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Roman Architecture and the Iconic Pantheon. Art and Travel

Artist, Roman Architecture, Uncategorized, Urban sketching, Voyage

Watercolor journey with the course Roman Architecture by the Yale University part 3

I continue the Art + Roman Architecture + the city of Rome with Yale’s course Roman Architecture . Roman Architecture. Introduction The urban Grid and Public Architecture.1-2. Link to the course is at the end of this post.

Painting –Rome, Pantheon, Roman Architecture. Year of construction-126 AD. Address: Piazza della Rotonda, 00186 Roma RM, Italy

My painting for this session is about the Pantheon, focusing on its extraordinary, light-filled interior space. The Pantheon’s construction, which utilized Roman cement and stone, was revolutionary. Do you agree that the Pantheon’s grandeur, scale, and elegance represent Rome itself?

Watercolor painting of the Pantheon in Rome, highlighting its iconic oculus and intricate dome structure, with a blend of blue and warm tones.
A watercolor depiction of the Pantheon in Rome, highlighting its iconic oculus and intricate architectural details.

For centuries, the Pantheon’s majestic Oculus, the massive concrete dome with an central opening has gazed down upon countless imitations.

Ancient architects cast Roman concrete within wooden molds. This innovative technique fundamentally challenged the rigid architectural conventions of the time.

The prevailing Greek and Etruscan designs favored straightforward, rectilinear forms, with simple, flat roofs. The Pantheon, nonetheless, featured a vast dome and innovative use of concrete. It offered a revolutionary departure. This served as a blueprint for architects across the ages.

The Pantheon is a masterpiece of Roman architecture with an innovative structure

The eye of the Pantheon through the centuries has become a model for many buildings. Ancient architects were pouring the roman cement into a wooden model. Essentially they broke the inflexibility of belief from the Greek and Etruscan architects that any architectural buildings should be only straightforward and rectilinear, including roofs

It is so fascinating facts how many building in Europe and North America stand as a testament. These structures demonstrate the Pantheon’s enduring legacy. I am learning from the Professor of History of Art and Classics Diana E.E. Kleiner Dunham that U.S.Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. , British Museum in London, National Gallery of Art and among many others buildings.

The building showcases the power and glory of Rome and its architecture. It is one of the greatest buildings ever conceived, a testament to human ingenuity.

Lost in Time & Whispers of History

Another story about my vacation. I spent the afternoon sketching this little wanderer, seemingly on a mission! Watch this elegant kitty gracefully navigate these ancient, worn stairs… leading towards the magnificent Pantheon de Roma! ️

The contrast between the modern cat and the timeless architecture is just stunning. Makes you wonder what secrets these walls have observed and what stories the kitty’s journey holds.

All roads lead to Rome- Alain de Lille

A sketch of a cat gracefully navigating ancient stairs, symbolizing the contrast between modern life and Rome’s timeless architecture.

Bon voyage! Until the next travel:)

https://www.coursera.org/learn/roman-architecture

The magic of the holidays is in the making! ✨ Join me on this artistic adventure as I explore the captivating world of #TravelVibes #ArtAdventure

All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.

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For my artists colleagues . Tools used for my painting Watercolour PWC jaune paint+ (combination PWC indigo paint +Van Gogh ultramarine paint), Derwent, Albert Durer and Faber Castell watercolour pencils. Paper Acquarello watercolour album. Fabriano grana grossa rouch Watercolour album, 22×30 cm (9 ×12 in.)

Exploring Roman Architecture Through Watercolor Art

An Artist's Perspective on Roman Architecture, Artist, Roman Architecture, Uncategorized, Urban sketching, Voyage

Art and Travel. Watercolor journey with the course Roman Architecture by the Yale University.

I am pursuing a new artistic path in watercolor illustration through my studies at online Open Yale course. There so many interesting facts I am learning from the Professor of History of Art and Classics Diana E.E. Kleiner Dunham. Link to the course is at the end of this post.

A vibrant watercolor painting showcases the rooftops and architecture of a city.
It is framed by lush greenery. The painting reflects the themes of Roman architecture explored in the Yale course.
Painting journey of my three passions

Roman Architecture and Art with references and learning from Yale University Roman Architecture, Professor Kleiner about art, architecture.

The course Roman Architecture is my favorite one. I love to travel. I would like to discover the power of architecture to shape culture and society. I plan to do this with my extra research from the lectures. 

The nine-week course explores the great cities and their building

The nine-week course offers an exciting exploration of magnificent cities and their remarkable buildings. It celebrates the engineering wonders of Rome and its empire.It is inspiring visions of their significance in both ancient and contemporary contexts.

Rome, cities of Pompeii, Sicily, France, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Croatia and the rest of Roman Empire.

Experience the full brush of Rome’s beginning as an Iron Age village. Learn how it became a world-class city. Discover its transformation into a gigantic empire surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.

