Painting New Mexico & Beyond

This summer 2026, I spent eleven days visiting London, Turin and Vienna. It was a wonderful trip to beautiful cities I had never visited before. The first stop was London and I took this photo while flying over the Atlantic. The sun was rising over the ocean
just as we had passed over Newfoundland and Labrador.

I took a lot of pictures but didn't find much time to paint or sketch. I did a few sketches in my hotel room in the evenings. When I returned home, I created a entire sketchbook of watercolor and ink drawings. I used DaVinci watercolors and Pigma Macron pens in an Etcher Accordian Sketchbook.

The first section includes sketches of London, with images of the Shard, the London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral and the Borough Market. But we visited so many other places, including the National Gallery of Art and Tate Modern. I especially loved the old brick buildings and arched bridges. There were many visitors there and it was during the heat wave this summer. There was so much to see and do so hopefully, I will visit again sometime.

Our next stop was in Turin, Italy and I found this to be such a charming city. We stayed at a beautiful hotel near lots of shopping and restaurants. The architecture and cobblestone streets were lovely and charming. I saw some beautiful Vespas!

The Duomo di Torino is there where the Shroud of Turin is kept. There was a violinist playing as we walked by and it was a magical moment.

We took the Frecciarossa high speed train from Turin to Milan. That was fun and from Milan we flew to Vienna. I had no idea what to expect in Vienna and what I experienced was a very beautiful city! It would take lots of vacations to take in all that it has to offer. We stayed at the SO Vienna Hotel which was a work of art in itself. I had the most amazing view from my room. 

We took in as many sites as possible, including the Bevedere Museum where we saw Gustave Klimt's painting, The Kiss. It was such a vibrant city and I read that it is the second most liveable city in the world.

This was a dream vacation and I will remember it forever.