Tag: Switzerland

Sainte-Croix, Vaud

This is the church.

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Drawn and coloured on location, about 1 degree C. That’s snow in the foreground.

Then later, it was colder.

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Hotel de France, drawn from the street, at minus 6 degrees C. This took two attempts. I had to retreat to the hotel after about 10 minutes to warm up, then I went out again and finished the picture. Colour completed in the hotel restaurant.

Here are some other sketches from the trip.

Absinthe in the Hotel de France
View from the breakfast room – a postcard, photographed after it’s been through the post.
Window in the house opposite the train station
People waiting at Geneva airport

 

I have drawn at Sainte-Croix before:

View from a Swiss Hotel

Some sketches of hotel tableware

Snow in Sainte-Croix

View from a Swiss Hotel

It was raining in Switzerland. Here is a sketch I did looking out of the window of the Hôtel de France, Sainte-Croix, Vaud. The building with the flags is the Hotel de Ville or town hall.

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I was quite pleased with the hedge, which only took a few seconds to paint.

Here’s the view:

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Earlier, I’d tried to paint outdoors.

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The painting got wet. But perhaps that adds atmosphere.

Some sketches of hotel tableware

I have been experimenting with pen and ink. Previously, I have used waterproof ink, with watercolour on top. This “pen and wash” technique depends on the ink staying where it’s put. See, for example, the urban sketch on this link.

Recently, inspired by the work of Nick Stewart  https://quinkandbleach.wordpress.com, I have been trying non-waterproof ink.

Here are four sketches, done in the Hôtel de France, Sainte-Croix, Switzerland. Click an image to enlarge.

They are all done using only Robert Oster Signature Fountain Pen Ink, colour: Black Velvet. This ink has the property that is produces a chromatograph effect, blue and pink, as it runs and dilutes with water. See, for example, the left hand side of the “wineglass” drawing, where you see black, blue and pink.

I’m using a dip pen: the Pensive Pens Serendipity dip pen.

All of this is quite a challenge to accomplish, especially as the pictures were done in a Swiss dining room, on white tablecloths. No ink drops contaminated the pristine environment. But I had to be very careful.

Snow in Sainte-Croix

Snowfield behind the church. Painted with melted snow as I forgot to bring water. All done standing up as everything was wet and cold. Snow blew from the roof of the church and fell on the picture.

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The Temple of Sainte-Croix, Protestant Church. Constructed 1747 on the ruins of a previous building destroyed by fire in 1744. Drawn on location and coloured at the Hotel de France. About 20 min to draw, standing in the road.

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