The Romans had a remarkable impact on architecture worldwide, inspiring countless designs even today. Enrolling in the Roman Architecture course excites me as.

It will equip me with the skills to create my very own Roman City Art Project. I’m eager to learn valuable architectural techniques . And that will not only enrich my project but also enhance my life in amazing ways.

Every temple has its story and legend, I love all lectures with interesting facts of the professor Diana E.E. Kleiner. One of the good things about learning is the professor’s enthusiasm and her own photos. Also, I will use my husband’s photos and my own sketches from our multiple vacations in Italy.

Cats sketching as part of my learning journey
A vibrant pastel sketch depicts Italian architecture. It reflects the beauty of Roman structures.
The influence of art was studied in the Yale University course.

I will add some live to my illustrations for architecture. It will be some cats. What do you think about this idea? Are you usually adding some animals or birds for your sketching?

I am reading what I will learn and this is very exciting. The course starts from 8 B.C. architecture and moves from one revolutionary experiment to the next one; and my paintings will follow the consecutive process of the development of Roman architecture that was born out of ancient Greek and Etruscan styles  

I hope that soon I will travel to Rome with all my new knowledge from the Roman Architecture course :)

Watercolor painting of a bridge scene, capturing a vibrant sunset reflection on the water.

I am ready for a new educational adventure in watercolor illustration.

I will pick a photo reference from a lecture for each painting. I am going to share my quick comparison for four picks of art watercolor albums and paints.

  1. Acquarello watercolour album. Fabriano cold pressed
  2. Acquarello watercolour album. Fabriano, grana grossa rouch
  3. Fluid 100, cold press
  4. Van Gogh, National gallery

Watercolour paints:

  1. Van Gogh travel box
  2. Van Gogh tubes
  3. PWC
  4. Cotman
  5. Winsor Newton
  6. Charvin
  7. Box Munovo
  8. Gelly roll Sakura white pen
  9. Watercolour pencils Albert Durer
  10. Watercolour pencils Faber Castell Durer
  11. Watercolour pencils Derwent

I am exciting to start the course and share my thoughts and illustrations for the lectures in my posts.

Below is the link to the Roman Architecture course

https://www.coursera.org/learn/roman-architecture

Bon voyage! Until the next travel:)

The magic of the holidays is in the making! ✨ Join me on this artistic adventure as I explore the captivating world of #TravelVibes #ArtAdventure

All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.

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Tools used for my painting:

Watercolour used Charvin and Van Gogh brands, Pastel GrayPas Expressionist, Derwent watercolour pencils and Faber Castell artist pens, Paper Strathmore Watercolour and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.)

Travel and Art based on Inktober 31 days=31 drawings fun challenge. Day 5.

Artist, ink, Uncategorized, Urban sketching, Voyage

The October 5th prompt is Raven.

For prompt Raven I was doing ink drawing of a raven sitting on a street lamp next to the Louvre museum in Paris.

It was an old and wise raven who was looking down on all the tourists queuing up at the museum. Perhaps this bird remembers events that happened in France 300 years ago, who knows?:)

And I am ready for tomorrow’s Inktober prompt – Spirit.

Here is the official site with 2021 prompts and rules https://inktober.com/

Bon voyage!

All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.

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My Toronto. Stay home and Urban sketching. Travel and Art. November, Winter mood. Part 10

ArtTravel

This post is a collection of my October daily sketches, but we’re jumping straight to winter. Because why follow a calendar like normal people?

Toronto’s winter is basically nature’s way of saying “time to stay indoors and contemplate your life choices.” Think snow, think wind, think your home suddenly becomes a cozy fortress where you can enjoy the view from your window while secretly judging people who actually venture outside. There’s ice skating (bring your bruises), and a festive Christmas-New Years atmosphere that makes you forget your heating bill exists.

Fair warning: All paintings in this post are refugees from previous seasons. Consider them time travelers.

Ontario Place in winter, immortalized in oil. Pro tip: If you squint really hard at this painting, you can spot the CN Tower looming in the distance—you know, that charming 0.5 km tall landmark that Toronto residents can see from literally everywhere, even from their nightmares.

Spot the CN Tower. No seriously, it’s in there somewhere.

Winter at Toronto Music Garden downtown? Chef’s kiss. Fancy lights everywhere, a stunning CN Tower backdrop, and—here’s the plot twist—a couple of bright yellow summer beach chairs just casually hanging out on the frozen Ontario lake, apparently on strike from summer and refusing to acknowledge they’re in the wrong season.

Beach chairs on ice. Summer is in denial.

