Sketches from France- plus a brag
3 06 2008Just before I left for France my dear friends Jack and Mikki sent me some wonderful books on travel sketching. My favorite from the group is Artist En Route
I brought a 5×8″ moleskine journal with me, which fit nicely into my carryall bag. Never one to be without as many options as possible, I chose the notebook that would accept watercolors (though most of my sketches were pen and ink.) Here’s one with my notes of the Abbey I blogged about yesterday:
Most of these were just quick little jots, but the journal really helped me to lock in the memories in place, and keep track of the places we visited in sequential order. So many times on action packed trips like these, all of the memories start to blend together after a while, so I really recommend this combination of traveling, sketching and journaling.
On the same day that we visited Abbaye Nouvelle, we also visited the village of Beynac (in the Dordogne), with its fascinating 12th century chateau perched atop dramatic limestone cliffs. Only time for a quick sketch for this part of the itinerary, which I did after our picnic lunch by the river bank. We are steeped deep into Medieval history here; this castle is where Richard the Lionheart met his death!
***And now, we interrupt this art travel log for a quick brag ;-). There is a fine new oil painter in the Young family, and she’s got a blog! Check out my very talented niece, Molly Young and her Daily Painting blog. 
Molly came all the way up from Texas to take my April workshop this past spring, and I got the chance to see her talent in person. I wish I could say I had something to do with it, but she’s been cutting her own path for a while now and I look forward to seeing where she takes it. Her blog is brand new, but she’s been painting for a couple of years, and she’s a quick study to boot.
The fruit trees of early spring were all abloom while Molly was here visiting, and we took advantage of it by heading up to Monticello for a quick visit. Here’s a shot of the two of us at Monticello:
Molly’s got some wonderful new paintings from that visit on her blog. Here’s one of my faves.
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Love the sketches!
Wow, what a small world. When I was researching ebay listings for best ‘title’ and search words to use, I saw Molly’s ebay listings and wondered if she could be related to you. I thought “nah”. She’s a cutie and very talented. Congrats to her for getting a blog and ebay list up and going. You’re right to encourage her!
It’s fun to see your sketches (they are full of life) and I admire you for the discipline to keep such a journal/sketch book. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Marilyn. Funny you had already seen Molly’s work! Small world, truly. Molly is great about “just doing it”. Where I have to analyze things to death, she gets an idea and just jumps right in. Ah youth! I really will have fun watching her progress.
The sketches were fun. I actually seemed to have better discipline about it this trip because Dave wasn’t with me. So I wanted to take great notes for him, and for myself also, since I plan to teach there as well. The moleskine is great for travel, but really I want to keep it up at home too. It’s so easy to carry the little book around, and you can almost always find time for a quick shorthand sketch at least.