I created the image using Inktense pencils on circa A5 size watercolour paper over two enjoyable sessions in Caffé Néro in Aberystwyth after returning from our summer holiday in the Meditaerean. I used a reference photograph that I took while we were being ferried by water taxi to and from the cruise ship into the city. Some of my Venetian images were created in situ (one of a church while relaxing under the shade of a tree), but the majority of them will come from reference photos that were taken while we were visiting Venice. These photographs were taken for the purpose of creating the art rather than as holiday 'snaps'. The down side being the restriction of carrying the lightweight 40mm 'pancake' lens with its limited fixed focal length rather than the heavier by more adaptable 24-105 lens. But everything in life is a trade off, and during a hot day in Venice, you carry what you can manage.
This is probably why I am moving towards Inktense Pencils being my holiday art media of choice. It's a clean product that can provide pleasing and sometimes stunning results. You don't need to carry water or a water container; as you can choose to wash in the image when you get back to your hotel or cruise ship. The tin is large enough to take postcard size watercolour paper held on the outside without bending. So if you stitch a piece of elastic to secure the tin, then that paper size can be slipped between the elastic and the tin and thereby supported when it's all carried in your bag. If you want more detail in your images, then you can work on the smoother 'Hot' watercolour paper, rather than using 'Cold' or 'Rough' paper, or you could combine 'pigment liner' pens, or 'Graphite Pencils' with Inktense pencils.
