Travel Sketch from Scotland – 05 -

Scotland - Watercolour, pastel and Ink - By Miki, Summer 2007

Scotland has always been a dream for me as a painter. And as we finally went there, in the Summer of 2007,  I was incredibly excited and couldn’t wait to see with my own own eyes these incredible landscapes I had seen on photos and films.

Well, as we crossed the border between England and Scotland the sun was shining a little bit, and life was wonderful. But then it started raining, and it never stopped again until we left the UK! I must say that I ‘d never in my life seen so much water falling from the sky, rolling down the mountains, and flooding the fields and the roads. That was really impressive!

But well, the problem arose that I hardly could spend an hour sketching outside, and anyway most of the time everything was grey on grey and one couldn’t distinguish any lines or forms! I especially remember how frustrated I was as we arrived at the famous Loch Lomond and I couldn’t see anything!

But well, I still  managed to do some sketches of many of the places where we had been. What I couldn’t see, I simply invented… as I often do anyway!

Yesterday I started working on these sketches, adding colours… as you can see, the colours are invented too!

Perhaps you want to know where this one was… if I remember well, it was in North Uist.

Travel Sketch form The North (of France!)

The North, France - Watercolour and Ink - By Miki, Summer 2007

I’m posting this sketch of the North of France in honour of my two wonderful friends living in France: “Pomme” and “Joel”. The first one, Pomme,  is presently living there, somewhere, and the other, Joel, was actually born there.

I am sorry, but I can’t remember where exactly I did that sketch. I can’t even remember if it was on the big 10 week trip to Scotland, or of it was months before, as we flew to the Bretagne to pick up the the Boomobile (our motor home), which we had just bought through the internet…. but I found the sketch in a book among others from the big trips, so I guess it must be from that time. I even suspect that it was done on the north Coast of France, not too far from the War Museum “Batterie Todt”.

But perhaps my French friends are able to tell me where it really was? Unfortunately I always let myself be carried away by my imagination beyond what I see around me, when I sketch, so I doubt that they will be able to recognise anything! But who knows, they might at least recognise the people walking on the paths?  

Travel Sketch from the Peak District (U.K.)

The Peal District, UK - Watercolour and Ink - By Miki, Summer 2007

One more example of the work I am doing right now on the travel sketches from our trip to Scotland in Summer 2007. This was on the way up. I remember how fascinated I was by the red tree in the foreground… such “details” are what makes me want to sketch a scenery generally. I always need something which specially attracts my eyes. And then I take the rest with me,

“rearrange things, edit, fill in the gaps, recreate… there is no reality, only sifted and reformed images…”

as a painter from Italy wrote the other day in one of my comment threads…

yes, this is fun!

Travel sketch from The Dordogne (France)

The Dordogne, France - By Miki, Summer 2007

This is the place in the Perigord where we doing some canoe… on the river Dordogne.

And although it was the first time for us, the coordination worked quite well and we didn’t miss the gaps under the bridge!

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

Travel Sketch from the Perigord (France)

The Perigord, France - By Miki, Summer 2007

Another from the travel sketches series of the 2007 Summer trip, on which i am working right now…

Theis paintings is available directly online as Giclee prints in many different dimensions, on paper or canvas, and also as greeting cards. Juts click on the widgets below to access my FAA store

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

 

Back in Time to The Perigord

The Perigord, France - By Miki, Summer 2007

From the same trip as my last post, on the way up to The U.K.

I have started to work on the sketches from France today… what a pleasure to remember this trip, and especially the days spent in the Perigord. We both enjoyed there so much our canoe trip on the river Dordogne!

This painting is available directly online as Giclee prints in many different dimensions, on paper or canvas, and also as greeting cards. Just click on the widget below to access my FAA store

 

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

Back in Time to the Peak District…

The Peal District, Uk - By Miki, Summer 2007

In my last post I wrote that I had brought some old sketch books back from my former gallery. Among them I found the sketches I did in Summer 2007, on the 10 week trip we did in The Boomobile (our motorhome) from the South of Spain through France to the Top of Scotland and back. Most of them are only ink sketches, and I am working now on adding some colours to them, in pastel or watercolour. I have started with some sketches from the Peak District, in the U.K. Not quite easy for me because of all these green tones, and I am normally not a fan of the green colour (except in Susan Cornelis‘ paintings!).

I am enjoying doing this work now, almost 2 years after the trip. Many wonderful memories are coming back to my mind, even if  the 6 weeks we spent in the U.K. were all the time under rain and I swore to myself: never again in the U.K. for holidays!

PS: I already chnaged my mind… next time we will go to Devon and Cornwall!