Queens Quay West and Spadina: The year is ending, and Toronto’s streetcar is basically in a mad dash to the finish line! This imaginary masterpiece features a Toronto tram hurtling toward the New Year like it’s late for a very important date, complete with Christmas sled deer (yes, deer—stay with me), flying gifts, and a suspiciously placed bucket of champagne just waiting to get obliterated by a speeding tram. What could go wrong? Happy Holidays will be welcoming… especially this year :)

Yet another Toronto Music Garden watercolor! Featuring: one lonesome snowman, striking a philosophical pose with the CN Tower as his existential backdrop, and a shimmering silver Christmas ball judging his life choices. This was painted during a winter when Toronto actually got snow—yes, that rare, mythical phenomenon. Spoiler: snow doesn’t usually crash this far south near Ontario lake. When it does, locals act like they’ve discovered a new planet.

Or maybe it was a family having the time of their lives, engaged in the ancient tradition of hurling snowballs at each other and collaborating on a frosty monument to their own architectural ambitions.

Behold: A breathtakingly frosty twilight of downtown Toronto—complete with the Financial district’s fortress of high-risers, a cameo by the CN Tower, and Thompson Hall photobombing the party. I even threw in some gold powder because subtlety is overrated.

Gold dust included. You’re welcome.
Toronto in winter. Beautiful. Cold. Very cold.
Holiday vibes, zero heating bills pictured.

Gold fantasy extravaganza featuring the CN Tower, Thompson Hall, and Christmas balls so large they probably require their own zip codes.

Romantic. Festive. Definitely not freezing.

The romantic holiday painting with the beautiful night view of Toronto, featuring cheerful downtown during the holiday season. Clock counts down minutes to the New Year, Champagne is ready.

…and winter sunset skyline of Toronto downtown with CN Tower and Rogers centre. My dream shows lots of Christmas balls up in the air with my favorite places in Toronto – CN Tower, Rogers centre, Zoo, ROM Museum, Thompson Hall, Union station, AGO Museum, Pearson airport balls. Everybody can find their interesting places and buildings in the city. Watercolour painting with the landmarks and museums  of the City on the Christmas balls, impressionism

Blue hour. Deep thoughts. Frozen toes.

The Toronto Music Garden at night, now in moody blue. Very brooding. Very mysterious. Very “I’m contemplating why I’m standing outside in the snow.”

The snowman has seen things. He stares into the void.

Fingers crossed that my Toronto posts successfully convince you that this city is beautiful and welcoming! (The winter part is negotiable.)

Bon voyage! Until the next adventure :) Stay healthy, stay warm, stay away from icy patches.

All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission. (Yes, I’m watching.)

Tools used for my painting: Watercolour by Charvin and Van Gogh brands (yes, THE Van Gogh—no big deal), Derwent watercolour pencils that cost more than my rent, and Faber Castell artist pens for the details. Paper by Strathmore Watercolour and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.) – perfect for when you want your masterpieces portable-sized.

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My Toronto. Stay home and Urban sketching. Travel and Art. Music Garden, downtown. Part 9

ArtTravel

Welcome to the grand finale of my daily “travel and art” expedition through my home city Toronto—specifically October, when the weather couldn’t decide if it was summer or fall and everyone just wore a hoodie with the faint hope they’d covered all their bases. This post is about my neighborhood and that delightful little oasis called the Music Garden, where I pretend I’m culturally sophisticated when really I just wanted a place to sketch away from distracting squirrels.

Yes, that lamp is judging you.

The current unusual year with #stayhome and #lockdown is giving me the “opportunity” (read: forced chance) to discover the bright and friendly place I live in. Turns out when you can’t leave your city, you get really creative about appreciating it. Who knew?

The tram that never waited for anyone.

This painting is mostly for fun :) Honestly, the main subject is that bright yellow street sign screaming “Sidewalk maybe slippery” at the pedestrians—because nothing says “artistic endeavor” like immortalizing municipal warnings in watercolor. I may or may not have laughed while painting it.

I used to trudge this way every morning to my office like a regular working human. Not this year! Almost all locals are now professional Zoom dwellers, except for our essential and frontline workers—thank you, seriously! This particular bridge? It’s on Spadina avenue at Front street, where I stand looking artistically contemplative while secretly plotting which coffee shop to revisit.

Nature doing its best impression of a painting.
Still prettier than my apartment.

The Music Garden is still blooming, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that autumn exists. Apparently Mother Nature didn’t get the memo about the seasonal calendar this year, which honestly? Respect.

The garden, unbothered, thriving, iconic.

My fall “travel and art” adventure in October’s Toronto has officially concluded. Turns out there are buckets of lovely places in and around the city if you’re brave enough to venture beyond your kitchen during a lockdown. (Spoiler: I was.)

High Park in fall. No filter needed — but I used one anyway.

I documented some of my daily sketches this month, capturing my “art office” in all its chaotic glory—you know, that corner where I pretend to look professional while surrounded by paint-stained brushes, mysterious crumbs, and at least three empty coffee cups. It’s organized chaos. Mostly chaos.

