Each time of year has its colours, one of the colours of springtime is lilac.
Lilac bushes in abundance, wisteria and iris’s too, along with the reds and pinks of the roses.
All growing wild in the hedgerows or climbing up the village houses.
It’s really a joy to have all these close at hand to paint.
This winter we travelled to a place that I’ve been longing to visit for many years, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Bhutan, the land of the thunder dragon was as magical and beautiful as I had hoped, and a few days in Kolkata at either end added a sharp but equally enjoyable contrast. Just by the colours I used in my sketchbook you can see the difference. I even managed a Sunday outing with the Kolkata Urban Sketchers which was great fun!
Visiting Dzongs, monasteries and museums whilst each day traveling further east we got to see some spectacular countryside too.
Salon du Carnet de Voyage
For the second year I was invited to participate in this wonderful annual event. It’s something that I have looked forward to all year and it didn’t disappoint.
Meeting other carnettistes, sketchers and enthusiasts is so much fun and so inspiring. Running a workshop for twelve talented ladies was an important part of my weekend.
I have to say that the subject I planned was really a little bit ambitious but after a few tours of the table and a little encouragement the results were really amazing!
A whirlwind week in Poland for the 13th Urban Sketchers Symposium 2025, in Poznan.
Starting out in Warsaw then moving onto Poznan for the symposium and after that on to Toruń.
I managed to sketch in all three locations, really getting into the swing of it in Poznan and continuing with limited time in Toruń.
I can’t describe how wonderful the symposium was, meeting old and new sketching friends, meeting people that I’ve learnt from and people that I’ve taught. An incredible atmosphere of friendship and sharing, with an amazing team of organizers, volunteers and sponsors.
Just a few days in the valley of the Sesia river, mostly to test a kayak ( not me) but I managed to snatch a few sketches along with the exploring, restaurants and ice cream stops.
In the last two you can see how I completed the sketch at home, because after I took the first photo of the ink stage my lunch arrived so I just had to stop and eat!
After a lovely family walk on a Sunday very near home we walked past some beautiful old cabanons and old farm buildings that I’d never seen before – not five minutes from home. So Monday morning I was back there with my sketchbook and here’s some on site sketches and the finished pages.
You can find a short video of me painting the small ruin on my new YouTube channel
In 2024 I managed to finish 2 sketchbooks, and although that’s less than usual I am very happy looking back through them.
I also participated in two festivals, printed a third “Vignettes “ booklet and finished a larger than usual amount of commissions.
So now I’m looking forward to 2025 and aside from a resolution to sketch more I’m also going to try to learn more.
It’s always a positive thing to take other artists classes, you end up with a fresh outlook, different ways of seeing things.
I’m also hoping to teach more, on line and in person.
Before we slip into winter it’s about time that I added some of my autumn sketchbook pages. Autumn is a season I love and gives me a chance to use those wonderful oranges and yellows.
It’s still warm enough to be outside and to enjoy all those colours that nature has to offer.
A week away in the van was cut short to a long weekend because of the unseasonably cold weather, managed a few sketches though.
The first weekend of September in Lourmarin.
For the first time I participated in this amazing event, a sketchbook festival grouping together artists and sketchers from France and Europe. It was so nice to meet fellow sketchers exhibiting and all the people who had come to see us.
The atmosphere and organization was brilliant.
I ran a workshop, that I could have filled twice over, where we sketched vignettes of typical Provençal subjects. The hard working participants turned out great work in a very limited time and with a howling Mistral wind.
Great fun! I was even featured in the newspaper……
Here in southern France it’s currently so hot that sketching outside is an early morning activity. Other option is to go a little bit north into the southern alps where being outside is a little bit cooler, those sketches will be in the following post.
A few pictures of my stand before the crowds arrived.
Then some pictures of my workshop which was such fun, see what the participants came up with in just 90 minutes!
Ended the Saturday evening with a great pizza with friends then back to the camper and the cute campsite.
