Passion Fruit

Well, it's been ten months since I posted anything on this blog. In that time, I have been getting involved with the art community on Flickr and created a fan page for my art on Facebook. And I did wonder what the point of a blog was, especially as I don't always have the time, the inclination or indeed the skill to write an interesting commentary. But now, having just become a correspondent on the Urban Sketchers France blog - an exciting new stage of my artistic journey - I think it's time to revive my own blog.

And what better day to start than a crisp, sunny Sunday in the Haute Vallée... the light was exquisite. It was cold but so beautifully sunny that I just had to get out and sketch. In Espéraza, on the road that runs alongside the railway, I found a house, clearly a holiday home, its green shutters closed for the winter, the stubby plane trees opposite casting huge shadows onto the facade. My eye was drawn by a few golden passion fruits dangling from a vine that crept along the railings in front of the house.

Quoiqu’un peu froid, il faisait tellement beau aujourd’hui que je rongeais mon frein pour dessiner dehors. A Espéraza, sur la rue qui longe le chemin de fer, les platanes dénudés jettent leurs ombres gigantesques sur les façades des maisons d’en face. Passant devant une résidence secondaire, ses volets verts fermés pour l’hiver, j’ai été attirée par les fruits de la passion dorés qui pendaient toujours à sa liane sur la grille devant la maison. 

Footbridge at Dusk

It's getting chilly as well as dark in the evenings now. Did this from the car while Delphine was at dance class. I realise I should have shifted my position to avoid the church tower looking like an extension of the bridge support... oh well.

Drawn on the spot, washes added at home.

Potasse d'Alsace

Now we are well into November, there are not many minutes of daylight left for my weekly sketching slot while my daughter is at dance class. Tonight I took a wander over the footbridge in Espéraza and noticed what I presume is an old agricultural merchants building with a faded Potasse d'Alsace logo with its stork emblem painted on the facade. The light was fading fast but I just had time to get down the pen drawing. The colour was added at home with Derwent coloured pencils.

Sunday Sketches

Sunday in the Haute Vallée is market day. Just like in the old days, people flock to Espéraza from the surrounding villages, to buy fresh produce and catch up with friends. Today, the day before Halloween, there was a calm, unhurried atmosphere and the sun shone, though more softly than in the heat of summer. For the first time in the seven years I have been coming to this market, I dared to sit sketching amid all the activity. 

   

In the afternoon, it was still warm enough to sit on the bench opposite Fa café and do a watercolour sketch. The parasols are folded down for the winter now and the trees on the hillside behind are just starting to turn colour.