The sea and San Marino

This is a study after a study... from A.J. Coolens, a dutch artist whom I like very much!!!
The colours are much more vague then in reality. Still haven't figured out how to scan reality....
Went to an exhibition with youngest daughter S a couple of weeks ago. It was about Egyptian mummies and their preservation. The Erasmus University Rotterdam (where daughter S works as a forensic scientist and has invented a clinical research to discover the degree of alcoholism during pregnancy by examining the maeconium = first defaecation of a newborn) has discovered a similar method to preserve bodies so it sponsored this exhibition by scanning and X-raying the mummies Very interesting!!!

On another floor of the museum KUNSTHAL there was an exhibition under the name Between Heaven and Earth mainly by Sir Stanley Spencer. That man can paint!!! I really loved his self portraits, although I didn't get the impression that he was a happy man according his paintings (kind of gloomy and depressing). But his technique and the feeling that his work exhuberates is magnificent..... if only I could reach a small percentage of his skill!!!

This is an attempt to sketch and paint this within half an hour.
It is part of the castle of San Marino (very tiny country in Italy). Well it doesn't exactly resemble it.... and the colour looks awfull..... but, for half an hour one can't expect too much...practice makes perfect and I need a lot of it!!!
I have visited San Marino a couple of years ago and visited this castle and looked out of the highest window of the tower!!!
Actually there are 2 castles connected with eachother through a very small stone build path on a very narrow bridge and you can look down appr. 600-700 metres... not something I want to do again!!!
Also visited the Ferrari factory and museum at the bottom of San Marino that day. Quite an experience!!!
Stayed at Rimini in a luxurious hotel at the beach of the Adriatic sea ...
That vacation I went from Holland through Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Kroatia and back to Italy with a detour to Vicensa (Villa Rotondo by Palladio and one of the most beautifully designed and situated Villa's)through the Po valley to the italian east coast and it was great!!!
Next I am going to try to sketch a statue I've taken a photo of at the Piazza del'Erbe in Verona (another one of my travels) which is kind of cute because of the pigeon on it. I won't paint the background  because its too distracting (fresco's on the surrounding houses) and am dying to start some human faces, I really like doing that!!!