Venerdi in Venice: Roamin' Gondola

 

ink & watercolour illustration commission for Sisterhood of the Travelling Scarves

When engaged by these women to go roaming, the gondolier had an entirely different kind of Rome in mind.  Luckily, they're quite happy and not at all alarmed to suddenly find themselves in the fountain outside the Pantheon, in spite of this not being a Tim Burton movie.   But there is more to the story...

A few months ago, a lovely lady named Michelle saw my illo over at Pierre's Venice Daily Photo.  Before you could order a Chianti, she'd told some of her Italy-besotted friends, and the charming Maxine commissioned me to create an illustration to represent the friendship and shared love of Italy within their group {known amongst themselves as the Sisterhood of the Travelling Scarves}.  Maxine's brief to me was to draw three ladies with scarves and incorporate a gondola and the Pantheon.  So you see, the gondolier was on the right track after all, though possibly shouldn't have deserted his post for the sake of a quick gelato nearby {something I'm tempted to do myself}.

Since then, I've met several of the Sisterhood through emails, including one hilarious lady who happens to live in North Queensland, not far {by a country folks' compass} from where my father was born.  Get outta here! I thoroughly enjoyed the process, and what a delightful bunch they are!  I'll bet none of them would mind steering the gondola around the fountain in the absence of their errant gondolier ~ not one little bit. And on that note...

Happy Venerdi in Venice {and Rome} to you!