Venice Watercolor and an Artful Promise

copyright © Sophia Khan

Original ~ Sold, Available as a Fine Art Print here

I hope that wherever within this beautiful and vast world that we share, you may be, that you are safe, well, happy, and hopeful at the start of this new year. I write this to you, as I often do, partly within my journal first, then on my computer, with a warm scented cup of tea in hand, thoughts turned towards the romance of things beautiful to the eyes, lyrical to the mind, and emotive to the senses, imbued by the nostalgia of distant travel memories.

Painting places I have traveled to is one way I find hope and inspiration because these sites reflect the grandeur of the human spirit. They reveal our collective capacity for thousands of years to celebrate our vision of how we want to live in this world, through how we build. But also because these places often tell us stories within themselves, of how they were conceived, and continue to stand and inspire us, having been built with this foundation of hope within their very stones.

Venice...I talk about and paint her often, as you may know. I read stories about her, I remember and I forget her, I weave words and brushstrokes around the enchantment of her piazza, her canals, her edifices, her stones, her carvings. But I am grateful that, despite having painted her for several years, I always find something new about her through this expressive medium of watercolor. A medium which inspires me to remain, to linger a bit longer, to listen, to see, to dream in color a place where I long to be. And then, for a moment in my studio, in some way, through the use of the very same element upon which she rests, water....I am there.

Venice isn’t the only place I am grateful to know through travel. There are many others, throughout Italy, and other countries that have inspired my journey to becoming an Artist. Along these lines, through the space that staying at home these past several months has created, a beautiful idea that I am excited about has come to me. I will very much look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks.

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Whether you reside in the US, or elsewhere, you are likely aware of the horrific events that transpired at our Capitol two weeks ago. The very same day that this attack occurred, in the midst of deep concern around my nation, I painted a watercolor of the Capitol, partly to give myself hope. I am now offering complimentary stationary, featuring this watercolor, titled “Promises to Our Nation.” The idea behind this piece is that it can be used to reflect on and write down a list of promises we make as individuals to our nation; a set of actions around how to never take our democracy for granted and what we can do to uphold that commitment. As a lovely family member suggested, it can also be worked on as a family exercise. If this is something that resonates, it is available as a complimentary PDF download, here.

If you use this stationary to reflect on your promises to your nation, I would love to see what you write. Please tag me on Instagram @sophiakhanstudio with hashtag #promisestoournation, if you are so inclined to share.

If you live in another country, I might suggest sharing with someone you know in the US, or perhaps even using this stationary to reflect on promises you make to your own country of residence.

I am very excited to share that this stationary will also be part of the resources available for Valarie Kaur’s upcoming People’s Inauguration. If you haven’t already, watch her deeply moving and inspiring TED talk, and join her People’s Inauguration, the day after our Presidential Inauguration, to be inspired and guided around birthing a new vision for our nation. I am very excited around the momentum she is building around the message of love, hope, unity, inclusion, compassion, and justice, and how to carry these towards birthing a renewed future.

I thank you for being here with me, both my new and long time subscribers, and I will look forward to sharing more of the colors, joys, and inspirations around my art and wanderlust with you in the coming weeks. As always, I love hearing from my subscribers, so if ever you’d like to be in touch, simply reply to this email. It may take just a few days, but I always write back :~)

Until next time, wishing you and your loved ones safety, hope, joy, serenity, and beauty at every step we take into our collective future ahead.

Venice Watercolours in my Studio

copyright © Sophia Khan

Still on the canvas of my mind….San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

Instagram

San Giorgio Maggiore Venice Watercolor

copyright © Sophia Khan

Even when we're there, it exists for us somewhere between dreams and memories. San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice.

Available as an original watercolor from my online gallery here.

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Instagram

Heartbeat of Venice Watercolour

A place that celebrates both the city and our presence within it. A place both opulent, and warm and inviting. Piazza San Marco, the heartbeat of Venice.

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If you’d like to see more of my Venice watercolors on Instagram, you can follow along here @sophiakhanstudio

Wonder & New Venice Watercolours

New Venice Watercolours being painted in my studio

The beauty, the joy, the ache, and the delight of life is that it is ever changing. Oceans, winds, the flight of birds, clouds across a waxing moon....everywhere we look we are reminded of constant change, flux, and the beauty of movement.

The mood and air around my studio and life in general these days have been one of embracing this ever changing stream of life's changes, with a sense of wonder. A bit more about this......

The past few months have humbled us to the truth that we are not quite in control of everything. And that there are things that are beyond our full comprehension.

Thoughts can't save us. How we feel can't save us. But what can free us, I suggest, is wonder.

It's a tool, and a way of being, that has never failed me. Even prior to our current global condition, curiosity and wonder have always paved a path ahead whatever may come my way, in the delightful changes of my day to day.

