Armchair Traveling

Several years ago, David and I flew to England to board the Queen Mary 2 for a Transatlantic Crossing.  You can find that story here:

https://betsyblissart.blogspot.com/2023/08/embarking-on-transatlantic-crossing.html

We had a day to walk around the port city of Southampton, England before boarding our ocean liner, and I snapped lots of photos.

It's a delight to go back to those photos and paint from them.  We saw this little cart of herbs near the historic town walls (built in the 14th century!).

I began with a pencil sketch, then added watercolor washes and finished with some line work in India ink with my Lamy Safari fountain pen.  Towards the very end of painting this scene, my Intuition suggested that I add a bit of purple to the shadows around the cart.  The mint plants had lavender flowers, and using a touch of the same lavender tied the scene together.

Do you have old vacation photos that you'd like to revisit?  Sketches of beautiful scenes can be uplifting on wintry, gray February days.

Happy Creating!

A Video Sketching Visit to England

I've recently discovered the YouTube channel of British artist, Melanie Chadwick, who shares her drawing on location sessions.  I was taken by the seaside scene in her recent "Winter Sketching Tips."  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LCCS1wsyVE&t=30s

I decided to still the video about 30 seconds in and use the image as a reference photo, so I could create from the same scene as Melanie.

I followed Melanie's technique, beginning with a watercolor sketch of the scene with my Winsor & Newton Watercolors.

Melanie then added color and texture with Caran D'Ache Neocolor II Aquarelle Crayons and Derwent Inktense Colored Pencils.  

Both of these media allow you to lay in dense color and then touch in a wet brush to create a watercolor effect.

I followed Melanie's method for the most part, using my Caran D'Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons to layer in more intense color.  I added in some India ink details with a Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen.

I used a Payne's Gray Inktense colored pencil to lay in the dark seaside stones in the hillside and other dark values.

This is the final version of my painting.  I enjoyed being an armchair traveler and trying Melanie Chadwick's technique for drawing on location.

What part of the world would you like to visit?  

Try starting with a video sketch vacation!

Transatlantic Crossing Travel Journal: Dreams for the Future

Back to being a full-time landlubber, I find myself dreaming of visiting the UK again.  I love the friendliness and kindness of the British people, and the beauty of the countryside.  An artist I follow lives in Glastonbury, and speaks of climbing the hill to the Tor in her YouTube videos.  

I Googled Glastonbury and found photos of the town and the Tor to explore with my paintbrush.  My art practice extends my delight in traveling, even at home. 

I hope you'll get a chance to explore someplace you'd like to visit, even simply with your art supplies!

Transatlantic Crossing Travel Journal Part I: Arriving in England

This summer, my husband David and I did something we had dreamed of-- we booked a Transatlantic Crossing on Cunard's Queen Mary 2, the most romantic way to travel from England to the USA.

Before we left, I collected a small kit of art supplies: 12 Faber Castell colored pencils, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens in black, Sakura Koi watercolors and waterbrushes, a mechanical pencil, eraser, pencil sharpener, & a little water mist sprayer. It all fit into a small zippered bag I could stow in my backpack. I worked in a Strathmore Watercolor Journal (140# cold press). I found that sketching simple scenes while waiting for a bus, or at the end of the day helped me to slow down, deepen my experience, and have a record to look back on.

  

We flew into London's Heathrow Airport, and took a bus south to Southampton, the port where we would embark on our ocean journey.

The landscape around Heathrow & along the motorway south of London showed signs of the recent heat wave and drought, with yellow, dead grass.  The fields along the roadway had recently been mown.

Our hotel room in Southampton looked right out onto the port and the cruise terminal.  Every morning,we would awake to new cruise ships docked in the port, often 4 ships at a time.

We could open our window (no screen as they had no mosquitoes or biting flies!) and let the cool sea air refresh our room.

It was lovely to have a few days to sketch gulls and recover from jet lag.