The Kirkudbright Boat Project

On a visit to my sister's house in the summer, we took a day trip to the town of Kirkudbright.  We went to the Tolbooth Gallery where Henrietta Veys-Crocker had an exhibition of boat and seascape pictures.  She was in the gallery as we were looking around and I spent some time chatting with her about her work.  Boats are a subject matter I've always struggled with as they're a funny shape and the curves never seem to come out quite right.  She suggested I try turning the page upside down as the curve that your hand makes as you bring your arm around makes the shape easier and free-er.  Inspired, I came home and proceeded to paint hundreds of pictures of boats....most of which are now in my recycling bin.  But as I persevered, a couple of them started to come out looking vaguely boat shaped so I thought I'd share those with you today.  Both are pictures of abandoned boats in Kirkudbright which sit along the riverbank.  I've taken photographs of them on previous visits thinking they'd make good subjects for a painting one day but have never quite known what to do with them.

The first picture was done in pastels and I'm quite pleased with the colours as I think they show a hint of the scruffy abandoned nature of the scene.  But it is still a bit misshapen at the back and very nearly went the same way as everything else into the recycling.  Frustrated, I decided to pack my paints and pastels away and go back to basics with a pencil.  It was the right decision and this drawing is the only boat picture I produced that I'm actually happy with. 

I went to a demonstration recently at the Fleet Art Society and the artist presenting talked about the importance of sketchbooks for building up your ideas and composition.  I'm particularly bad at this and I have a tendency to launch straight into my pictures without too much thought.  Clearly this didn't work when tackling a subject matter I found difficult.  With some practice and perseverance, I did manage to eventually produce something I was happy with but I was thoroughly sick of boats by the time I did.  Maybe if I'd approached the exercise the other way around and tried more practice drawings and sketches before putting pressure on myself to produce a finished painting then I'd have had better results and a less frustrating time getting there.  I'm off out to buy a new sketchbook but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy these pictures more than I did!

Sacre Coeur

This picture is from my last visit to Paris.  Happy memories with wonderful friends who I am lucky enough to be seeing this evening.  Like most of us, I was shocked and saddened when I picked up my newspaper this morning and heard of the devastating attack on this beautiful city.  It's beyond comprehension how anyone could dream up such a plan, let alone carry it out.

As you get on with your lives and prepare for your Saturday evening in with your family or out with your friends, spare a thought for the people who will never be coming home and the friends and families waiting for them.

Suffolk

It was my Dad's 70th birthday last year.  We spent some time thinking through what we could do as a family and were hoping to find a holiday let somewhere that we could all enjoy.  Around the time of his 69th birthday a friend from work went for a long weekend to The Balancing Barn in Suffolk and sent me a link to the website when he got back.  I was quite impressed and after a bit if discussion with Mum, we decided to go ahead and book.

It looked like such an unusual place in the photographs and when we arrived, it didn't disappoint.  You approach the building from the opposite end to this picture up a long driveway and it looks like quite an unassuming little place on the drive up.  The pitched roof and patio doors look pleasant enough but they don't prepare you for the rest of the place. It really does hang off the side of the hill like this and it is possibly the most amazing building I've ever stayed in.  The room closest to you in this picture is the living room which has a glass floor.  There is a swing hanging off the bottom of the building and you can watch people on the swing through the floor.

We stayed for 4 nights so had plenty of time to explore the area as well as appreciating the building itself.  Those of you who have read previous entries will remember my Beach Hut Bicycle post from last year which was based on the beach huts in nearby Southwold.  That picture made the place look considerably warmer and sunnier than it actually was.  Being February, the biting wind meant it was too cold to spend much time out on the beach.  I remember sheltering behind a building to get a photo of these boats in the hope that I could do a painting of them at a later stage.  I ended up opting for a coloured pencil drawing although I'm half tempted to try another version in watercolour at some point.

My parents are now looking forward to their Ruby wedding anniversary so another family holiday is imminent.  This time will be the Lake District so I have no doubt you'll be seeing a few pictures from that trip coming up soon.

Inner Hebrides

 In September I boarded the night train at Euston in the pouring rain, ready to make my way up to Scotland to visit my sister.  Those of you who have read my Oban post will understand why I expect the horrendous weather to follow me up the country.  Imagine my surprise then when I woke up the next morning to beautiful sunshine.  Waking up on the sleeper train is always a bit of a treat and I enjoyed my breakfast in bed while watching the world go by and it made a great start to a lovely holiday.



We decided that this time round we would explore some of the islands.  We took the boat over to Mull and then on to Iona.  I was spoiled for choice when it came to finding pictures that could later be turned into drawings or paintings.  The ruins of the abandoned nunnery did catch my attention though and when I got home, I didn't waste much time in getting started on this picture.  It's a pencil and chalk drawing done on pastel paper.  The level of detail meant it took ages and there were times when I sat down after work to draw the next layer of bricks and found myself wondering why I thought it was such a good idea to start this in the first place. I'm glad I persevered though as I am quite pleased with the end result and I hope it captures the beautiful but isolated feel of Iona.

