Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre 01 - by Miki

In April 2011, on our way to Tuscany, we spent almost a week in the National Parl of Cinque Terre by the Italian Riviera. It has been been very difficult to reach with the Boomobile, our “Tour Bus” because of the very narrow steep roads. I guess we even went through roads who were prohibited tp such big vehicles, but well, we were not caught… but more than one time I thought it was the end of us: I was scared to death on these roads!!!

I painted the scenery above from a place where we spent the night, by the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere… it was VERY dark there in the night, but at least one could see from there the  lights of the famous villages from Cinque Terre, which we would visit in the next days. I will show some sketches of these villages in later posts (if I don’t forget…)

I tried to paint some impressions from Cinque Terre , out of my fantasy. The mountains,, the high narrow houses, the seagulls…

Cinque Terre 03 - by Miki

Cinque Terre 05 - by Miki

All paintings available are Giclee prints (on paper and canvas, in many different sizes) or as greeting cards directly online at my FAA gallery.

And more generally you can see all the stuff I paint by going to my gallery “Miki’s Enchanted World”

Togetherness in Old Age in Italy

Together old in Italy 01 - by Miki

Travel sketch in ink and watercolour. From the new series “Togetherness and Loneliness in Old Age”.

I spotted these 2 ladies on a bench in Lucca, on the promenade on the city wall. I was delighted by the expressions in their faces, also by the contrast between their black clothes and their faces and the coloured background. I did a quick sketch, but in the heat of the moment, listening to all these secrets they were telling each other, i forgot to take a photograph to refer too later.. Well, just a sketch, but quite funny I think, and quite typical for how I perceived old women in Italy: still enjoying life!

Together old in Italy 04 - by Miki

I spotted this old “couple” in Pietrasanta (Tuscany I think… too lazy to check if Pietrasanta is really still in Tuscany!). Another way not be lonely in old age, a certainly very rewarding one…

Together old in Italy 05 - by Miki

And I saw these 2 guys chatting in the sea town Camogli on the Italian Riviera. Simply a great motif!

Italian Shoes 01

Italian Shoes 01 - by Miki

At some point in Italy  I realised that Italian shoes are a wonderful motif for still life paintings. I don’t remember where I consciously noticed them for the first time but I think it was in the South of Tuscany, in Pienza, as I am not a passionate fan of shopping, and certainly not of fashion. To tell the truth, I hate shopping and fashion!!!! But now,  from the artistic point of view, I wished I would have opened my brain and eyes to that kind of stuff a little bit earlier. At least I was so lucky to have Kevin with me,  he is all the contrary of me regarding fashion, he especially loves his shoes. So I really could not avoid to see that world wonder… I was especially attracted by all these different shoes in red, white and green, the colours of the Italian flag. They are so much fun!!!!

In Pienza, and later on in Montepulciano, I started doing some sketches featuring shoes and bags the way they were exhibited in the many shop windows. I will publish them gradually, after finishing the original sketches. With it I am not pretending being faithful in all details to the Italian elegance, my art works are just impressions, like most of the time, above all focussing on colour, unusual shapes, contrast. Also I was rarely comfortable sketching, as the shops were usually full of tourists eager to spend their money for one or more pairs of these artworks (I mean the shoes, not my paintings!!!!!)    So I hope I won’t get any complaint from these excellent Italian shoe designers!!!

If you fancy to get such shoes and had no opportunity to get some so far, I can’t sell you the shoes, but you can purchase Giclee prints (in many different sizes, on paper or canvas) and greetings cards of these paintings in my Fine Art America Gallery. They might even been cheaper than the shoes themselves,and you get even 3 pairs and some bags for the price of one!

The Italian Job 02 – Santa Margherita

Miki sketching in Italy in Santa Margherita

We arrived in Santa Margherita, an enchanting little town about 25 kilometres  south of Genova on the 3rd of April 2011 and spent some days there. It was strategically well situated, allowing us to make some bike rides along the coast on both directions. This place was where Kevin used to join Ocean Village on occasion, the cruise ship on which he performed a solo rock show before we met. The ship would dock out in the bay and ferry the people to and fro to Santa Margherita by the ship’s tenders.

