I'll post my progress :)

yorkieblade said...

Fantastic Pic's and a great drawing, I have a tattoo of the angel holding the cross in memory to my father, i have added a scroll around her " In Caram Patris Mei Memoriam" which translates to "In loving memory of my father".
The sculptures are so inspirational, I could send you the photio if you like my addy is nickjmarriott@hotmail.com