The way it works is simple. Let's imagine there is something coming up in my personal or professional life, that feels a bit challenging to me. Rather than letting that create inertia, I shift the situation to one of curiosity and wonder, by engaging with what might look like one of the following questions:

~ "I can't wait to meet with......I look forward to enjoying our conversation and seeing how the meeting goes."

~ "I wonder what will happen when I......."

~ "Tomorrow, I am planning on.....It will be interesting to see what happens."

Exercising this shift not only frees us from any hesitation or worry we might have when anticipating something ahead, but it holds a beautiful lamp of curiosity from which we can see and experience things with a certain richness and child like wonder, which have little attachment to preconceived outcomes, or even the past.

Wonder is also something that keeps a certain freshness and joy in my studio, while painting watercolours. As is the case with a new series of Venice watercolours I am working on, some of which are shown above.

I've been enjoying a text written over 100 years ago, on Venice, which is infusing the air around my studio with a desire to paint the city in new and exciting brushstrokes.....these watercolours are becoming more about Venice's romance with the sea. I look forward to sharing more of these as the process continues to unfold.

As is often the case with my best work, or the work I feel is most aesthetically pleasing, it is often that moment when I am painting and think to myself, There is nothing to lose, that the real magic begins to happen. When I paint with this approach in mind, it takes my art to new places that I wouldn't be able to go if I keep painting within my 'comfort zone.' And when I paint as if there is nothing to lose, there is immense opportunity inherent in the richness of that moment. And this leads to the most interesting results. Yes, thank goodness I am not a surgeon! Yet, I must say, I do believe in the healing abilities of the Arts, be it a painting, music, a place, or anything made beautifully and with the humble grace of an intention to move others.

I am grateful that the practice of Art, and being a Watercolourist, specifically, has taught me much that I can apply to other areas of my life. What if, just like when I paint, as I am going through the beautiful motions and changes in the ocean of life and my path begins to feel hazy or not that well lit ahead of me, I think to myself as I continue ahead despite the uncertainty, What do I have to lose? And what if I return to the practice of allowing wonder and curiosity to take the reigns. I can't wait to see what lays ahead.

If this might be something that perhaps speaks to you, I invite you to see what it might offer. Perhaps it's a practice you already embrace?

And on another note, on my Instagram I recently shared a delightful interview I had with Create Magazine titled, "Landscape of Feelings and Memories," which, if you didn't happen to read and would like to know more about my creative journey and thoughts, is available here.

Until next time, I wish you and your loved ones much serenity, beauty, joy, grace, and an abundance of wonder.

The Joy of Venice Watercolour

A Venice watercolor, work in progress, Palazzo Ducale, copyright © Sophia Khan

May the year 2020 be one of immense joy and abundance for you. May it be a year of gratitude and unending reasons for more and more gratitude each moment, every day ahead. May it bring you gifts beyond what you dream of. May the spirit of love and warmth, friends, family, and community surround you. May this ripple in beautiful waves to all those we know, all those we encounter along our paths, and may this lead to more pathways to love, acceptance, togetherness, healing, and bliss throughout our world.

May we all remember and cherish the gift of life, and remember the gift of being here on this Earth. May we remember to see not only ourselves as luminous but one another as such.

I thank you, dearly for opening your inbox to my art, travels, and creative diary. It brings me immense joy to share these with you.

The new year is often a time of reflection for me on the year that past and the one that will come ahead.

This past year I had the pleasure of exploring a few new creative avenues. They are all distinct from one another, but they all come together to enhance and bring new life and creative energy to almost anything I do.

Many people say that when we do the things we love, we lose track of time. I believe this to be true. I find there is also an element of losing 'self.' I believe in having a muse. What that is, is not for me to know or even inquire. But I do know that my best work comes when I stop thinking, stop analyzing....simple stop being as I am in the world, and allow for a space, an opening through which inspiration arrives. At the same time, the muse works with our inherent and unique gifts, so it is deeply rooted in who we are as individuals. Perhaps then, the creative act it is a sort of meditation. One is which we do lose 'self' but are 'found' again with this muse, through the very things we make, be it a painting, a sculpture, a song, a poem or other. The creative life is something I am deeply grateful for and hope to always nurture. If you are also a creative in some way, I would be curious to hear your thoughts and what your experience around this may be, if you might like to share.

One of my new creative explorations is the joy of learning to play an instrument, which I look forward to continuing this year. In my art practice, I have three new watercolor series that I would like to paint, along with some studies I am doing in my watercolor journal around John Ruskin's Stones of Venice. I look forward to sharing this new art with you.

I love the idea of new. But I also love remembering the best of the past, and allowing that to guide the new. I have a lot of tools/exercises that I enjoy using around this time of year to allow myself to do this. If these might interest you, simply reply to this message and I can happily share.

