Bell tower of the Sanctuary of the Madonna of Trapani

This sketch was one of over 50 paintings that I completed last month while in Erice, Sicily. I have just arrived home after a two-day journey from Erice, via Palermo, Rome and Lisbon (overnight in Lisbon as is my normal practice), and have not done any painting since just before Christmas.

I will need a couple of days to get settled before setting up my easel, paints and brushes but I do have a long list of subjects to keep me occupied for the foreseeable future including a couple of commissioned paintings. These do not have short deadlines so I can plan to my own agenda.

The first thing for me to do is journal work to get my coordination and mixing skills back up to speed. I prefer to paint every day, even just a simple sketch is enough…