Bon voyage! Until the next adventure :) Stay healthy—and more importantly, stay creative!

All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission. (Yes, I’m protective of my work. You would be too if you’d spent this much time not getting paid for it.)

Tools used for my painting: Watercolor by Charvin and Van Gogh (the fancy stuff that makes you feel fancy for approximately 0.5 seconds before you drip it on your sleeve). Derwent watercolor pencils and Faber Castell artist pens (because I like to mix media and confuse myself). Paper: Strathmore Watercolor and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.)—perfect for when you want to create art but also maintain your sanity by keeping it to a manageable size.

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My Toronto. Stay home and Urban sketching. Travel and Art. Old Toronto. Part 8.

ArtTravel

My daily sketches’ journey in October 2020 is very close to the end. The next chapter is Old #Toronto.

Gooderham and Worts Distillery National Historic Site of Canada with industrial skyline of pitched roofs, turrets, chimney stacks and parapet.

When every chimney has retired but still dresses for the occasion.
Brick by brick, century by century — still standing, still judging your latte choices.
Old buildings staring down the new ones like: ‘We were here first.’

There are abandoned buildings with modern city’s buildings as background. Paintings were done as mixed of watercolour pencils, watercolour paints and acrylic, above added oil to add some texture for bricks.

I added cum clouds for peaceful sky and keep the interest in the scene to substitute buildings’ pipes that do not smoke anymore.

Abandoned? Prefer ‘vintage and unbothered.’
Cobblestones: lovingly restored. Tourist elbows: free of charge.

A lovingly rebuilt historic district that’s now so touristy, even the cobblestones are posing for selfies—yet somehow the old spirit still refuses to check out.

Canada Malting Site .It is one of two remaining silos in Toronto’s Harbourfront in Ontario, Canada. It is almost 100 years.

The museum and house Sir William Campbell is a vibrant public space where members of Toronto’ communities giving life to the words “freedom of expression.” Painting was done as combination of fountain pen with watercolour paints.

Almost 100 years old and still not on TikTok. Respect.

Toronto’s CN Tower, casually photobombing downtown with its reflection on the surrounding buildings, has been the city’s superstar landmark for the last 45 years. That basically makes it ancient history by our young country and city standards. CN originally stood for Canadian National, the railway company that decided, “You know what would be fun? A *massive* tower.” At over half a kilometer tall (555 m), the CN Tower spent more than three decades as the reigning champ of tallest building, tower, and freestanding structure—because apparently “really, really tall thing” needed multiple categories.

The CN Tower refused to be painted directly. A diva to the last pixel.

I decided to be “original” and painted this famous building, the CN Tower, not directly, but as a reflection in the fancy high-rises that try very hard to look taller than Canada’s tallest landmark:)
I splashed in deep blue and juicy raspberry colours for a slightly over-the-top romantic vibe. This early-dawn scene was painted in the morning before work hours—because coffee and sunrise apparently make me think I’m a landscape poet with a paintbrush.

Bon voyage! Until the next travel:) All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.

Tools used for my painting Watercolour used Charvin and Van Gogh brands, Derwent watercolour pencils and Faber Castell artist pens. Paper Strathmore Watercolour and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.)

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My Toronto. Stay home and Urban sketching. Travel and Art. Weird statues-2. Part 7.

ArtTravel

Daily sketches in downtown Toronto with some funny sculptures. In this post I am adding 3 interesting sculptures and architecture that are located at one park, very convenient for the artists, locals and tourists:)

Dog Fountain at Berczy park. 2020 new reality. I saw some disposable masks on the sculptures of dogs. It is still one of the favorite meet point for friends in the city:) I added coolers of sour cream, tobacco and cappuccino to add warmth of the last days of the Indian summer. 

https://pixels.com/featured/toronto-dog-fontain-at-berczy-park-tamara-vitsenkova.html

Toronto downtown beautiful Flatiron building by architector Derek Besant. It has a narrow angle from one side, but I like its facade on Berczy park, overlooking the square, like the wrapped edges of autumn leaves. I using colors salmon + rose + vanilla

https://pixels.com/featured/torontoflatiron-building-at-berczy-park-tamara-vitsenkova.html

And another weird and fanciful sculpture of hands out of the ground. Maybe they are life-giving hands of the Earth?:) In my painting I used matte and very deep black with indigo, grass is an autumn shade of flax. The background is the peach-colored building Flatiron building at Berczy park.

https://pixels.com/featured/torontohands-sculpture-at-berczy-park-tamara-vitsenkova.html

Bon voyage! Until the next travel:)

All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission

Tools used for my painting Watercolour used Charvin and Van Gogh brands, Derwent watercolour pencils and Faber Castell artist pens. Paper Strathmore Watercolour and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.)

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