Drawing In France

My birthday present to myself this year was a sketchbook retreat to the French Countryside. Yes, that sounds like a dream but all I can say, is that it was the most magical experience I've ever had. The retreat was organised by Uptrek in collaboration with my two favorite artist Mike Lowery and his wife Katrin Wiehle.

I was so excited to meet people I've never met before so I booked my tickets and was all out to experience this incredible retreat.

And so it begins, I arrived Bordeaux and was amazed at how lovely and helpful everyone was, I managed to find my way to Bergerac train station, where we all planned to meet (I didn't have a clue who all was going to be a part of this retreat). Thankfully, when I reached the station just outside at a cafe opposite, was a bunch of strangers who waved and I knew they were going to be my people.

After Mike and Katrin got us all together and we all introduced ourselves we all felt instantly comfortable with one another. The first day at the studio was fun, Mike Lowery would always start our classes on a positive note. Mike and Katrin were both very good at teaching and planning our assignments throughout the trip. Mike's projects seemed to be conceptual and Katrin's was observational, so together, they made our sketchbook experience very fulfilling.

Studio time was the best time where all our ideas would come to life and It was so beautiful to see how we all would have the same experiences but we would interpret them very differently.

Developing a comic strip of Eymet.

Eymet, is a beautiful medieval town in the south-west of France. As our tour guide explained that this town is very fertile, it is built on the banks of the Dropt river. So everything in this little town was blooming, the corn fields too looked so lush.

On day 2, Mike gave as a project that was called "Stamp Inspiration". We were given a bunch of French stamps to choose from and everyone came up with very interesting ways to execute this project. I thought I would combine all my stamps and turn it into a story or a cover design. After we would finish with our work in the studio at La Palanque, where we stayed which was the perfect place to unwind. It was gorgeous, we could relax by the lavender bushes, sit/swim in the pool or play pétanque (boule).

On the third day we visited Beynac Et Cazenac. It had a beautiful landscape and Château De Beynac sits up on a rocky limestone cliff and dominates the town below near the Dordogne river. We walked through the houses that led up to the castle but we didn't climb too high, I stopped at a particular point and sat down to draw. The view from this walk was breathtaking.

Many films were shot here, one of the many was 'Chocolat'-starring Johnny Depp. Many artist painted the stunning landscape of Beynac: Artist/Painter Gustave Loiseau, Georges Manzana-Pissarro, Edmond Marie Petitjean and the creator of the famous Michelin Man O'Galop (Marius Rossillion).

On our way back from Beynac, we stopped to visit the Marqueyssac Garden (Les Jardin De Marqueyssac) and enjoy the view of the castle and the dordogne valley.

While returning back to our 'Gite' (luxury suite--as the french say). Our tour guide told us the story of Josephine Baker, as we passed by the Château Des Milandes (which belonged to her).

On the fourth day we visited Issigeac-(pronounced as 'easy-jack'). Katrin gave us a fun exercise (which was a 'Drawing Scavenger Hunt'- we were given a list of things to draw.

We got back early from Issigeac and we were all delighted to get more studio time that day.

We practiced some french font/typeface from one of the newspaper.

On observation, I really think the french are well informed when it comes to design aesthetics.

Their use of colour and font selection seemed to work very well with the overall design.

Katrin later introduced us to a very meditative sound exercise. Based on the sounds we heard at La Palanque we had to visually represent it. Mine almost turned into an idea that could develop into a story. It was a very interesting project.

And of course, living in the south of France and not tasting wine would be an incomplete trip. So, here's my Wine tasting experience.

That's the end of my sketchbook journey. Morning breakfast started off with fresh croissants, baguette/avocado, peach tea and pain au chocolat. lunch was fresh salad/fruits and cheese. The evenings would usually come to a close with a short discussion or a sketchbook-tour and we would bring the day to a final close with a delicious french meal that was relished.