Trip to Bretagny - Part 2 - Ouessant island

The days of the festival passed fast and the morning after we found ourselves waiting for our boat to the Ouessant island. I knew nothing about the island - just that Lapin had visited and sketched there many times, and after we got there I understood why. They were unforgettable days - riding bicycles through Ouessant's breathtaking views, stopping, walking, observing, staring, napping, (some of us… swimming!) and... well, sketching a lot together. I will miss all this so much! Luckily, I have my "time in the bottle"  sketches that will remind me of those days!

sketchers on the rocks :)

Thanks to Lapin (and Lapinette) who made it happen - it was a really special experience! I miss you all, and thank you for your inspiration and laughter. I am so happy to get to know you better, and hope the next adventure will come soon!

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.