After the lovely days spent in Biarritz, we headed to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a little bit further down the coast, and quite close to Spain. A nice little town with a harbour full of character, quite a lot of motifs for me, but unfortunately I was a little bit tired of drawing these kind of motifs and I didn’t sketch as much there as the place deserved.
This was my very first sketch in the harbour. As Kevin -who had left me alone and gone exploring the town in search if some internet cafe- saw it, he asked:
“who is that guy?”
To tell the truth, that guy was a Japanese girl, who was sitting there with another Japanese girl, both having their breakfast. And no, I didn’t try to sketch some Japanese girl, I just found the position nice, and a good element for the sketch. But I do wonder if that girl would somehow recognise herself if she one day finds this sketch on the net…
Complicated motifs in that town really… much stuff going on…. I did my best
At some point when I was drawing heard a young couple discussing not far from me. The guy said:
“When one sees St. Jean de Luz on a postcard, one thinks it is a beautiful Harbour. But in fact, it hasn’t got anything special!”
“Not, really no! But they always find a way to make look places attractive on postcards… a special point of view, a special light… but really, it is not nice here!” answered the wife.
I was shocked, asking myself what more these people wanted? They must be really spoiled in life and live normally in a magical environment… well, their voices sounded very posh, this is already a sign. Anyway, I hated to hear them say that. I bet they wondered what I could find to sketch in that ugly harbour…
On the following sketch, in the lower right hand corner, you can see the boat with which we had a trip to Spain. A nice two hours trip, as always I enjoyed very much to be at sea.. I love boats, any kind of boats, they make me feel extremely free…
Please don’t try to understand the boat design, the sketch is totally wrong, half on purpose…
June 4, 2010 at 12:50 am
Hi Miki! I just sent your blog to the students who will be in France with me as an example of a marvelous watercolor sketchbooking style. I hope to be as free and expressive as you when I’m there. I’ll be thinking of you.
June 4, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Hi Susan! I feel honored… but really, just be YOU, you are more yhan enough free and expressive in your sketching! I;ll write before you leave…