The First Pancake

With such intense jet lag that I fell right in front of my hotel upon arrival in Rome, I was still determined to stay awake and headed for the Pantheon, more or less ground zero for this amazing, colorful city...very different from the tidy gray/blues of Paris last summer.

The piazza was packed with people and it was late in the day, but I pulled out my three-legged stool, Pentalic sketchbook and mechanical pencil from last summer in Paris and claimed a spot. The view was often blocked by the crowds, but it was fun to hear them say "WOW" as they rounded the corner behind me.

I now see some really funky things in this sketch, which I will attribute to the extreme jet lag :) The pediment has shifted to the left and the buildings on the left look more than a little wobbly.

But it's a start...after the first pancake (we toss that one, right?), hopefully the next one will be better and you'll see these improve! 

After this sketch, it was off to the Piazza Navona for a second one, followed by a gelato.

Benvenuto a Roma!

First sketch in Rome, ouch, the jet lag shows!

Soufflot's Pantheon

Soufflot's Pantheon, Paris. June 12

Today I went to buy watercolor paper, but upon arrival, found the store closed for lunch.
So I went and had lunch at a nearby creperie on rue Soufflot, and while I sat and ate my buckwheat crepe with chese, ham/bacon, and an egg on top for 9 euros, I did a quick sketch of the Pantheon.  

Construction of this building started in 1758 under Louis XV.  It was briefly a church but over the centuries became a mausoleum where the likes of Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, Louis Braille, and Soufflot, the architect, are all buried.

It's still very gray and drizzly out, so I had to make up the sense of shading on the building.