Santa Maria degli Angeli

One of a series of very small etchings, based on quick sketches I made while cycling in Europe. This image is about an inch tall.

I sketched out this view while on the  (very short) ride between Perugia and Assisi, of Saint Francis fame. The church you can see is Santa Maria degli Angeli, a huge late Renaissance pile that contains within it the tiny church which sheltered Saint Francis in the early days of the Franciscan order.

The image is an etching, which is a form of hand printmaking in which acid is used to burn a drawing into a metal plate, which is then inked and transferred to paper using a hand-cranked press. It's a tricky process, but has the virtue of producing multiple original works. This one is number five in a final set of fifty.

Il castello di Frosini

A very small etching that I recently made at the Open Studio in Toronto. It's just over an inch tall.

There's a certain pleasure in miniaturization. I've always wondered if it's the same enjoyment we take in high-density imagery, such as Russian icons or paintings by Gustav Klimt - the sense of too much information crammed into too little space can be very enticing.

In any case, I starting making the tiny landscapes because there's often no time for a larger drawing, especially when you're cycling across Tuscany.

This scene is of the castle and small hamlet of Frosini (population: 45) in the Province of Siena. It rests on the flank of the low mountains dividing two fertile river valleys. The road in the picture has, with various pavements, served as Siena's main link to the sea for over a thousand years. In short, exactly where you would expect to find a castle, and indeed, it first appears in history in an 11th century document.

A century or so later it belonged to the Knights Templar, and then to the city of Siena. These days, it's privately owned. I'd love to see the inside of the castle.

The orchard at Settignano

Settignano is a village just north-east of Florence, famous for the villa I Tatti - once the home of Bernard Berenson and now Harvard's centre for renaissance studies - and also for quarries. The villa is visible in another small etching, here.

The orchard in this picture is down the hill from the village proper. And I was walking, for a change, not cycling.

This is a tiny etching - the image is only about an inch tall.

Tavernelle Val di Pesa

Tavernelle is a dainty town in, as the name implies, the valley of the river Pesa in central Tuscany. It's a few hours bike ride south of Florence, and about two minutes from Barbarino Val d'Elsa, which is in the next river valley over. I fell in with an elderly German tourist there, who was cycling the length of Italy. Excellent stamina for a septuagenarian.

The image is a tiny etching, about an inch tall, overlaid with tinted Japanese paper. It's based on the sketch I made from my bicycle. There are so many landscapes to sketch, sometimes its easier not to dismount.

The castle at Murlo

A tiny etching of the castle at Murlo - a dainty Tuscan village a short way south of Siena. I didn't stop to visit: this is the view from the road, and I still had a fair way to cycle on that day.

Pont Saint-Bénezet

The famous bridge at Avignon, sketched very rapidly from the city walls.

I redid my sketch directly on the etching plate, with the result that the image is mirrored; the chapel is in reality on the right-hand (upstream) side of the bridge. It's a very small etching, about an inch and a quarter tall.

tiny landscapes

I've posted a few of my largest etchings, so here are a few of my smallest.

When you're cycling around Europe, it can be awkward to carry a big sketchbook. These etchings, which are less than an inch tall, may appear larger on your computer screen than they are in reality.

They're the result of very rapid sketching, sometimes done without getting off of my bicycle.

Via S.Leonardo is a small road in Florence that winds around the back of the Belvedere fortress. Settignano is a village a very short distance north-east of Florence, renowned as the childhood home of Michelangelo and the location of several famous villas.