Backstory:

Study abroad Spring 2025 - Florence Sketchbook course.

 Throughout this course, I have gained so much love for sketching and documenting the world around me, with my personal study abroad experiences and all. I have learned a great deal about the technical aspects of sketching, including proper material use, measuring for perspective, and being able to try out new techniques and styles along the way. 

I had always found it hard to dedicate time to creating art, especially when it becomes an 'assignment' or a 'chore' and not just on my own accord. However, this course has fully transformed how I think about sketching and expressing myself through a sketchbook. I've stopped putting pressure on it to be something 'perfect' and something that perfectly encapsulates how I'm feeling. Now, it does that on its own. Through my experimentation with different materials and techniques, I've discovered my style and freely practiced documenting what's important to me. Through studying sculpture, landscapes, to everyday life scenes, I've connected with my environment in Florence and beyond, capturing authenticity. 

 Of course, there have been some struggles, but I view them as learning points. For example, when I first started with watercolor, I was intimidated. I have never loved watercolor growing up, and it shows in my first watercolor painting in my sketchbook. However, dedicating a page to figure it out was pivotal for me. Throughout my sketchbook, I've greatly improved my skill,s and 2 of my final drawing projects are watercolor. Look how far I've come! Another challenge is trusting the process. Even if I started creating something that didn't look promising at first, I always had to trust that I could pull it together. Keeping that positive mindset was another struggle point in my work that transformed the way my process works now. 

For my final project, I've created 4 scenes around Italy of animals in urban settings. 2 are graphite, and 2 are watercolor. For the subjects, I chose horses, cats, dogs, and pigeons. It was easy to decide, as I used my own photos for reference when drawing these. I also love animals. I knew from the start that I wanted my final to be something relating to animals and how they live in urban settings, comparing their everyday rituals to another. Since arriving, I've been keeping a lookout for these scenes to take photos of, and clearly it paid off.