Color Diva, Decorator, Artist
The 3 days I spent in Amsterdam on vacation, commonly called “Venice of the North” where I found time to sketch as well as eat, drink & relax.
Thoughts that come to mind:
The haunting of history is ever present in Barcelona. I see cities as organisms, as living creatures. To me, Madrid is a man and Barcelona is a woman. And it’s a woman who’s extremely vain.
After our days in the urban core of Amsterdam huddled winter clothes, we found some space to breathe. We spent 5 sunny December days in this hot spot of Spain rambling down and hiking up A LOT! but we made up for the exercise with generous amounts of food & wine.
Charming views were at ones disposal every other city block. For example, this time-worn church that reflected it’s warmth into the courtyard where we lounged over espresso & tapas.
My Sketchbook came in handy many times during our European jaunt. Many hours were spent waiting for planes, trains & automobiles. I packed a travel size kit of art supplies for moments such as these.
Gaudi, Gaudi, Gaudi, & Gaudi. The Catalan architects influence is evident throughout Barcelona. It was underfoot in the walkways and countless buildings as well.
We couldn’t get around and see all of the sites but tackled as many as we could! I’ll come back.
Next stop: Bulgaria! Our objective there is to spend time with our friend Amalia who moved to Sunny Beach a few years ago with her husband Matt.
I participated in the Virtual Paintout again this December. The area to focus on was Rome, Italy.
Every painting is a voyage into a sacred harbour.
I have never been to Rome but as I have recently returned from Amsterdam, Barcelona & Paris. I can imagine to a small degree what it could be like: Narrow, cobbled streets lined with tall antiquated buildings (by my Victoria, BC standards, where some of the oldest buildings are 135-140 years old. Only babies by European or Asian standards!) in various states of decay/preservation, with cafe tables in every other doorway. I’ll get there eventually but for now, this surrogate ramble through the medium of Streetview with have to suffice.
While doing research for the Virtual Paintout the contrast of warm stucco against the cool sky caught my eye this time around. I also like the the negative space, the slightly cock-eyed “X” of the sky.
If your curious to see a glimpse of how Piazza del Paradiso appears in Streetview, click the link here, but remember you’ll need to crank your head way up to get the perspective.
I participated in the Virtual Paintout Ireland this month. The area to focus on was County Kerry.
It was very easy to “wander” the streets and pathways for hours through Google Streetview this month. It seemed every time you turned a corner that there was another beautiful lake, a fine old pub, stone cottages, and little churches overlooking another pastoral scene.
I chose another tall building, maybe I’m attracted to the distortion of the upward angle.
Muckross House is located in Ireland’s Killarney National Park and was built in 1843 for the politician Henry Herbert.
If your curious to see a glimpse of how Muckross House appears in Streetview, click the link here
Gothenburg, Sweden is on the other side of the world from me & I have never had the pleasure of visiting there but it is this University town where my brother in law lives & works which is why this months Virtual Paintout Challenge caught my attention.
“A good traveller is one who knows how to travel with the mind.” -Michael Bassey-Johnson
A few months ago I found this particular painting challenge which Bill Guffey began in 2009. The idea intrigued me and I have been meaning to try it but this month location gave me the extra motivation to finally put pen and brush to paper.
The general concept of the Virtual Paintout challenge is to use Google Street View as source of inspiration and reference for painting and sketching. No matter where in the world you live, if you are lucky enough to have access to the Internet you can cruise the streets from the view point of a camera mounted on the roof of a Google car. While you certainly have plenty of urban scenes to choose from there are also rural landscapes, people or animals to be discovered too.
For the last year I’ve been practicing my urban sketching locally so I thought I would be up to this challenge. Once I zoomed in on the locale selected what I came across was very intriguing. I was cruising the streets, peering into alleyways and parks, glimpsing people having lunch in outdoor cafés, passing cyclists and wondering “Are they going to work or school? “. Part of the test is deciding on an image and while you can submit more than one entry they all that you limit it to three per month.
Shall I do another or wait to see what neck of the woods Bill chooses next?
Check out Bill Guffey’s site. :
P.S. I came across this article after I did my painting. They’re so tempting I’m going to need to try some of them too!
http://mentalfloss.com/article/51904/16-amazing-places-visit-google-street-view
