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: 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! 

Touring the British Isles on the Queen Mary 2

David and I have returned from a tour of the British Isles aboard the Queen Mary 2! We have made Transatlantic crossings on this amazing ship in the past.  This voyage, we circled the UK, from Southampton England, past Wales, over the top of Scotland and back to Southampton.

The first stop on our journey was Cobh, Ireland, port city for Cork.  Kindly, local folks heard that our famous ocean liner would be pulling into the dock, and they came to see her.  We struck up a conversation with one of those locals, a red-haired, blue-eyed woman named Ann, who recommended that we visit Fota House, a restored home built in 1700 with working Victorian gardens and an arboretum. 

Along the dock & train tracks, we saw a mural celebrating local butterflies, right next to a lovely pollinator garden. I love how public art turns plain buildings into uplifting spaces!

We took a short train ride to Fota House, and walked through the grounds, finding this Victorian greenhouse.

I made a quick watercolor sketch of the gorgeous lilies I found inside.

The picturesque building was full of flowering plants like this scented geranium.

We also toured the arboretum, where I marveled at ancient, massive trees like this one. Many of the trees were planted in the 1800s.

I admired rose bushes like the one that bore these fruits.

If you'd like to learn more about Fota House and its history, check out their website here:

https://fotahouse.com/

If you find this inspiring, I hope you'll create art from these photos.

Happy Creating!

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!

Watercolor Classes at Sea

Among the lovely offerings during a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2 is an array of speakers and classes.

I took advantage of 3 sessions with a skilled artist and teacher, George Burch. 

In each class, he walked us through basic information on watercolor paints, brushes, papers and techniques.  

In our final class, he set up this still life for us to paint.

One thing I like about still life painting is that you can choose whatever portion of the scene you'd like to paint.  I chose to paint the whole scene, but you could always leave out the wine glass or select just the fruit.

Why not give it a try? You can paint from this photo or set up your own still life!

Happy Creating!

Storm Cloud Painting

Whale and dolphin watching gave us the opportunity to take lots of photos of the ever-changing sea and sky.

Outside on decks, the winds typically were 40 knots or more, so painting in the moment wasn't practical.

Inspired by this photo, I made a monochromatic painting in my journal of the scene.

One important part of creating a landscape with the ocean in it is to make sure the horizon is level and straight.  I used painter's tape to tape off the horizon, and painted the stormy sky wet-in-wet.

I used Payne's Grey and French Ultramarine. Limiting the color palette feels freeing to me, as my focus turns to following the values and shapes I see.

 

This photo would be a great source for a series of paintings -- 

a monochromatic painting of the scene, 

a study of just the clouds, 

a study of just the horizon, 

a texture study of the ocean surface, 

& a variety of compositions selected from within this photo.

What would you like to create from this photo?

I hope you'll take the opportunity to paint, draw or collage with this image and share your art in the comments below.

Happy Creating!

Embarking on a Transatlantic Crossing!

On Friday, August 11th, we awoke to see that our ship, the Queen Mary 2, had come into port overnight.  What a thrilling sight!

We checked out of our hotel and walked our luggage down the streets of Southampton to the Mayflower Cruise Terminal, named for the historic Mayflower, which departed on August 16, 1620 from Southampton on her journey to the New World.  

After waiting in lines with other passengers, and going through the embarkation process, we settled in on board.

Our room. The little desk at right was where I painted scenes in my travel journal.

By evening, the ship was ready to sail from the port, and David and I knew where we wanted to spend this stage of our journey -- the deck 11 observation area directly below the bridge.

I spent the evening with a pencil in my hand, sketching the landscape and birds as quickly as I could.  

Leaving the port of Southampton

The Hamble Sea Scouts were out sailing in the Solent, the water between the mainland and the Isle of Wight, as we passed.

The harbor pilot had to navigate around a variety of sailboats, jetskis, and other leisure watercraft, as well as "The Brambles," a shallow bit of water opposite the Isle of Wight.  Our pilot expertly zig-zagged to get through this narrow bit of sea lane open to big ships.

We also saw this drone, and later found the footage of our ship's departure on YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZvJPp16sWw

A castle on shore near Southampton.

One of the two Solent Forts, originally built to protect the port area from attack, and now rented out for events with luxury accommodations.

As the sun set, we entered the English Channel.  Looking  back towards the Isle of Wight and sunset.

We were glad to have spent our evening watching the adventure begin!

The dramatic scenery made for some amazing photographs.  Feel free to use any of these images for your creative practice.

Happy painting & sketching!