Tower, Lucca, Italy

From the circular city wall, I saw St Catherine's Cathedral tower illuminated against the setting sun and set-up my easel to paint. I had to work very fast as the autumn light was fading with a rapid sunset. I got the essence of the whole scene quickly thinking I'd finish it at home. The strong light was changing dramatically and I was in full concentration to get it down. I did not realize a large crowd (@50-60 people) had gathered just behind me to watch until I finished and turned around to an outburst of applause. It scared the crap out of me as I had not done a plein air in front of such a large group of people before. They clearly loved the experience as much as I did while painting there. That was one of the first times I had completely exposed my work and working process in public. They were very polite (I didn't once get interrupted) and I completely overcame my fear of painting in public that day.