Another collection from my sketchbook travels, another little book in the making. This one is all about our summer travels in our 1979 VW Camper – a trusty member of the family for over 20 years.
“Vignettes de Provence” and “Vignettes de l’Ubaye”
Pages from my sketchbooks, edited in 2023 into two small booklets that were self published, somehow I forgot to post about them at the time.
I had such fun trawling through my sketchbooks to choose the images, and I even had fun scanning them and putting it all together on Photoshop – although there were moments when I found it incredibly frustrating and out of my comfort zone!
However they did really well, I had to re-order several times. So I’m taking a deep breath and I’m about to start another one, this time I’m taking my sketches from further afield, India, Nepal, Morocco, Myanmar and Laos.
The current ones are available on my Etsy store, SusanKnappSketches
I can have my cake and eat it too, as long as I sketch it first!
At the top is a traditional Gâteau des Rois, eaten in France on the 6th of January, Epiphany.
Below an Italian pastry filled with “ crema pasticcera “…….
I don’t very often sketch food, but I really enjoy sketching cakes, perhaps I need to do more in 2024.
These are not necessarily the ones that got the most likes on Instagram or Facebook, but the ones I had the most fun doing and hold the best memories.
They are all from near home, not including any travel sketches.
It’s ten years since I last visited Nepal, and despite the fact that it’s busier and with a definite increase in air pollution it remains at heart the same.
The people are delightful and welcoming, the food is wonderful and the incredible monuments and buildings are just waiting to be sketched. Most of the historic buildings have been restored after the earthquakes but apparently not all the dwellings.
Here is a small selection of sketches, I’m actually planning to do a “Travel Vignettes “ booklet in the new year……. Watch this space!
Despite all my promises and good intentions summer did not go as planned, but I will try to catch up with a few sketches from home and travels near to home.
Early summer, local villages and gardens.
Carnets de Voyage en Provence 2023
A wonderful weekend at the end of February spent in the company of 60 other “carnettistes” , that is sketchers, showing our sketchbooks to the many, many appreciative visitors .
The other sketchers were from all over France and Europe too and like me they had travelled and sketched all over the world.
Such an amazing experience that I was proud to participate in.
Pages from my sketchbooks over the winter months, from blue skies to snowy landscapes.
Moving between the Var where we don’t often get snow to the Ubaye valley with its winter climate and ski stations.
Ladakh to New Delhi via Kargil and Srinagar.
An incredible and sometimes hair raising journey from the high mountains of Ladakh over pass’s of 5,000 meters, down to the beautiful Dal lake in Cashmere and then to New Delhi. Sketching all the way!
August, September 2022.
Leh, Ladakh.
Some of the pages from my sketchbook, in and around Leh in Ladakh.
A wonderful and peaceful region to sketch, predominately Buddhist, with incredible perched monasteries and fields full of Stupas and Chortens.
All surrounded by hugely impressive high mountains with gardens and valleys full of flowers.
Because of the altitude the colours appear so pure and bright, such a fabulous place to visit.
Sea, mountains and beautiful old buildings.
I have a lot of sketches to add, I’ve been very busy, so now I will try to catch up.
These sketches were drawn from my photographs taken whilst on the Ligurian coast in and around Alassio.
Just before moving onto a different subject, two more sketchbook pages involving flowers.
These pages were done following the yearly flower market in Barcelonnette, such a riot of colours , impossible to resist.
Spring flowers, I just can’t resist them.
Dipladenia, fuchsia, scented garden roses, lilac, all there waiting for me to paint them!
Perfect weather for outdoor sketching, whilst juggling commissions and project meetings.
I don’t usually have time to do so much Urban sketching, or in my case rural sketching, but I need to make the most of it before it gets too hot and busy. So here is a tour around some of my local villages.
Very welcome weekend in the mountains. Sitting in the sunshine sketching really raises the spirits, after two weeks of Covid. All feels right in my world again.
More Easter weekend sketches to follow, from the valley of the Ubaye and Barcelonnette.
Susan Knapp Sketches 