Sue lives on Seil Island and the next day we stayed a bit closer to home and headed over to the neighbouring island of Easdale.  This was one of the biggest days in the Easdale calendar as stone skimmers from around the world gathered for the World Stone Skimming championships. I'm told that Easdale is normally a quiet little place with no cars and a close knit community.  Everyone was there on September 29th though, including all three Blue Peter presenters and a full film crew.  It would have been rude not to join in so we signed up and I'm proud(ish) to announce that I came 43rd out of 71 women.  I've got to say, I was amazed at how seriously some of the competitors take this event.  I watched one man sit for hours filing away at his stone so that it could be reduced to regulation size and he would then be allowed to skim it.  Actually, I watched him for about a minute but one of our Blue Peter friends assured me that he had been chipping away at it for hours and who am I to dispute the word of Blue Peter.  All in all, it was a fun day out and a very friendly and sociable place.  Even when it was overrun with people, you could see the peacefulness of Easdale with it's little rows of cottages all centered around a village green.  I'd like to go back some day and see what it's like when the stone skimmers have gone home and life is just happening at it's normal pace.

This final picture is also from Easdale but looking back out across the sea.  Sue tells me this is looking back towards the mainland.  It's from a photo I took towards the end of the day so the sun was quite low in the sky.  After spending so long on the first picture I quite enjoyed doing this one quickly and feels like more of a sketch than a finished painting.  It reminds me of that last evening before I left when we sat in a pub back on Seil enjoying a nice glass of wine and looking at those stunning views.  I don't suppose you could ever get bored of a view like this.

Angkor Wat

Now I'd love to tell you that my trip to Angkor Wat was driven by a desire to see for myself this truly spectacular piece of history but I'm going to hold my hands up and say that wasn't the case.  In fact I never actually planned to go there at all. The last stop on my backpacking trip was Thailand.  I had planned to be there for about 4 weeks and then fly back home in time for Christmas.  I thought a few weeks soaking up the sun would be just what I needed before facing the delights of a British winter.  However, I was clearly misguided and my preconception that Thailand is a sunny country was quickly set straight.  Sitting in my guesthouse in Bangkok trying to figure out if there was any part of the country where it wasn't raining, I soon came to the conclusion that a change of plan was in order.  There was a poster on the wall of the travel center showing the Angkor Wat temples and a quick check of the corresponding weather forecast confirmed to me that this would be a much sunnier option than the Thai Island resorts.  So seeking out sun rather than culture, I hopped on a plane to Cambodia and the next day I found myself in one of the most incredible places I have ever visited.

Angkor Wat is the largest temple in the world and the 2 days I'd given myself to see it was nowhere near enough.  As you make your way around, it seems like the place is never ending.  Watching the sunset over the main temple at the end of the first day was beautiful but it wasn't the defining moment for me as it is for many people.  It was these little pockets of peacefulness which creep up on you as you come round a corner and find the roots of a tree growing over, around and into a building.  They're slowly destroying the temples these trees, reminding us that no matter how much of a mark we make on this world, nature will wait for us to turn our backs (or fight our wars) and sneak in to reclaim it.  The trees are a part of this place and so far, the preservation efforts appear to strike the right balance retaining the historical monuments and recognizing the beauty of this destructive force of nature.  These drawing were done after I got home based on photographs I took at the time.  Although I'm not particularly experienced in plein air art, I can see the appeal in a place like this.  The idea of spending my day sitting in one of these forgotten little corners with a sketch book and a few pencils is quite an attractive one.

Those of you who have been to Seam Reap will know that it is a place of contrasts.  The aftermath of a brutal war is visible everywhere.  While rich westerners explore this beautiful monument, children chase them around begging for some money to help feed their families.  Victims of landmines watch you from the street as you walk into your air conditioned hotel without a care in the world.  And what really struck me about all of this was how self righteous we all get about it.  Even at the budget end of the hotel market I had a clean room with a fan and mosquito nets but as I sat down for my (substantial) evening meal I heard so many complaints from my fellow travelers about the children at the temple.  Everywhere you went, wealthy tourists (and however much the hard up backpackers dispute this, we were all comparatively wealthy) would warn you not to give them anything as "it only encourages them".  I didn't give them all money - nobody could do that.  But I did buy little bracelets and trinkets from them.  And I played along with one girls highly imaginative exchange rate scam.  She approached us over lunch on our first day and asked my friend where she was from.  "France" was the reply.  "Do you have any coins from France?" said the girl, "I've never seen one".  "Sure" said my friend and gave her a Euro.  Next she turned to me and asked the same questions.  I told her I was from England but I didn't have any English money on me.  "Could you change this for me?" she says, producing a 20p coin.  "Someone gave it to me and I can't spend it here".  I was amused by this little money making scheme and gave her a good rate of exchange for her efforts.  She was a bright girl who had memorised where each coin came from and who, with a different start in life, could do very well for herself on an FX Trading desk!

