Je suis en vacance 

I’m sure it will come as a great relief to many of you that this will be a refreshingly short post. I’ve managed to get a blog post out every Tuesday since the beginning of January this year and I was beginning to worry that my holiday may interrupt matters – what with living in a tent with no electricity let alone wifi for a few weeks! Still, here I am. As with every holiday, I’ve travelled laden down with art materials but have so far found precious little time to use any of them. This is, after all, more about me spending time with my precious little daughter and our precious little family than it is about me indulging in my hobby!

I managed to get a little time today on a crazily windswept beach which was fun but incredibly challenging. It’s nice however to try out my ‘sketching kit’ – an A4 Arboreta sketchbook, a selection of sable Escoda travel brushes and my Winsor and Newton travel box. The wind was really blowing and there was sand everywhere – on top of which the view was more to do with what was in front of me rather than anything that I’d naturally choose. 

But enough of my excuses – here’re a couple of takes on the view that I was looking at:

Neither of them are really worth writing home about – let alone sharing with the entire world, however, it’s still great to be squeezing in just a little painting. And, to be honest, this is the sort of thing that I should be doing much more of. I also know that these two sketches will recall this view to me in years to come far more vividly than any quickly taken photo.

I’ll also take this opportunity to apologise for any unanswered messages or comments that may have been left over the past week – and for any that may arrive in the coming week that I’m also unlikely to answer from the comfort of my electricity and wifi free tent! So until I’m back in the UK, I wish you a bon nuit.