I reflect on the idea that good design, like good technique, is invisible. The roads are challenging here, we navigate impossibly narrow streets,  devilish switchbacks and cavalier pedestrians but the driving is so instinctive, the CX-30’s performance so seamless it frees my mind to wander in the clouds as we drive. We orbit the Lake through sun and shadow-striped tunnels. Ice cream-coloured villas line the elegant streets in lemon and pistachio tones, framed by grand cyprus trees and vivid magenta geraniums.

As the light shifts we make brief stops for Sonia to sketch. The clouds scan past at pace and the quicksilver sky transforms itself by the second. I ask Sonia how she can possibly work fast enough to capture the scene. She quotes one of her heroes, Mark Rothko ““A painting is not the picture of an experience but is the experience.” When she is out in the landscape she captures fragments, but she is not trying to literally depict the scene, rather she gathers impressions of her experience. Back in her studio she interprets  these references to make the final work.

We reach Varenna at the base of the Agueglio Pass – an elaborate scribble of a road – and begin our ascent into the mountains seeking the best vantage point for Sonia to set up her easel. Motorbikes sway past us round blind bends as we slalom slowly up the lush alpine pass. The motion becomes hypnotic as we climb up higher into the sky. Soon we are above the slender drifts of clouds that cling to the lake. The mood in the car is serene and companionable as we marvel at the light and discuss art, life, the universe and everything.

Just as the sun begins to dip we find our perfect location, a scenic viewing area offering a divine panorama. The car’s platinum quartz paint glows in treacly dusk light as the lake comes alive, burnished by the rose gold sky. All we hear is the far hum of a seaplane drawing lofty vapor trails and iconic mahogany motorboats slicing through the lake.

Sonia disappears into her work, depositing glossy blobs of titanium white, burnt sienna and vermillion oils onto her palette, deftly mixing them into a more delicate spectrum. The depth of the gold canvas gently reflects her movements through transluscent layers of paint in a dreamy metamorphosis.

Too soon the world turns blue and the mountains vanish into the night sky. Sonia is done for today, but pleased with what she has achieved, excited to get back to her studio to see what paintings will suggest themselves. We coast slowly down the pass, the night air streaming in the windows sweet with jasmine. Two happy little specks in the vast dark night.

Direction + words: Jenni Doggett
Photography: Tanveer Badal
Film: Calum Currie