More Sketches from Provence

These are sketches around the domaine on the first day. All the shutters on the doors and windows were this lovely shade of turquoise. I am a real sucker for water pumps.

I still love those grids. They are such a fun way to add those little interesting stippets of the day.
And another waterpump.

The caveau is where you can buy some of that great French wine.

This page is a sketchwalk around the domaine. A sketchwalk is walking around an area with your sketchbook and and doing a quick drawing and then move onto the next interesting thing that catches your eye. No sitting down on this one.

Oh Look! Another waterpump. This one was made into a water fountain. The niche is on the walk of the chartruese. The wall was covered with lots of old vines.

The vines covering these doorways were actually very old grape vines. Another metal sign for a caveau. I couldn't leave France without sketching the vinyard. These were some very old vines outside the chartruese. The colors of the leaves were starting to change.

This is my sketch of a rusty old barge on the Rhone River on the way into town. We walked past this on our way to and from town. On one of the last days I notice the "no anchoring" sign, but I guess it's okay to run aground.

All of these are in my 6" x 9" Robert Bateman Sketchbook with pen and watercolor on prepped pages.

Sketch Trip to Provence, France

My first trip to France was wonderful and I am so glad it was a sketching trip with Mari.


http://www.artraveljournals.com/ We stayed at the Domaine de la Baume in Pont Saint Espirt in Provence. This page was done on the first day. After prepping pages, the group walked into town together, sketching along the way and of course we got our stamp from the post office in town.
Saturday was market day and what a spectacular feast for the senses. We walked up and down the whole market buying goodies to take home and things to eat along the way. We met up for a little refreshment and to sketch the people as they went by. This was a great exercise in sketching people very quickly.
We visited a beautiful garden of 1001 flowers that is the home of a Swiss couple. It was a wonderful place to sketch a great memory. A local paper sent a reporter to interview Mari and take pictures. We were in the next edition and when we went to buy copies we were recognized as "les Americans". Not too many Americans make it to Pont Saint Esprit. The article mentioned how our visit to the gardens was without photographic equipment. How cool is that?
This sketch was done across the river looking up to the village of Aigueze. It sets at the end of a gorge. I was having trouble with all the vegetation and then remembered Mari's suggestion of doing contour drawings. It really helped a lot with all those bushes and trees. I was happy with the outcome.
These are some sketches of the village of Aigueze, which was named one of the most beautiful villages in all of France. Lovely cobble stone narrow streets and stone archways. It was so quiet and beautiful . We sat down on the doorsteps of homes to sketch across the way. After I sketched the archway I found a postcard of that street and archway. I guess I have a good eye!
This composit page is a day in Villeneuve Les Avignon, another enchanting village. The gang had a great lunch in the town square where a quartet was playing. My drawings of buildings and architecture of the city and the chartreuse have become jumbled into one drawing. Mari made us a lovely dinner. What a wonderful little group we were.

All of these are in my 6" x 9" Robert Bateman sketchbook with pen and watercolor on prepped pages.