Time Away From Home - Part I

Over on the "Paper, Paint, Pencils, & Pens" blog our new theme is "Time Away From Home."

We are sketching places and things that remind us of vacations, trips, or any time we spent away from home. I am doing sketches from photos taken on my many trips.

I started with a sketch of a musician my husband and I saw playing on the street in downtown Galway, Ireland last April. There was so much music in the pubs and on the streets there. I really enjoyed it. Yes, this young man did have red hair and a red beard.

In 1970 I took my first vacation with a friend. I wasn't even 21 years old yet when Suzanne and I flew out to California. We stayed a few days with her cousin and his family. Then we drove up the coast from San Diego to San Francisco making a few stops along the route. This was done from a very faded photo I took in Malibu.

I was young and in fairly good shape then. Here is a sketch of me in my bikini on the beach in Malibu. The blanket was a purchase we made when we took a trip down to Tiajuana, Mexico from San Diego. This was also done from one of my photos.

Backtracking to an earlier time, here is a sketch of a family vacation from when I was a kid. We rented this very rustic cabin on Little Sebago Lake in Maine. The cabin had a fireplace for heat on the cool Maine summer nights and only cold water and no tub or shower. Each cottage (I think there were 5.) had a rowboat and we spent a lot of time rowing around the lake. We thought it was paradise and went back for a week for a few summers. We always cried when it was time to go home. 

There will be more to come.

Galway Part IV

We had a bit of a view of the water from our room at Ardawn House in Galway.
This was the view.

This is a sketch of Murty Rabbitt's, one of the pubs where we ate and listened to music.

Don't you just love all those bottles?

Galway Part III

Galway was a fun and colorful town.

Here is one of the old wooden fishing boats called hookers.
I did this one later in the afternoon after the hailstorm.

When I needed a little warmth I came back to the B&B we were staying in called the Ardawn House and sketched in the sitting room while I sipped some wine.

We had some very tasty lunches in Galway. 

Mussels with spicy chili sauce at McDonagh's Seafood were delicious!

Galway Part II

It has been a long 4 weeks, but we are finally home from Ireland. It was frustrating to not be able to upload from there. Either the public computers didn't have a place to connect my memory card or wouldn't read the memory card. lol 

Here are a few more paintings from Galway.

Above is part of the historic area of Galway with the Cathedral in the background.

As you know, every picture has a story. The weather in Ireland changes often and very quickly, and while we were there it was fairly cold (at least to me).You may think it is going to be a sunny day but minutes later it is raining. That must be why it is so green. I went down by the harbor, set up my stool, took out my paints, and started the painting above. My husband went off to look at something and told me he'd be back in about an hour and we could go to lunch. I was nearly finished when he came back. By that time I was wearing a sweater, a coat with a zip out lining, my scarf, my fingerless gloves, my earmuffs,  and I had my hood up because it was super windy and it was the only way to keep my hair from flying in my face.  It started to drizzle and I started packing up while my husband held an umbrella over us...and then it started to hail...big hail. lol We were really pelted with it while we ran to the restaurant which was quite a way from where we were. It was an extreme plein air experience!

Of course a day in Galway meant a pub at night. Below is a sketch I did of the traditional musicians playing at An Pucan Pub.

Here is a page of a few of .my beginning sketches that I did at Kennedy Airport waiting for our flight. I forgot to post them first.