Here I was confronted with massive American tourism, most of them arriving by sea on the big cruise ships. While I was sketching on that rock, and the arriving AmericanS were dIsembarking behind me, I was thinking: one day , on one of my trips, an American will come to me and recognise me! The fact is that I have many clients in the USA, especially through my Giclee prints gallery in Fine Art America. This would be fun!

Santa Margherita 07 – Travel sketch by Miki

Perhaps you can recognise that this sketch was done exactly in the moment when Kevin took the photo! One of the rare sketches I could do outside that day, as I was freezing! And also after the American landing, it had become much too busy and I was no more able to concentrate on sketching.

Santa Margherita 01 – Travel sketch by Miki

So we had our first encounter with Italian coffee, in form of a Latte Macchiato in a beautiful Cafe full of cookies and stuff which looked incredibly appetising! It was quite hard to resist. And on the way back to Boo, we bought Italian bread, from a friendly bakery, and this was also a big revelation: we just adored it!

Cafe Life In Santa Margherita – Travel sketch by Miki

As I said, we spent some days there, and I managed to do some more sketches. You can see all of them in my FAA gallery. And also buy some prints if you want, they are available there directly online in many different sizes, on paper or canvas, and also as Greeting cards.

The Italian Job 01 – Imperia

Imperia in italy 02 - Travel sketch by Miki

Before we arrived in Italy we spent a few days in France, where I sketched a bit. Right now I don’t know where these sketches are, they kind of disappeared into one of the many secret holes of “Boo” (new nickname for our Boomobile… ), but at some point they will probably reappear and land on the conveyor belt of my production line…

For now, let us go to Italy. It was the Second of April 2011. Some distance before the border between France and Italy, on the Cote d’Azur,  we had abandoned the National street for the highway. In Italy our first contact with an Italian person was the woman at the toll station, well equipped with a charming, welcoming body language. Nothing better than entering a new country and getting at once the feeling  to be wanted! We paid the highway fees and that lovely lady opened her mouth to say:

“Grazie!”

Well, as I commented to Kevin,”There was a whole Italian opera told in this one word!”. The way that woman spoke it was beyond what we normally call language, it took her ages to arrive at the final letter, and the accompanying music was of the most surrealistic kind. From that moment I knew I would never be able to speak Italian, never find the patience and motivation to spend so much time and drama to deliver one word. Later on, every time I heard Italians speaking, my first impression was confirmed. Quite a disappointment to me, as I wanted to learn Italian!

After having left the highway, we drove directly to the coast, in search of a place for the night. We eventually stopped in Imperia, a beautiful little town about 40 kilometres North of San Remo. We had a walk though the town, eager to capture the first impression of Italy. What impressed us here, and would never cease to impress us for the rest of the trip, was the size of the buildings: Great, towering, imposing edifices.

I did some ink and watercolour sketches, and thought of staying one day more there as I saw many attractive motifs. But well, we had just started the trip, and I would probably see millions of stuff to sketch. Better learn from the very beginning to let it go…

Imperia in Italy 02 – Travel sketch by Miki

You can see more sketches and paintings from Imperia in my Fine Art America gallery.

And if you want to purchase a print (on paper or canvas and many different sizes available) just click on the widgets below

Sketching in Saint-Jean-de-Luz

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…

These artworks are available directly online as Giclee print in many different dimensions, on paper or canvas, and also as greeting cards. Just click on the widget below to access my FAA Gallery

On The Beach of The Milady in Biarritz

I have done many more sketches of the town and the harbour of Biarritz, similar to the ones I have shown you in my previous posts. If you really want to see them, I’m sure you will find them somewhere on the net. We spent the last day in Biarritz not in the town though, I wanted to try to sketch the beach close to the motorhome service area, I think it was called The Milady Beach,  something like that. But in French of course… one shouldn’t ask too much English from the French , a good enough effort to give the Beach an English name!

