Des vacances en France!

I’ve just spent a glorious week on an art retreat in France and I thought I might share some of my sketchbook pages with you. 

Firstly, the retreat was hosted by Heidi at Domaine De La Ribière and run by Shelly Perkins who is a fabulous tutor, artist and friend. The above picture was sketched where we stayed.

It was such a relaxed yet nicely busy week, with local visits and sketching spots, opportunities for an Orangina out, and visiting local markets (which I love!). We also sampled some pâtisserie - which we also painted as you can see below.

Below is a sketchbook spread from a trip to a local castle, pausing for an Orangina, and sketching the surroundings. The ants liked the fizzy drink can too and so I thought I’d include them!

Here are some of my drawings of people in the market - I love any interaction with each other - the couple carrying the basket together, or the dogs and their owners, a basket with 5 baguettes in - one of which has been started, or the man selling saucisson who looked ready to head home!

And is it even a trip to France if there aren’t some hydrangeas? These were fabulous colours - 

It was very enjoyable to experiment with new painting techniques - generous use of paint, dribbling and splashing it onto the page!

And here is quite the sundae from ‘Chateau Gateaux’ which I customised as I love pistachio ice cream - 

I’ll leave you with this one which I sketched after a morning in the market, lunch by the river consisting of delicious items from the market. We were in Brantôme.

There are a few more pages in the sketchbook - doors we thought were fun, road signs I love and I’ve got some bits to finish that include packaging! Maybe I’ll do another post with those - and some attempts at drawing the resident Donkeys!