by Marty Coleman | Feb 6, 2011 | Barcelona, Germany, Venice |
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In 2003 I took my daughters to Europe. We flew into Munich, took trains and cars through Italy, France and Spain, leaving from Barcelona 2 weeks later. I spent a great deal of time drawing in my sketchbook during that trip. Often it would be early in the morning before the girls were up. I would wander about whatever city we were in, find a place to sit and drink some coffee and draw.
Here are a few of the drawings I did in those early morning hours.
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| The Train Station Coffee Lady |
In Munich we stayed at a youth hostel close to the train station. I came over to get my morning joe and sat watching this woman buzz around crazily getting coffee and other goodies for the train riders. She knew I was drawing her and would come over every once in a while to see what I was doing. She thought I made her look bustier than she was, but she said she didn’t mind.
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| The Grand Canal – Venice, Italy |
We took the overnight train from Munich to Venice. When I awoke that first morning I went to find coffee and came across the grand canal and the famous commercial bridge that have shops all along it. I stood and sipped my coffee while I watched the shopkeepers start their day. Then I turned my attention to the still quiet canal for my drawing.
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| Bed and Breakfast, France |
In the south of France we rented a car so we could travel a bit off the beaten path. We stayed at this wonderful old chalet, up on the 3rd floor. It was gorgeous and very relaxing, just what we needed after almost a week of intense travel and sightseeing. I took the opportunity to get out early and sit in the open field next to our accommodations and draw the building.
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| Barcelona, Spain |
We finished our trip in Barcelona. We stayed in an apartment B & B owned by a retired professor who now was writing books on folk art in Catalonia. The place was filled to the ceiling with books and incredible objects. I took a walk early one morning and came across this beautiful scene of a woman doing tai chi while the monument in the corner appeared to be watching her every movement.
Here is a slide show of all the drawings from our trip.
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 15, 2010 | Memory - 2010, Venice |
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I am almost positive this is the last day of ‘Memory Week’ at The Napkin Dad Daily
I am not a big regret guy. But I do regret some things I did. I regret not treating my first wife better. I regret not working harder as an artist. But truly most of my regrets are about the things I didn’t do. Usually from lack of courage.
My daughters and I went to Europe in 2003, before I met Linda, my wife. We spent a few days in Venice, Italy and one evening we took a long water taxi ride. During the ride I went out back, away from my daughters, and met a couple with a third person. The third person was a attractive woman who was suppose to come with someone else but that person had bowed out at the last moment and as a result she obviously felt like a third wheel. She was funny, cute and endearing and I liked talking with her a great deal.
We had a very nice, animated conversation about all sorts of things; what we did, how we liked Europe, etc. They were going to a certain restaurant for dinner, we were going elsewhere. But the woman mentioned that after dinner she didn’t know what she was going to do. She didn’t want to hang out with the couple the entire time, wanting to give them some ‘alone’ time in the romantic environment.
I told her I wasn’t sure what we were going to do either. We continued to talk about this and that and then it was our stop to get off. I knew where she was going to dinner, and where she was staying. We got off, went to dinner and then walked around a bit until we went back to our B & B. It was an enjoyable evening.
But to this day, I regret not having made plans with that woman to meet up after our dinners and take a walk around Venice. I regret not telling my grown daughters I was going to take off for an hour or so after we got back to the B & B, and go and find the woman to take that walk. I don’t imagine a great love affair, I only imagine a nice walk with a new friend who I wanted to spend more time with.
Funny too, in the absence of actually having that memory, I have an imagined memory about what would have happened.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Sydney J. Harris, 1917-1986, American Journalist
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by Marty Coleman | May 30, 2010 | Sketchbook History Tour, Venice |
A perturbed couple at an Italian poetry reading at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy 5/31/03
They were perturbed because us crass Americans (me and my daughters) were not in their expectations for the night. My response? To draw the perturbed couple so one day I could post them to my blog and say, look here is a perturbed couple.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
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