Now, I don’t find it very easy to sketch a beach and a sea with a pen, there’s not much stuff happening with regard to interesting structures and elements, meaning not really many lines… painting a beach and the sea, with water colour /oil etc. is certainly much easier than to sketch them in ink lines… but I can’t be bothered to bring and install all the materials which are necessary to make some water colours/oils outside. I did it in the past, but I was never happy, too complicated, too much organisation, and most of the time, some wind comes across and blows everything away… this certainly was the case on the beach in Biarritz! But well, I like the challenge of sketching everything with an ink pen, and anyway, I fancied doing it, just fancying sitting there and drawing. Sitting outside by such lovely weather and sketching a wonderful landscape is a great experience, and sincerely, I don’t really care about the result, as long as I enjoy the process. And I did!

For my first motif I sat down on the steps going down to the beach… or, from another point of view, up to that little house, which is the bar of the  local surfing school. While I was sitting there, the surfers went  up and down all the time, and my God, I was envying them so much! In the past (I am speaking about 30 years ago unfortunately    ) I learnt windsurfing in Congo (Africa), and practised it a little bit more in Spain. I simply loved it. So much so that later on I even bought a wind surfboard in Germany, but as life dictates, I never came to use it, and it is even there somewhere, stored at the home of some acquaintances from which I have even forgotten the name! Anyway, wave surf is something which looks terribly exciting too!

By the following sketch, I was above all fascinated by the green jetty…  As for the people, I had to be very quick and I doubt that any of them would recognise themselves… the dog should,though! 

At least there were stones everywhere, this gave me the chance of drawing some lines… although I must admit that I don’t take it very seriously with the stones – meaning I get very bored very fast and most of the lines I draw are invented! Shame on me, I know, as stones in fact have interesting structures… it might be the colour which bores me.. although again, looking good enough, stones can have wonderful colours… whatever, I am a “rough sketcher”, as one of my visitors commented, and as such, I am entitled to not give a toss about what I do!

In the following sketch, the colours are invented, of course… and I was so lucky that the ‘Milady’ just crossed the wooden path.. yes, she had just had her hair cut! On the top of the hill, by the way, is -I think – the Ilbarritz castle, about which Kevin has written an essay in Cafe Crem. So, if you are interested in history, don’t miss it. There is there too a photo of the castle, so you can judge for yourself how rough my sketching is…

And finally my last sketch of Biarritz, before we head off the next day towards Saint-Jean-de-Luz… These few there were heaven for me, much stuff to draw, lovely weather, good food, and, more important than anything, a wonderful man by my side, Kev Moore, always ready to do his best so that I get everything I need to be happy and to accompany me to the exact spots where I need to be for artistic inspiration … and you know what? The truth is, all these sketches wouldn’t exist without him…

Bia Bia Biarritz, Biarritz!

Don’t ask why exactly that silly title! Somehow it came to my mind, it is a reference to a song which my father and English tourists sang in the middle of the night when they were partying together, about 50 years ago, in Benidorm?-Spain. The song was

Pia Pia Piano, Piano….

They were standing on cars singing at their top of their voices… and when they got too hot, they ran naked into the Mediterranean sea, having a bath under the well-known Benidorm moon… Ah, my father could be much fun at that time! Spain also was a much better place, where one dreamed to spend the rest of one’s life..  but this is another story for another time, perhaps!

I had been in Biarritz before, but a long time ago and just for a short visit, I hardly remember anything. As we we went with the bikes into the town, I was so glad to see that there were many subjects for me to sketch. Not easy, though, complicated natural and artificial constructions, castles, rock formations, walls… complicated but so charming that I had to draw them. I am not pretending to go for any architectural accuracy here, as always, my sketches are just an impression, driven by my fantasy and my inability to stay long by the subject. My nightmare is often that somebody comes up in the net and shouts at me with some comments like:

There were 10 windows and not 8!

The roof was red and not blue!

The flowers were tulips and not roses!

and so on…

Even the number of towers in this little castle could be wrong, but sincerely, I don’t care!

