Traveling by bus from Ottawa to Toronto takes a while. More precisely, a bit more than 5 hours, and that's with no traffic. I can only watch one movie in one sitting - which not only explains the increasing reluctance I have to take the plane overseas, but adds to the annoyance that my attention span has, on the other hand, reduced considerably (blame it on the weather ;) ) Plus, there's only one "Gone with the Wind" - and nope, they can not do a remake of that one and they know it.
I resorted to sketching then. And since the bus was moving at the required speed to make those 5 hours happen, I searched the dear Internet for a topic to draw. Always loved old streets and plazas and I do have my favourites in the group. What better excuse to start that series I've always wanted to do? Sibiu is a city in the middle of my country of origin - I visited it often enough to remember some lovely bits. One of them is an ascending/descending cobblestone street under medieval arches which support the surrounding citadel walls. Because of the many stairs it holds to make walking easier, it is called the Stairs Passage. I chose a representative angle which gives an idea of the picturesque of the place and started to sketch it in black pencil on the rather thin paper notebook I had with me, so I knew it wouldn't be a watercolor in the end.
With the limited amount of colored pencils I had with me (they came in a box I grabbed quickly upon leaving the house for the station), I decided to wait until my return to Ottawa to finish it.
I was quite satisfied with the rendering and overall quality in the end when I discovered a little detail a la M.C. Escher - can you tell which is it? If you can't, it means the rendering truly catches the eye and manages to conceal it! :))