Belgium & France Travel Paintings and Sketches- Better late than never!

I often take photos when I'm travelling or just out, with the intention of drawing the scene later.  I took many such photos during my study abroad trip in spring 2014, although I didn't paint any later until just last year.  Four years after taking those photos!  But I did it, and painting them brings back vivid memories of the travels and the events.  I did do some sketches on location during that trip, though not as many as I intended when I bought a sketchbook for that trip, and that sketchbook is long misplaced.

Anyway, here are some sketches I've done from my travels, from camera or mobile photos after I've got home.  The reference photo, in all their unedited snapshot and hasty glory, are shown to the right of the sketch or painting.

Ponte du Gard I and II
 

Site visited March 2014, painted July 2018.

Painting info: This one was the first time I felt confident enough to tackle some of the study abroad photos I'd taken.  I don't really do architectural drawings, so I knew it would be a challenge, but I did it.  The perspective lines aren't matched, but I think it adds to the pen and ink charm and makes it look like it was drawn and painted from my memory of the visit.  It taught me that the best-looking photographs are not necessarily the best painting references.  I went with a limited palette for it: yellow ochre, primary yellow, phthalo blue, cobalt, and rose madder lake.  I love the vibrancy I was able to achieve on the bridge by limiting my use of the red.

Site info: This is the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct just outside of Nimes, France.  I visited this during a weekend trip of Aix-en-Provence and the surrounding area.  Easily my favourite trip of the entire study abroad experience.  I got to see sites and experience things I've dreamt of since I was a small child and barely old enough to read.  I read about places in France like Avignon, where a second pope was housed for a while, and Roman roads, and aqueducts, and I gobbled it all up.  Wikipedia on the Pont du Garde.

 
I couldn't get enough of the Pont du Gard.  Drawing and painting it brought me back to that place and made the trip feel like it was yesterday.

Painting info:  Watercolours on a pen and ink sketch on Khadi Paper from India- 4x6 Inch 140lb. (320gsm) Pack of 20 Sheets.  I don't love these sheets but they're fascinating to me.  The pen and ink always looks great on them, but they absorb just a tad too much paint and it's easy to overwork.  Simple pieces, like the one below, look fantastic on it though.

Site info: Same as above!  This is the view from the bridge itself.

Fontaine de Vaucluse I and II
 

Painting info:  Postcard doodled July 2018, pen and ink drawing on Khadi Paper from India- 4x6 Inch 140lb. (320gsm) Pack of 20 Sheets again.  Then I went over it in paint.

Site info:  Visited March 2014.  Provence again! I went here on a weekend trip during my study abroad, same trip as for the Pont Du Garde above.  This was Sunday morning, the last day.  I got to see so many things I had dreamed of since childhood- a Roman aqueduct, the Avignon pope palace, and I also got to see a natural well of unknown depth!  Wikipedia on the Fontaine de Vaucluse.

 
Painting info:  Watercolours on an artist's trading card.  Pen and ink with watercolour is my comfort zone, so I wanted to challenge myself and do it directly onto my pencil outline.  Not in love with it, don't hate it either.  It looks nice as an artist trading card.  Paper is Stonehenge Aqua, you can see it here: https://amzn.to/2PL7JSf

Site info:  As above!  This tree is behind one of the boulders in the above photo.

Hingene, Belgium

 

Painting info:  Done in my Khadi Papers softback watercolour sketchbook.  The paper is interesting, much more temperamental than the Khadi Papers watercolour rough A6 postcards I did the first Fontaine de Vaucluse and second Pont du Gard sketches on, but although it's also not forgiving it's much easier to use.  It's hard to get deep values on the paper, but I like that because it's good for quick sketches and practice pieces, and work always comes out luminous.  I love the sketchbook.  Can't seem to find it on Amazon at this time, but it is available on Cheap Joe's: https://www.cheapjoes.com/khadi-handmade-paperback-books.html

Site info:  This is a park in Hingene, in the Flanders region of Belgium.  Nearby, in an adjacent park, is the D'Ursel Castle.  I mean to draw that someday too.

Church in Antwerp
 
Site visited June 2018, painted July 2018. 

Painting info: Very rough pen and ink sketch, with much the same motivation as the first Pont du Garde painting: practice architecture and get the contrast of the luminous stonework and building against the sky and vibrancy of the plants.  Pen and ink sketch with watercolours in a travel watercolour sketchbook.  I actually took that sketchbook to Belgium and painted in it, but nothing I saw there while I was there except for the hydrangea.

Site info:  I didn't actually photograph this one myself, so I'm not super sure what cathedral or church it is, other than it's in Antwerp and somewhere central.  My aunt sent me the photo a week or two after I visited her in Belgium, and I zoomed in on the tower and painted it for last year's World Watercolour Month.  I do remember seeing this cathedral a lot when she took me to Antwerp, but I didn't go inside it during my visit.

Middelheim Museum and Park

 

Painting info: This is a painting of Ai Weiwei's The Bridge Without a Name.  Watercolours with pen and ink on the Stonehenge Aqua artist trading cards again.  Love how this came out, despite the wonky perspective.  Actually, it's my wonky perspective that I like, because it looks like I hastily sketched it onsite.  The small surface forced me to keep just the details  I loved.  It's really striking to come upon in the park.


Site info: Middelheim Museum is an outdoor art museum/park in Antwerp.  It's a fantastic place- totally free, somehow!- and was one of my favourite places to visit.  The art there was so different from one another.  Some quirky and fun pieces, some lighthearted work, some dread-inducing work, some utterly horrifying pieces, and some faintly eerie ones.

 
Painting info:  This was the only piece I actually did while on the trip, in Belgium, that was also related to the trip.  I was fascinated by the textures on these flowers, so I snapped many photos and when I got "home" to my aunt's apartment and we had some downtime, I sat down and drew this.  Painting something white was good practice.  The figure that's cropped out is a doodle based on a woman I saw in Antwerp that day.

Site info:  This was the other half of Middelheim, more of a botanical garden.

The End!
And those are the artworks I've done so far from my travels in the Flanders region of Belgium and the south of France!  I mean to do more, I really do- need to add northern Italy and New Orleans especially.  But hey, in this case it really is better late than never, and the memories of those trips really do become more vivid as you work on the piece.

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