It was not easy to sketch this day, it was a sunny Saturday, the first one after a long period of rain, and the town was  chock-a-block with tourists. They were everywhere, and I really felt uncomfortable. People are funny, they always think they use clever tricks to try to see you sketching without you noticing, or to take a photo of you sketching in the beautiful environment, an interesting subject I suppose. In fact these secret observers are much more disturbing than the direct ones, because you always have to activate all of your inner eyes and ears to try to locate the spies… Not easy to draw French castles under these conditions!

As you can imagine, that special one inspired me again to a Biblescape… but I won’t show you this time! And as you see, the little castle is standing there again… in each drawing with different proportions and numbers of windows, but in fact, quite recognisable I would say… meaning: what the hell with all these numbers! 

In my next post I’ll show you some boats and houses from the delicious little harbour from Biarritz…

As always, if you want to see some photos from the trip in Biarritz and read the clever travel stories written y Kev Moore, go to Cafe Crem.

A trip through Snow and Sea

S0…

We have just come back from our short motor home trip to my hometown Tarbes, in the French Pyrenees. We had an appointment there for a complete check of the Boomobile, but also we had to transport my 85 year-old parents back from Benidorm, where they spend half of the year, back to their primary residence in Tarbes. Also they needed some checkups, and well, as one gets older, one seems to trust more one’s own doctors.In my case though, I have no doubt that even at 100, I won’t trust any Doctor at all. As my older brother so rightly says:

“I went to the doctor, and since then, I have lost everything I loved in my life: the good food, the cigarettes, the wine!”

Here we are also, back in Turre, very happy to be here but also very happy about the trip, we enjoyed it a lot. We should have beeen gone longer, a whole week more in fact, but the weather had other ideas, especially when 2 days ago, we woke up somewhere in the middle of Spain with snow on the roof of the Boomobile!!!

Most important news first: My parents, as well as the Boomobile are in a perfect state of health… GREAT!

The trip up to Tarbes went well, although we were very worried, Kevin having to drive the whole distance from Benidorm to Tarbes in one go. Certainly totally against our habits, we love to make short breaks whenever we can, and simply enjoy each mile from the life on the road. But with my parents inside the motorhome it was a little bit tight, even if the beast is designed for 6 persons. I guess they mean 6 persons with silent characters, because with 4 people like us, each having loud characters and even louder plans, the life in such a small space cannot last more than 12 hours, at least not peacefully…

We crossed the Pyrenees in the afternoon and I was amazed by the beauty of the mountains. An incredible amount of snow was lying on both sides of the road, but luckily, the road itself was free. I would have loved to stop there for the rest of the day, and made a lot of sketches, but we couldn’t, and the only thing I could do was to draw furtive lines on a water colour sheet while the Boomobile was ascending the steep mountain road. This morning I put some water colour on the lines ( “Colour” being a little bit exaggerated perhaps…) anyway, today I regret intensely not to have had the chance to stay there some more hours: I hardly painted snow landscapes in my life, and I guess I won’t often have the opportunity…

But well, l made other sketches somewhere else, most of them on the French Atlantic coast where we spent some wonderful days under the sun after the stay in Tarbes. I will try to come back more often to my blog to present some of these sketches, but well, I have noticed that I have lost my heart for blogging, kind of… who knows if and where I could find it back!

Halloween drives me crazy!

Here are some of my latest cards creations for the 123 Greetings Studio, for which I was working quite intensively these week, having started there a new project with the team. Many of my actual works are based on my golf paintings, because part of the pnew project is to create a collection of golf greeting cards, and I want to concentrate on it right now.

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

There are muhc more cards in my 123 Studio, so, if you want to see them, and send some today for Halloween, feel free to visit my cards gallery here.

When you are there, please browse the pages around, the Halloween cards might be at the end, as they are the most recent ones.

By the way, if you want me to create some personal cards, or if you have some ideas of cards for all the important events, and would like me to create them and publish them in the Studio, just email me…

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!