Great Wall of China

In 2008 I spent 5 months working in Beijing, training up a new team of software developers.  Beijing is a fast paced and  constantly changing city which is developing at a speed those of us in the West will find hard to keep up with.  I loved it there and 2008 was a particularly special year as China prepared to host the Olympics.  I arrived in February, just after the Spring Festival and spent the first few weeks making new friends and exploring the city.  There comes a point though, when you want to get out of the city and this is where Beijing Hikers came into the picture.  Beijing Hikers is a walking group for expats and if you're ever in China, I'd recommend them as one of the best ways of getting out of the city and seeing parts of the country you might otherwise have missed.  One weekend in early April, a few of us booked onto one of their walks which took in a part of the Great Wall.  No visit to China is complete without going to see the Wall and as I hadn't been yet, I was looking forward to the walk.
The day before the walk, we received a text message: "Snow on the Great Wall.  Tomorrow's walk may follow a different route, wrap up warm."  A couple of people dropped out at this stage, but Manju and I decided to go along anyway.  We turned up and got on the bus, along with several others including Helen and Dave from my office.  The walk leader was still undecided as to which route we were going to do at this stage.  But as we made our way up there, she got a call from a local guide in one of the villages who had gone out early to check the route and was happy to take us up there.  And I'm so glad they did.  The Great Wall is breathtaking on any day as it snakes out in all directions across the mountains.  But covered in a layer of undisturbed snow with no-one else around, it was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen.
I went on to visit the wall several times while I was in China.  Like the rest of the country, it's full of contrasts. Some parts are perfectly reconstructed tourist traps, some bits are falling apart entirely and others are just a little bit worn and overgrown.  I think that all adds to its charm but this first visit is how I will always remember it.

California

In 2005 I sold my house, put everything I owned in storage and used the equity from the house to take six months out and travel.  I visited lots of places along the way and I'm sure you'll hear a few stories from that year if you keep reading this blog for long enough.  This one is from California.  I stayed with my cousin for a while near LA and during that time, I decided to hire a car and drive the coastal route up to San Francisco.  The first day of the drive was fairly uneventful and I stopped for the night in a little hostel in San Luis Obispo.  In the morning I got chatting to Ann from Toronto who was staying in my room and ended up offering her a lift as far as Monterey.  We set off, stopping briefly in Cambria so she could drop her bag at a friend's house and travel  a bit lighter for a few days.  Cambria was a nice little town with a lovely English Tea Shop where I stopped to pick up a few supplies - I was finding the American approach to tea generally wasn't working for me so it was nice to get some decent stuff.  The drive up the California coast is spectacular and we had plenty of stops along the way (I'd recommend a stop in Pfeiffer Big Sur to anyone travelling the same route) before finally arriving in Monterey.  We arrived quite late in the evening and the next day, Ann decided to continue on her travels.  We didn't stay in touch but we'd had a nice day together so I hope she's doing well wherever she is.


I decided to stay in Monterey and extra night and spent my day walking by the harbour, visiting a few shops and generally having a good look around.  The harbour seals were rather loud and you couldn't miss them.  They spend their days sitting around on the rocks with groups of tourists taking photos of them through the gates.  They were fascinating and I spent a long time that day just sitting by the harbour watching them.

The next day I drove on to San Francisco and I'm sure anyone who's been there will agree, that's a lovely city. I met Yasser there who was visiting from Sydney for a job interview in LA and had decided to take a few days to see San Francisco when he was in the area.  We met up again a couple of months later when I got as far as Australia.  He got the job and is now living in the US and, if his facebook pictures are anything to go by, he appears to be having lots of fun.  Anyway, we went out for a few drinks that night then went our separate ways for the time being.  I only stayed in the city for one night then spent the day in Muir Woods before heading south again to begin my return journey.  

A common question people ask you after travelling is "what was your favourite place?"  It's a hard question to answer as I came home with hundreds of favourite places, all of which I loved for different reasons.  But this place in Montara was, without a doubt, my favourite hostel.  The building in the middle of this picture is where my room was and, it being low season, I ended up having the room to myself.  In the evening I watched the sun set over the ocean.  It was such a peaceful place and I am absolutely certain that if I'd chosen to stop there a couple of nights earlier, I'd probably never have made it as far as San Francisco on that trip.  In the morning, I could lie in bed and look out to sea without even lifting my head.  To this day, I have no idea how I managed to drag myself out of bed and drive back to LA but I had a flight to catch the next day so that's exactly what I did.  I'll go back there one day though.