Trip to Bretagny - Part 1 - Festival des Carnets de Voyage

It’s already been a week since I came back from my trip to Bretagny, but I’m still under the strong influence of this wonderful adventure… I received an invitation from Lapin to be a part of the USk group at the 9th festival of Travel and Reportage Sketchbooks « ici & ailleurs » in Brest. After the expo, Lapin invited us to join him on the trip to the Ouessant island. I had no idea what I was going to! It was a little over a week, but I felt that I had spent at least a month with a wonderfully crazy group of fellow sketchers 😊
I’ll share here the first part of my trip – staying in Brest during the festival at the so welcoming house of Irene, one of the enthusiastic volunteers, preparing the expo together, enjoying glancing at each other’s sketchbooks, going out for some more sketching, having meals together and sketching again, and ending our days by late drink&draws, including crazy Posca Portrait Parties 😊

I'll start with some photos from the expo, just to give the feeling of the place:

 Cute local school children asked us to draw them :)

 

 

 And for the ending - portraits of my friends from the Posca Parties :D

The first part was ended, the trip to the Ouessant island was still waiting for us!

Will be continued...

Tasting Tuscany

I always have doubts when I’m packing my sketching bag for a trip, and so it was while preparing for the short family trip to Tuscany. From my experience, there are not many opportunities for sketching on family trips. Other family members don’t like “wasting” time, time is too short, places are too beautiful, and each one wants to see something a bit different. Finally, I decided to bring small 10-paged soft-cover sketchbook with nice paper, and it fit perfectly!

So here they are, some memories I succeeded in “stealing” during the trip. Most days I had some free time at the beautiful Tuscany Villa we stayed at. There are also some “eating time” sketches – another opportunity for sketchers not to "waste" time during trips. And there are some places I forced my family to wait for me – a few iconic spots in Florence and Sienna where I couldn’t not sketch.

This was my second visit to Tuscany, and I had some magical memories from the Piazza del Campo in Sienna. My memories didn't disappoint me. When I led my family from one of the narrow streets of Sienna to the square, it came back to me - this very day almost 20 years ago at the same square! So we joined the crowds of tourists, sat down on the floor, I opened my sketchbook and time stopped...

Another iconic spot I had memories about from my fist trip WAS Piazzale Michelangelo - from where you have a breathtaking view OF red-roofed Florence. It started to rain when we arrived there, but this didn't stop plenty of tourists taking endless photos of themselves and... some view ;)

This trip was very beautiful and tasty but left me very hungry for more sketching. Anyway, I am grateful for what I’ve captured, and am just waiting for the next time.

New Year in Haifa

New Year isn't official holiday in Israel, but different communities practice to celebrate it. As one that born in Russia, I have nostalgic memories about this holiday. My husband was born in Uruguay, were New Year is celebrated as well. So this year we decided to find a place in Israel were we can feel the change of the year's number and went to... Haifa. As a city with a mixed population in which all members of all religions live together, it is a tradition for a long time to celebrate The Holiday of the Holidays at the end of the year, to mark the religious holidays that apply in December and next to it - Hanukkah of the Jews, Christmas of the Christian, the month of the Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr of the Islamic (applicable at various times over the calendar year and may apply in December).
I love Haifa, its hilly landscape and blue sea popping up suddenly from every corner, it's eclectic architecture and its people. You can definitely feel there the New Year atmosphere, at evening all the city is beautifully decorated with lights and you feel a bit abroad. A lot of people go out on the street close to the midnight to celebrate the arriving of the New Year. Just a short trip of around one hundred kilometers from my home succeed to take me pretty far! I wish I sketched more, but for sure it'll be a next time :)

Haifa has the best hummus!

view on German Colony

nice bar in the port

great food and atmosphere!

close to the midnight - people on the street

morning of the New Year at Talpiyot market

Sketches from Mykonos trip

Only now, when the year comes to its end, I got to post sketches from our small family vacation in Mykonos from the end of September... Anyway, it's nice to recall end-of-the-summer memories in the middle of winter! It was very relaxed vacation in very beautiful place, which gave a lot of inspiration.
I wish to myself to keep on having opportunities for sketching in the coming 2019 year . It not necessary includes being in exotic places, but do includes having this special feeling of excitement from surrounding and wishing to record the stories around me, which force me to pull out my sketchbook and to sketch!