I look forward to each moment ahead and to the creative possibilities that are stirring in my studio. I hope that whatever brings you the most joy, you are able to embrace even more of in 2020. And may this joy continue to bring an abundance of gifts into your world, for you and those around you.

Until next time, wishing you my very best, and a most beautiful and wonder filled start to this new year.

If you enjoyed reading this, I would love to send you my thoughtful and occasional art letters:

A Venetian Morning at Caffe Florian

A Watercolor inspired by my sketch at Caffe Florian

“In order to paint Venice beautifully, I must enjoy her beautifully.”
- Venice, 2016

Having visited Venice a few times since 1998, I finally treated myself to the pleasure of my own personal “Florian experience,” during my last painting trip to the city, in 2016. The timing was perfection, as two days after writing the above words in my travel diary, I had breakfast at Caffe Florian. I was indeed to enjoy Venice, beautifully.

That morning, I dressed myself as was befitting for the occasion, with a colorful and silky dress. As the city awoke, I boarded the vaporetto from my hotel near the Basilica dei Frari, accompanied by locals who seemed to be headed off for a day’s work. I too was heading to work, in a certain way. I was to dedicate my day to painting a watercolor for one of my trip’s patrons.

I arrived at Caffe Florian, just as it was opening its doors. I was warmly greeted and welcomed to sit anywhere I pleased. I walked around taking in the refined elegance of the interiors before selecting my table. I chose a seat that was in a corner near an open door looking into Piazza San Marco. From here, I could look outward at the piazza in one glance, inward at the cafe in another; my enjoyment drifting between the sights and sounds of both.

I ordered tea, a small plate of macarons, and a strawberry cake. Could one have dessert for breakfast? The question barely crossed my mind at the time. My waiter soon arrived with a silver tray served with my chosen delights. I feasted first, on the presentation itself. The colorful plate of macarons arranged as if an artist’s culinary color palette, complimented by the delicacy of the strawberry cake. The silverware, befitting for the delectable treats to be savored slowly.

As I dined at Caffe Florian, my time felt like a brief yet deeply enchanted and romantic moment in the vastness of time; the near 300 years that the cafe has been welcoming its guests from Piazza San Marco.

My morning at Caffe Florian

Can a place feel both opulent and welcoming? Can an experience be both majestic and personable? I feel that much of Venice and certainly Piazza San Marco has these qualities. Caffe Florian felt like the “icing on the cake” with which the city served this unique blend of experiences for me to enjoy my very own taste.

Before leaving the cafe, I gave myself the added treat of visiting the gift shop. With the help of the kind gentleman who worked there, in a room that felt like a treasure box of delights, I selected a few teas and a blue damask tote. Each gift was carefully packaged into its own gift bag; a gesture celebrating and recognizing the uniqueness of each treat, as well as the care with which each was selected.

I do believe that mornings are a precious and tender time of the day, and that they set the tone for what is to come throughout the rest of the day. Unbeknownst to me, my breakfast at Caffe Florian would lead to the most enjoyable painting session of my painting trip. The warmth and ambiance I experienced at the cafe mirroring themselves in the fuchsia and orange watercolor pigments I was to later paint with.

Every now and then I treat myself to this touch of Florian hospitality through their e-shop. The latest to arrive are their Venetian Mosaic tea, a long time favorite, as well as an elegant pouch in a fuchsia color reminiscent of the cafe’s upholstery. With this, I carry the beauty of my “Florian experience” with me every day.

My latest treats from the doors of Caffe Florian

I thank Caffe Florian for this most enchanted memory and until we meet again, I will remember my time through the flavors, the riches, and the moments that grace my easel, my memories, and my diaries…

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A Venice Letter from my Studio

I hope that the beginning of 2019 has been a beautiful, joyful, and love filled time for you and yours. And I hope that the serenity and hope that filled your heart at the coming of a new year, continues to be with you throughout this year and beyond, and that it bring you an endless abundance of gifts.

Andrew Harvey, a mystic writer and teacher, is someone I have been blessed to learn from. In one of his online teachings, he shares an exercise in which we were to write about (10) moments in our life, in which we experienced awe. We then wrote the specifics about how this awe was experienced, and what this awe was telling us that makes us so excited. It sounds fairly simply, but upon such deep reflection on those moments of awe in my life, I was able to go quite deep into a well of knowing and appreciation of the true gifts within each of those moments of awe. Moments that I would otherwise gloss over in my memory.

It came to me as no surprise, that many of those moments in my life were experienced during my travels. And whether you have been reading my letters for years, or are new here, you likely will know the affinity, the reverence, and the passion I have for travel. For me, that does not mean I have to travel often. Rather, it means I have to travel well. One way in which that materializes for me, is that I often only visit one city, no matter the length of my stay. I enjoy immersing myself slowly into a new culture, and trying to experience it as if I was living there, not just passing by.

