Postcard From Spain
Sketching people and places from Girona to Cherbourg
Girona from the city wall, the cathedral and basillica on the skyline
Having ferried into, and driven down through France (see previous blog), we arrived in high spirits to spend a week with friends at a remote villa just North of Barcelona.
The painting lesson
The olive groves are a lovely subject for beginners. For those that wanted, I painted a quick demo, and we worked from a shared palette. Ted and Izzi needed no help and just got on with it. I love how each artist has a unique approach to paint application and composition:
Trying different paper
Two portraits of Ted revising, the first is on my normal sketchpad (slightly ridged kraft paper). I find this a very sympathetic surface. It’s possible I’ve been using it as a crutch, as the ridges mean the drawn marks aren’t quite so precise (ie exposed). So I have started trying to use smooth paper more, which is definitely more of a challenge. The portrait on the right was a battle, I still don’t feel I got Ted’s proportions/features alligned faithfully, but, as anything done from life I hope it captures his concentration, and the way his hair falls when he wears it down.
Adulting
Usually holidays with friends mean we hardly see the kids except for mealtimes, but Thursday called for maternal ministrations, and a trip to A&E for treatment and antibiotics (thankfully all fine).
The next day our calculated gamble to not buy roadside assistance for many years caught up with us. The car battery gave up on a dusty sideroad in midday heat. Friends came with refreshments and jump leads, then helped us track down a very kind garage salesman who diagnosed the problem (how could we have missed that alternator belt, casually draped over the car intestines?!). Finally our host located a garage that wasn’t already closed for the Catalonian national holiday weekend.
By the end of that baking Friday, I was gratefully limping the ‘cotxe’ without power steering/handbrake to the only open ‘garatge’ for miles around. Marcus meanwhile was unpicking and rebuilding our travel arrangements, emerging with a 3 day city break in Girona, and flights home, instead of driving back up to the ferry from Cherbourg (🤞🏻 for travel insurance).
We are many things, but none of us are mechanics or speak Catalan
The last evening was a chance to sketch a few quick candid portraits. The next morning we checked out, glad to have brought our host a framed copy of last year’s painting of his villa. This served as a parting gift (albeit no real compensation for his time and help with the car).
We distributed the easel, wet oil paintings, and dirty washing between our kind friends’ cars, and they took it all back to Bristol by ferry.
So we set off to Girona, somewhat reeling from the past 48 hours. This absolutely beautiful mediaeval city gave us a lovely reset. While most sensible people retreat to air conditioned cafés, I seized the chance for 2 bumper drawing days.
Sketching Girona Cathedral
I arrived early to avoid the heat, and started by resolving the structure of the subject as far as possible, ignoring shadows. This is an approach I find helpful with outdoor subjects.
Shadows move so quickly, and are such a key feature, they need to be captured in a ‘snapshot’ of time, otherwise they all point in different directions. Once the framework of the drawing is in place, I can record the shadow shapes in as close to one moment as possible.
The cafe staff seemed very unsure about whether their first customer was actually going to pay, or give them trouble. Luckily Marcus arrived and sat properly at the table like a normal customer and ordered actual food, at which point they seemed a bit less suspicious. I find this one of the hardest things about sketching in public - to get a good view, you sometimes have to put yourself in awkward situations, sit very oddly, juggle a load of kit in the wind/rain/beating sun. Especially when your work is in the early stages, or if it goes wrong, it can be particularly toecurling. With a bit of luck, and if you hold your nerve, as it starts to look better lovely people come and chat/compliment your work. Or people wanting money/directions/salvation. Life’s rich tapestry…
Sketching Girona Basillica
This beautiful building provided welcome shade. I liked it so much I drew the front, back, and inside!
The art of Girona
Both the cathedral and basillica had some incredible paintings tucked away inside, some of which I thought stood on the shoulders of Velázquez. Some very interesting composition ideas too.
The door furniture throughout the city was also eyecatching. Tourists are invited to kiss the bronze lion’s bum, to ensure their return. I did, and so we did…
A few days after we arrived back in the UK, Marcus and I flew back to Spain to collect the mended car, and hammer it up the motorway, back onto the ferry. Despite the driving, we managed a few lovely stops, and a few more sketches in the process:
Thank you for reading, I hope that gave you some sketching/tourism inspiration. Leave a comment, including if there’s anything you’d like me to cover in future blogs.
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