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!

Beach Hut Bicycle

In celebration of his 70th year, my Dad recently undertook the epic challenge of cycling 1000 kilometers in a tour of Lakes and Cakes that lasted 2 1/2 weeks and took him from Hampshire through Suffolk, Norfolk and Lincolnshire.  I'm not going to write the full story as he documented his progress in his own blog which you can read here: http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/nick.keeley43/1/tpod.html

In honour of this tremendous achievement, I decided a picture was in order so here's his bike leaning against one of the Southwold beach huts.  Southwold was a particularly significant stop along the way.  This is where we celebrated his birthday as a family earlier in the year (more pictures of that trip to follow) and it's also where my Mum met him for a well earned rest day.   

The beach hut itself came from one of my photos from our family holiday.  I liked the way this hut was painted and I thought it would be particularly pretty on a nice sunny day so I've modified the weather a little from the freezing cold February day when we were there.  The bike is Dad's bike from one of his photos on his trip.

I'm breaking with tradition a little here as I don't normally share these pictures until after they've been printed as Christmas cards at the end of the year but I want your feedback on this one so you're getting a preview. It's a coloured pencil drawing which didn't scan particularly well so I've photographed it instead.  I set out to do this as a pen and pencil drawing but I found that I quite liked the half way stage before I had added the ink details and now I can't decide which version I'll print.  So my question to you is which do you prefer - version one which is the pencil only one or version two which is pen and pencil?

Looking Out My Window - Winter

Winter seemed to last for a long time this year.  After the Autumn leaves had all been cleared away by our helpful gardener, we settled into those months of short days and long nights.  The view in winter can feel a bit unchanging at times.  We get a lot of those grey drizzly days where the colour just seems to drain away from the whole place.  We also had a lot of rain but rain is surprisingly hard to paint so I opted for the grey drizzle instead.  The only real colour in this picture comes from the grass and the cars.  I do like the way the trees in the park fade away in the background in this sort of light though.  It got me thinking that it might be nice to do some misty woodland scenes at some point.

It's not all rain though.  We get quite a few of those bright frosty days and of course, the occasional dump of snow.  Being in the South of England we don't get a lot of snow but every now and then it descends in a blanket overnight (a bit like those Autumn leaves did a few months ago) and covers everything in sight.  I don't think it matters where you are in the world, a covering of snow transforms a place.  Being British, we like to complain about how it has stopped us getting our cars out and then we whinge about how South West Trains never seem prepared for this sort of thing and wonder why cant they run trains in the snow like other countries.  But I like it.  The lack of trains gives me a day away from the office and apart from that, what's not to love - it looks amazing.  I particularly liked the way the wind blew the snow onto the side of the trees so, for few hours, even the trunks were covered in a winter blanket. 

Oban

A few years ago my sister and her husband decided to relocate to Oban on the West Coast of Scotland.  I've had many visits to Scotland over the years but Oban wasn't a part of the country I knew so this seemed like a good opportunity to visit.  My other sister Anne, our friend Ellie and I decided this would be a good opportunity for a holiday so we embarked on a road trip to drive up to see Sue.  Now I don't think anyone would disagree with me when I say Scotland is a beautiful place but November is a really stupid time of year to visit.  The rain was torrential and the non stop wind meant it was almost horizontal at the same time.  I'm not sure I actually saw much of Oban in those few days simply because the weather made it impossible to see very far even if you did dare to venture outside.  I seem to remember watching a lot of episodes of Scrubs though and the distillery tour was very enjoyable.  I wanted to give Sue a Christmas card based on our holiday and as entirely grey Christmas cards are a bit boring, I ended up with this picture instead which is based on a photo I found on line.  Personally, I remain to be convinced that Oban actually looks like this.

For my next visit, I decided to learn from my previous mistakes and made my way up on the night train one August.  August has got to be better than November when it comes to weather right?  And actually it was, it was a bit damp and drizzly at times but generally not too bad.  Sue, by this point had moved out to Seil Island a few miles away from Oban.  One day we went out on a sea safari which was a great trip and where this second picture comes from.  The lighthouse is actually stuck on a boring bit of rock but I thought it would look nicer if I moved it to a different island so with a bit of artistic license and no consideration for passing ships, that's what I've done.  Although Sue living this far away means we don't get to see her and Ian as often as we might like, it is a stunning place and I can see the attraction.  Right now, I'm wondering when to arrange my next trip up there and even though it's not quite booked yet, I'm looking forward to it already.

