5 Unforgettable Colours to Describe Lake Como, Italy
Let's take a walk along Lake Como in beautiful northern Italy! I want to paint you a picture of an Italian lake holiday palette, colours of experience, beauty and adventure. Shockingly, on my first trip to Italy I barely touched my favourite Cobalt Teal Blue, but I did find in my palette a handful of colours that beautifully describe what Italy has to offer.
Let's imagine those hues together!
Dreaming in Verditer Blue:
Here in Canada, the atmosphere has a crispness to it; sharp and fresh and clear. It's a biting, brisk blue. Looking across the water toward the Italian Alps, the air is softer, hazy, a dreamy blue with all its sharpness filed off. Even the sunsets feel soft and diffused, melting across the rounded mountains like gelato at the gentle close of day.
Our first painting session in Italy starts with a favourite subject of mine; a lakeside vista drinking in the sky, land and water, chasing the light as our day of travel closes and we settle in for the week.
Azo Yellow - Sun-Dappled Trees:
Shoreline walks along Lake Como are studded with villas and beautifully groomed gardens. Rounded, leafy trees filter sunlight and shadow in dramatic contrast. Stopping for aperitivo, coffee or gelato, we brush golden warmth across a sketchbook page and explore the vignettes of Italian life at a leisurely pace.
Kissed by Lavender Shadows:
Marble, light and shadow call for lavender. It's a soft hue that I often use instead of grey, playing it cool and light when watercolor can so easily go overworked and dark. Lavender pairs well with textural browns in architecture and lavender, like a shady spot on a hot day, offers a breath of restful coolness to the artist.
Hematite Burnt Scarlet: Cafe Latte
Whether you're a gourmand or prefer simple meals, there are no bad meals in Italy. We fill our sketchbooks with memories, and our tummies with delicious local specialties. My favourite meal on Lake Como was a risotto featuring lake perch, and my attempts to make risotto at home have not yet won my family over.
Our week on Lake Como includes an optional small-group cooking class with rave reviews from those who experienced it. My own afternoon with those in our group who preferred to walk and paint was studded with coffee breaks at every cafe that afforded an interesting view!
Lake Water Green: The Colour of Rest
I'm not sure which green I would mix to create the warm green-blue of the lake itself. My most peaceful moments are linked to water; in fact I think there's a science around what time spent on or near water does for the mindset (or at the very least, a lot of plaques and pillows expressing the benefits of "Lake Life" at HomeSense) and during our week at Lake Como the sense of rest and peace lives in my memory as a rich, deep combination of Phthalo Blue, Green Gold and a hint of violet.
Traveling by small lake ferries was new to me, but the calm waters of the lake made it a peaceful way to start and end our day's adventures on Lake Como, feeling the wind in our hair and the light dancing across the water, full of gratitude and memories for the day's experiences and the satisfying knowledge of new pages in the sketchbook painted to hold unforgettable memories.
It's interesting to me how paintings created during a travel workshop hold so much, not just details of the landscape, but the emotions of the moment, a sense of time slowing down. In our social media driven world it can easily feel like the trend is to see the world through a camera lens, to capture an image of the moment rather than to pause and experience it, and sketching on location offers an alternative.
Since that first Italian workshop, when I was still relatively new to on-location sketching, I've found myself changing and growing as an artist because of my new ability to sketch on location. It was an intimidating idea that became demystified by facing it head-on. And now I can trace my growth process through my sketchbooks. I'm not ashamed of the weaker paintings in my sketchbook; even the feeble attempt to capture something of the beauty of the Duomo Cathedral in Milan was much more about the memory of the experience than the actual outcome, and I get to hold that memory forever.
I hope that's the message I get to communicate when I get together with my fellow travelers to sketch together; we are free to paint simply because we want to, for the purpose of the experience, and for the depth it brings to our memories and relationships and the opportunity it creates to learn how to see in a new way.
These trips are so significant and it's such a privilege to experience them with you. No matter where you are at in your art journey, you are welcome and valued for everything you bring as we travel together.
There are a handful of spaces left in this Italian lakeshore workshop. Travel in Italy made easy with our guides from The Blue Walk and a week in one location means we get to settle in and make the most of each day together. Non-painting partners are welcome to join this workshop as well as each day includes excursions that can be done together, as well as free time to explore independently.
Join me in Italy, May 5-11, 2025 and bring a friend! More information and registration can be found here: LINK