Several letters ago, some time after returning from my trip to Paris, I touched upon how I would not be painting and sharing my work as often as I typically did. This turned out to be a good thing for two reasons. One, being something that I hope to share in the coming months, and the other being that it has given me insights into seeing my work in a larger context. One example of that is a deeper sense of gratitude towards the places that continue to inspire my art, not the least of which is the city of Venice. Sadly, I am seeing and reading about many ways in which the city is being threatened. From it architecture, be it the cruise ships causing detriment to fragile foundations and walls, or flooding during high tides, to its culture and the livelihood of the Venetians, be it mass, and sadly often insensitive, tourism, the rising cost of living, the closing of small shops that cater to locals, and the lack of work opportunities to encourage younger generations of Venetians to stay within the city. Much of this I have come to learn of, through the twitter account of Dream of Venice.

Being that much of what is harming the city of Venice results from mass tourism, I cannot help but feel that if I return I must somehow earn my right to do so. I do not know exactly what that means for me right now. But what I do know and what I can do is help to fortify the city, in my own minuscule way, through supporting the work of Save Venice, a nonprofit which has been working on architectural restoration and art conservation projects throughout the city. If you are a collector, your support has helped enable me to become a member, so I am very grateful for being able to play my small part.

In my next letter, I will share another place in Italy that I am passionately painting. It happens to be a bit off the beaten path. It's a place I haven't spoken about or painted very often in the past, but it is strangely very close to my heart. I will look forward to sharing with you.

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An Enchanted Moment at Caffe Florian, Venice

Watercolor on Fabriano paper, copyright © Sophia Khan

Here it is...And it only happens once a year. My holiday special on art including Original Watercolors, Limited Editions, and Greeting Cards.

Now through Friday, November 23rd, enjoy complimentary shipping on all orders over $70. And yes, this includes international orders as well :~)

It's the start of the holiday season, and for me it's a lovely time to celebrate life; a time of hope, wonder, family, warmth, laughter, and lots of beauty everywhere. So if you'd like to treat yourself or a loved one to some beauty from my studio, I would love for you to enjoy this special.

The discount code is: ARTLOVE

I hope you enjoy! :~)

The above watercolor takes me back to a time of wonder, beauty, enchantment, and the kindness of others, which I experienced in my last painting trip to Venice. If it would delight you to own this piece, please send me a message through my ‘connect’ page, and I'll share the details.

Wishing you a most wonder filled start to the holiday season, filled with much love, joy, beauty, and laughter!

Xx
Sophia

Painting Grandeur in Venice

This month marks a special time for me, as an artist. It is my five year anniversary of being an 'artist-preneur', as we've taken to sometimes calling ourselves. The rewards of having chosen to embark on this path are many; some are outward, many are inward. After my very first year as a working artist, I had written about the many gems of wisdom I gained, on the beautifully nourishing website of Carrie-Ann Moss, Annapurna Living, which can be read here.

If you happen to read it, I would love to hear your thoughts, if you are so inclined to share.

Many of you will know that the architecture of Venice, and of many other Italian cities are my very favorite subjects to paint. For me, these places represent an art, an aspiration which I feel is, for the large part, lacking in modern times.

I look to the Pantheon in Rome, to the Duomo of Florence, and to many of the Gothic cathedrals in Europe. In the expanse of their magnificent domes, I see a representation of the grandeur of the human spirit and its aspirations towards something greater than itself, towards the divine, and towards ideals and perfect form.

These structures also display attention to details as seen in their intricate stone carvings, and harmonic proportions as evident in the geometry of their plans and elevations. While these all give a wonderful sense of scale in relation to the human form, the magnificence of their domes allow the human spirit to soar.

For me, these ideas are far more enriching than the question of who can build the tallest skyscraper standing today.

Photo and sketches of the Pantheon in Rome, from my 2004 travel sketchbook

This sense of grandeur is not only evident in churches and cathedrals throughout Italy, but also in experiences such as drifting along the grand canal in Venice at nightfall and catching glimpses of the opulence behind the facades of palazzi.

The above watercolor is one in which I started experimenting with this idea of grandeur through my memories of traveling to Venice.

One of the other subjects I have also been painting is flowers. For me, they are a dip into the well of joy. The more time I spend on this Earth the more I notice just how beautiful and precious this life we live truly is....

‘Watercolor Petals’ in my sketchbook

And because I have been finding so much joy in painting these 'watercolor petals' I have a small offering. If you would like to purchase artwork from my online shop, be it a limited edition print, an original, or a set of notecards, I will also be painting a small 'watercolor petal' to gift you, as a delightful treat. I will be offering this for the next five days.

I hope you enjoyed reading this letter, and thank you for being here. May your day and weekend ahead be filled with much beauty, wonder, and joy.