From sketch to commissioned drawing

One of the nice things which has happened to me since our visit to Provence is that I've been commissioned to convert one of my sketches into a proper drawing.

So what started out as a lovely lunch and afternoon's sketching has now become a drawing despatched as a present to a cyclist in the USA.  He stayed at the hill top hotel in Crillon Le Brave where I had lunch - and climbed Monet Ventoux three times in one day on his bike - hence this view has a special meaning for him!

Mont Ventoux from the Hotel Crillon Le Brave
12" x 16", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I had a great time reliving a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon on 12th June 2011 when I had a wonderful lunch followed by a delightful afternoon of sketching the view of Mont Ventoux from the terrace.  (see Sunday lunch and sketching at Hotel Crillon Le Brave)

If anybody else would like a drawing from one of my sketches you can contact me via my website

Les Couguieux

Ruth has created a set of photos of Les Couguieux on Flickr - which she has compiled for the New York Times.... Sounds like there might be another article in the offing!

In the meantime see photos of the BEFORE and AFTER of where we ate, played, painted, bathed and slept back in June.  I still think of it - a lot!  However those autumn colours are to die for!

A View of Mont Ventoux - WIP

A View of Mont Ventoux - WIP, a photo by makingamark2 on Flickr.

I tried to finish this pastel - of a view of Monet Ventoux with the vineyards in the foreground - on my last evening in Couguieux. The light beat me in the end so it's not finished.

I think I'm calling this one a large scale study for another pastel yet to be completed. You'll recall I've already done one sketch of this view in Mont Ventoux and the vines http://paintingprovence.blogspot.com/2011/06/mont-ventoux-and-vines.html

The view is from the bend in the road where I took the photo of a sunrise over Mont Ventoux in my PJs on the the first morning of my stay.

I'm now off to Calais via Boulogne for the last leg on Frency soil of my trip home to London. I'm then catching the 6pm Eurotunnel train and hopefully getting back to London sometime around sevenish - having collected my lost hour en route!

Then it's down to sorting out all the stuff that's not been posted as yet!

Mont Ventoux and the vines

Mont Ventoux and the vines, a photo by makingamark2 on Flickr.

This is a sketch for a pastel I'm thinking of doing. I've christened my new A3 size Moleskine Sketchbook this week and this is the third sketch in it. It's a big view so it seemed sensible to work out how it worked and what colours a involved before I start thE pastel - which might wait until I get home.

Sarah sends her regards but is unable to post following the thunderstorm. I can only post via my Flickr account and the hotel bar of the Hotel Relais de Ventoux.

Today we discovered that there are road works and we have no water so I had a wash with "wet ones" and am hoping I'm not offending the locals!

Fortunately coloud pencils don't need water.

Today is Robyn's last day and she's getting ready to go home in her lovely new car via all the tunnels and viaducts which connect the South of France to the North of Italy.

Meanwhile Sarah is painting a blue chair and lavender.

Sunday lunch and sketching at Hotel Crillon Le Brave

Yesterday I did a mini stockup at the supermarket in Bedoin and then went to find some lunch.

I knew there were a couple of places at Crillon Le Brave which did decent meals and had views of the surrounding countryside from their terrace. So off I went having decided I'd eat at whichever I found first.

Lesson #1 - Satnavs can't cope with hilltop villages. The streets get too narrow. This can lead to taking an inadvertent wrong turn.

Lesson #2 - I haven't lost the skill to do the endless three point turn when car has gone down the wrong alley and is now poised with nowhere else to go to go and the camber is very wrong on both axes. Take a deep breath and start very slowly to turn the car round still works fine!

Lunch was taken at the Hotel Crillon Le Brave which has a splendid terrace and very nice food too.


Here are the five sketches I did. They are:

• The view from where I was sat in the restaurant at the Hotel Crillon Le Brave
• My lunch: mediterranean fish soup, aioli and croutons; tuna steak, shaved fennel salad and aioli tartine and a floating island in lavender
• The view from the terrace of Mont Ventoux and Bedoin in the distance

A photoessay of Provence

I'm now in Provence and settling in - which in my case focuses on how to make the technology work so I can post to the blogs as I go rather than saving it all for when I get home.

I'm getting there via download of images from SD card to ipad, manipulation in photogene, upload to Flickr, change status to allow download to Julian`s computer and then upload to the post. All he while trying to get used to a French keyboard which is decidedly not Querty.

The house is going to be an ace base, the three cats have already adopted me, I had a very sound night's sleep and I think this is going to be a very happy holiday!

Ronelle and Robyn both arrive tomorrow and Sarah flys in on Wednesday so today I'm doing a bit of shopping and then going out for the day.

I've decided not to neglect Making a Mark completely and I am going to try a photo essay of Provence - and post one photo a day - of something that has made a mark on me.

Today it's the photo taken just before the one you see above - of the sky over Mont Ventoux as the sun rises at just before 6am.

I was out there before 6am on the little road in my PJs documenting the visuals - so now we know what time to be up, brushes at the ready, to catch one of the best skies of the day!