British Isles Voyage: More Photos of Fota House

Fota House and its grounds were so beautiful, so different than where I live, that I took loads of photos.  I thought you might like to come along on a tour of its arboretum and grounds.

Massive, ancient trees greeted us from the moment we set foot on the grounds.

Majestic beeches, oaks, and exotic trees like this Eucalyptus cordata (below) from Tasmania filled the landscape.  

Autumn's colorful show had begun.

Over and over again, I was fascinated by the ancient, magical-looking trees that seemed to be enchanted personalities from a fairy tale.

I half expected to see elves and fairies dancing beneath them.

The Victorian gardens mixed the rugged beauty of ancient stone walls with formal, courtly plantings.

I loved the garden gates and the sense of having rooms within the landscape.

I hope you've enjoyed this armchair tour and found something to make a sketch or painting of.

Happy Creating!

British Isles Tour: Dolphins!

Sailing near Oban, Scotland, David photographed these dolphins riding in our bow wake.  How exciting to see the dolphins racing through the water right alongside our ship! It was as if they wanted to play with the great ocean liner.

I took a quiet afternoon in our stateroom as we sailed on and used his photo to create this watercolor sketch.

I was taken by the way the wind caught the tops of the waves and blew the spray, so I played with wet-in-wet techniques to express that motion.

I hope you'll make your own sketch of these dolphins!

Happy Creating!

British Isles Tour: Meeting a European Robin

We ate lunch at the Dunollie Castle Cafe, enjoying their outdoor seating.  This friendly robin and his mate patrolled the picnic tables for crumbs.

European Robins enchant me with their curious, friendly nature. I asked David to take the photo above so I could create this sketch from it.

I hope you'll create a sketch from this photo, too!

Happy Creating!

British Isles: Scotland and Dunollie Castle!

I finally got to visit and paint a castle as I'd always wanted!

Dunollie Castle was about a mile walk from the port of Oban along the coastline.  

We climbed the hill to the castle ruins and enjoyed the views.  I took loads of photos like this one, and later painted this spread in my travel journal.

I began with a pencil sketch, then added fine ink lines with a Faber Castell India ink pen.

I added washes of stone colors once the ink was dry. The stone is made from mixtures of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna with touches of yellow Ochre and sap green to create the mossy bits.

The sky came next -- a wet wash of phthalo blue with ultramarine blue mixed in here and there.  While the paint was wet, I dabbed out areas of clouds with dry paper towel.

Next came the greenery -- mixtures of sap green with various yellows, and Hooker's green with ultramarine blue.  Also, phthalo blue mixed with burnt Sienna created the deep, foresty greens of the ivy-covered wall on the right.  The vivid, almost cartoon green grass was a mixture of phthalo blue and lemon yellow.

A few more details were added to the hedge on the left with various shadowy greens to give it depth.  Also, the grasses growing on the top of the castle keep walls were dabbed in with sap green and yellow Ochre.

Finally, the white grout between some of the stones was added in with a white Prismacolor colored pencil.

It was a joy to visit Dunollie Castle, and a joy to paint it!

 To learn more about Dunollie Castle, check out their website here: https://www.dunollie.org/

Happy Creating!

British Isles Tour: The Coast of Northern Ireland

As we sailed from Cobh, Ireland to Liverpool, England, I was inspired by the shoreline that passed by just outside the ship.  I made a very quick pencil sketch in my landscape-oriented watercolor journal, and snapped a murky photo with my cell phone to help me remember the colors in the shoreline.  Later, I finished the sketch with watercolors.

As we traveled north along the coast of Northern Ireland, we passed Mews Lighthouse near Bangor.  I sketched quickly with a pencil, and wrote notes on the colors I saw.  

Later, I added pen lines with a Faber Castell black waterproof marker, and finished the sketch with watercolors.

In the moment, as I sketched the shoreline, it felt impossible to capture the moving scene. Later, looking at the simple landscapes, I love how fresh & alive the pages look to me.  Imperfect art is full of life!

Here's a photo David took of the lighthouse from a slightly different angle.  You can use it to make your own painting of Mews Lighthouse.

Happy Creating!