On the Slopes Again

My first ever skiing holiday was about 10 years ago in Banff. I went with some friends from work, not really sure what to expect and I was hooked from the first day.  Since then I've had several memorable and enjoyable holidays on the snow and I've picked up some good friends along the way.  It may seem a little strange then that I only actually starting painting pictures from my ski trips 2 years ago.  I'm not sure why I hadn't done any earlier. I've come back from those holidays with some great photos and it is a bit unusual for me to pass on turning my favourite photos into paintings.  Anyway, this all changed after a trip to La Plagne in 2011 with my friend Ellie.  The conditions weren't great that year.  There hadn't been as much snow as in some years and there were patches of ices dotted around the slopes.  Still, we had a good trip and on the last day we made our way up to the highest point on the map to the Glacier.  The top of the slope was quite steep and I wasn't feeling all that confident so I took it slowly.  Big mistake!  On the first turn I slipped and fell into the slope twisting my knee with a rather unpleasant pop.  Now I don't know if you've ever sat on top of a Glacier in the wind and snow but for those of you who haven't, it's really really cold.  Much as I would like a go on a skidoo one day, there was no way I was sitting up there waiting for help so I slid down the hill on my bum until it leveled out enough for me to use my skis as crutches and hobble to the top of the gondola.  So that was the end of La Plagne.  The picture was done a couple of months later while I was at home on sick leave following my operation.  It became a Christmas and thank you card for a few people who I think deserve a mention here too:  Ellie for getting me off the mountain and helping to lug my bag through the Airport; Paul the surgeon who stuck me back together again; Sarah the physio who got me mobile again and Stefan from Get Set Go for helping me get ski fit within a year and ready for Courchevel....

Courchevel was an amazing holiday.  Perfect conditions, great company and a thoroughly enjoyable return to the mountains.  I was a little cautious at first but soon regained my confidence and by the end of the week I'd made it down my first black run with both knees intact. This picture was based on a photo Leonie took during that holiday.  I love her photos - she has a way of catching the light perfectly and I'm not sure I've done her picture justice here but I hope she likes it.  Those of you who know her should check out the original on her Facebook page.

Now, with less than a week to go, roll on Meribel - let's hope Leonie has her camera ready...

Barcelona

 I went to Barcelona with my sister this summer.  What an amazing city.  I can't believe I've spent all that time travelling to far flung corners of the world and never been to Barcelona before when it's only 2 hours away.  This is a city with everything.  It gets quite hot in the afternoons so we generally spent our days exploring in the morning and then having a bit of down time in the afternoon, often by the pool or the beach.  The Gaudi architecture and sculptures are really quite lovely, dotted around the city.  This lizard is in Parc Guell (although we also saw a replica lizard in the Chocolate Museum).  The photo I worked from to do this painting had a small child picking her nose in the background so I opted to replace her with mosaic instead - I'm sure that's what Gaudi would have done...

One of the things I like about Spain is the food.  There's something quite relaxing about spending your evenings wandering from one tapas bar to the next, sampling the dishes they have on offer.  This picture is actually an amalgamation of several tapas bars.  One place we went back to a couple of times was tucked away in a little courtyard and has provided the setting for this little scene.  The lamppost is from the fort at the top of Mont Juic.  We spent a lovely evening up there at a blue festival which we just happened to stumble across unexpectedly one day.  We'd been up to the fort during the day and noticed they were setting up some stages.  We looked it up when we got back to the hotel and found that Mont Juic by Night was starting that evening.  We headed back up there and sat watching the sun set over Barcelona with a couple of beers and thinking life doesn't get much better than this.  You might get a picture of that one day but my first attempt didn't come out quite right so you'll have to wait.  Once it was completely dark, we wandered inside the fort and watched Dani Perez.  I'd never heard of him before but he's an amazing saxophonist.  I bought both his albums when I got home and I'm listening to one of them now while writing this.

Of course no visit to Barcelona would be complete without sampling a glass or two of Cava.  We took a trip out of the city one day to the Freixenet winery.  What a surreal place that is!  I've done similar tours of breweries and distilleries in the past so I've got to admit, I thought I knew what to expect but it soon became clear that I was wrong on that point.  Our tour started out the usual explanation of how wine is made and what is special about Cava.  We then boarded the Cava train.  We've all seen those little trains trundling around seaside resorts but I've never been one one that trundles around a factory before playing a happy little tune as we stop to watch the slightly embarrassed factory workers packing bottles into boxes and operating a robot which I'm not entirely sure had a purpose.  But by far my favourite part of the place (aside from the tasting of course) was this car parked outside the building.  It was accompanied by two cava bottle motorbikes and a champagne cork truck.  Now my friend Sonya likes a glass or two of bubbly and if she ever gets married I think this would be the perfect wedding car for her so Sonya, this picture's for you.

  

Looking Out My Window - Autumn

About a month ago I went to the David Hockney exhibition at Museum Ludwig in Cologne with a friend.  David Hockney is an incredible artist and if you haven't seen his work, I suggest you look him up.  I loved his use of colour and thought he captured the light beautifully.  A lot of his work is clearly inspired by the world around him.  I particularly liked his pieces which showed the same scene changing through the seasons.  

When I got home I decided to start my own Hockney inspired project.  A week later, I opened the bedroom curtains in the morning to a lovely sunny day.  The sky was a perfect blue and the sun reflected off the autumn leaves.  It was perfect so I decided to start my project there and then, quite literally on my own doorstep.  Now I'm sure Mr Hockney could have done the scene a lot more justice than I have but I thought I'd share the results with you anyway.  This is the view from my window.  

A couple of weeks later and after a particularly wet and windy night, the scene had changed completely.  Nearly all the leaves came down overnight and formed a carpet which covered everything.  I couldn't see where the road stopped and the path started.  I went out for a walk along the canal that day which was also covered in a layer of leaves.  I even saw a Heron stood under a tree.  I'd like to think he was admiring the view but he was probably just looking for fish under all those leaves.  I took plenty of photos so maybe there will be a few more paintings from that day still to come.