Sun, sea and sketches for you, *|FNAME|*, 💗 from Girona

¡Hola again, !

In the spirit of tapas, please enjoy grazing this final selection of Spanish holiday sketches.

If you don't want the full menu, head to the last item to groan at my most shameless artistic moment!

We spent a week near Girona with family and friends; the sun was roasting, but the pool and cocktails refreshing. We got up only when we had had enough sleep, with time to chat, read, ping pong, paint and draw. 

To stave off sloth, we did a couple of runs around the nearby lake, which involved setting off at 8am to miss the heat. The second time I planned ahead and brought my easel. Despite the picturesque boathouses, I was drawn to this view of coots milling round reflected reeds, the Pyrenees in the background. It felt like I painted for a couple of hours, but the clock said it was four. 

Later, hoping to capture on canvas a souvenir of the holiday, I looked for a perfect view of the place we stayed. It took quite a bit of walking on scorched grass to find a spot under an olive tree, from where I could see both the house and the landscape. The cicadas were deafening, in harmony with the Tock Tock of pingpong (can you see the little red dot of a pingpong bat that fleetingly caught the light during a game that was happening on the terrace?

Although the olives trees weren't fruiting, I was happy to set up a little jar with a leafy sprig to paint 'sight size' as an exercise. It takes a lot of faffing to get canvas, subject, and eye properly aligned, but I was inspired by the wonderful process videos and results of Felicity Starr. Ted (more of him later) and I managed to each paint the same still life, sharing paints and talking through issues as we learned together. It is always fascinating to see how differently two people can interpret a subject. Also cathartic to witness another artist wrestling and dissatisfied - I hope very much that Future Ted will look back at what he painted and appreciate the beautiful shapes and sophisticated design. 

Because it's so hard to transport wet oil paintings, I put them out in the sun to bake dry for the last few days and turned to sketching instead. Starting with some olives found on a walk...

I love sketching people more than anything - whether they're posing or oblivious. There's something about being drawn that, in the context of a lazy holiday, feels slightly like work, so I was grateful to friends for agreeing to sit even stiller than they already were! I've drawn the same friends on the same annual holiday for decades now, so they know the deal. They are kind enough to make me feel a million dollars by indulging me with their attendance at an end-of-holiday Private View, reliving moments and places together. Some people order prints, compare notes on their portraits, and I do a giveaway draw for the originals.

After goodbyes to friends, we headed on to Bilbao as a family.

The Guggenheim have a fantastic exhibition "Motion" curated by Norman Foster, centred around a display of iconic cars including the first ever car, Firebirds, a Cadillac, and a bisected Mini. Tying together art, design, and construction, my favourite room had a Bugatti alongside the Henry Moore sculpture "Reclining Figure". Ignoring the somewhat hushed reverence of the room, I broke out my pencil roll and stood sketching in a corner - marvelling at the curves and angles in both the car and the sculpture.

On our last day, Izzi and I headed to a nearby square to practice sketching people. We spent a lovely hour picking off locals and tourists. Again, I loved the difference in our approaches, and comparing who we'd each been drawn to draw.

Finally, we spent the 30 hour ferry crossing from Bilbao to Portsmouth bingeing Toblerone, playing cards, sketching, and reminiscing about our time in Spain. I taught the boys to play Patience, and left them to it. Izzi and I shared an audiobook, and got our sketchbooks out while we listened... there was no shortage of time or subjects.

I was practicing looking at people then trying to draw a likeness without looking back. It's a skill used by court sketchers, and feels like a really good way to laser in on big shapes and individuality. I am in awe of the memory involved - according to the court reporter Tim Wood (who runs fantastic Legal London tours), they use various methods including a numerical code. Here is all I managed:

Much as I would have loved to draw strangers for longer, I somehow couldn't pluck up the courage to approach anyone, so my obliging family stepped in as models for a few more casual sketches.

At last, artistic distraction arrived in a most unexpected form: Brittany Ferries run lots of entertainment on their ferries. I managed to resist Bingo, Shuffleboard, the music quiz, and lots more. But the drawing competition was too much for my inner child. The theme was sea creatures. No age limit, they said... When it comes to elbowing children aside, shameless is my middle name!

To much eyerolling and mirth by the family, I was delighted to make it up onto the information desk wall, and to receive a prize from this delightful member of staff.

Several other actual children also won prizes, I didn't get the impression there was a limited amount, but we won't go there.

Adiós!
Gail xxx

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