Burdicks, Walpole 18.09.06. 1.45pm8" x 10" pen and sepia ink and coloured pencil in Moleskine notebook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell
On Monday morning I crossed the border into New Hampshire to visit with Nicole Caulfield who lives on the outskirts of Keene with her husband Mike and their delightful daughters Katie and Lizzie. Nicole is a fellow founder member of Fine Line Artists. and we have been corresponding for over two years although we only met for the first time in Albuquerque in July this year when we went to the CPSA Annual Convention - and saw one of her works "Diner Reflections" in the annual exhibition.
Keene is probably most famous for being the home of the record for the most pumpkin Jack-o-Lanterns in one place (ie 28, 952 - the next record-breaking attempt is Saturday 21st October!
The morning was sunny and Nicole drove Lizzie and I north to a hill high above the wide Connecticut River that runs north/south and forms the border between New Hampshire and Vermont. The hill was home to an extensive apple orchard with many different varieties of apples I'd never heard of before. Needless to say we picked apples!
We then went to Walpole, a perfectly delightful rural town dating back to 1736, which is home to the Burdick Chocolate Shop and cafe. We had lunch in the cafe (see the menu!) or rather Nicole and I had lunch and Lizzie toyed with various offerings but was very well behaved for a 3 year old!
The sketch at the top of the page is of the interior of the cafe and was done from our table. The floral centrepiece included some amazing colours purple / crimson / orange and lime green! There were lots of really interesting coloured reflections going on - however I had to colour this one after the visit due to the need for us to be back in time for Katie getting in from school. To my right of where we sat were the doors through to the chocolate shop which we visited afterwards - primarily so all my very kind hostesses could have a token of my appreciation! I did get to try one or two later and I have to say they were really scrummy!
New Hampshire is the second most forested state in the USA after Maine. When we got home I had another go at trying to workout how one does sketches of extremely tall trees in back gardens - in this case Swamp Maples. which were just beginning to turn. Lizzie entertained me with her toy teaset while I scribbled away at my plein air sketch in a somewhat 'impressionist' style - all I can say is Louise has been showing me too many images of works by Wolf Kahn !
Back garden, Keene 18.09.06. 6pm
10" x 8" pencil and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell
In the evening Nicole and I both had a go at doing an art card from the apples we had picked earlier in the day. Nicole has started doing art cards and smaller works as a way of making her work more affordable for new collectors - and they're selling well!
I was particularly interested to try out the properties of the Grafix drafting film which Nicole uses and am now of the opinion that this is the nicest of all the types I've tried to date. I produced two art cards but can now only find one - which is on the left. It is in fact slightly larger than the required 3.5" x 2.5" of an art card.
Links:
copyright Katherine Tyrrell
On Monday morning I crossed the border into New Hampshire to visit with Nicole Caulfield who lives on the outskirts of Keene with her husband Mike and their delightful daughters Katie and Lizzie. Nicole is a fellow founder member of Fine Line Artists. and we have been corresponding for over two years although we only met for the first time in Albuquerque in July this year when we went to the CPSA Annual Convention - and saw one of her works "Diner Reflections" in the annual exhibition.
Keene is probably most famous for being the home of the record for the most pumpkin Jack-o-Lanterns in one place (ie 28, 952 - the next record-breaking attempt is Saturday 21st October!
The morning was sunny and Nicole drove Lizzie and I north to a hill high above the wide Connecticut River that runs north/south and forms the border between New Hampshire and Vermont. The hill was home to an extensive apple orchard with many different varieties of apples I'd never heard of before. Needless to say we picked apples!We then went to Walpole, a perfectly delightful rural town dating back to 1736, which is home to the Burdick Chocolate Shop and cafe. We had lunch in the cafe (see the menu!) or rather Nicole and I had lunch and Lizzie toyed with various offerings but was very well behaved for a 3 year old!
The sketch at the top of the page is of the interior of the cafe and was done from our table. The floral centrepiece included some amazing colours purple / crimson / orange and lime green! There were lots of really interesting coloured reflections going on - however I had to colour this one after the visit due to the need for us to be back in time for Katie getting in from school. To my right of where we sat were the doors through to the chocolate shop which we visited afterwards - primarily so all my very kind hostesses could have a token of my appreciation! I did get to try one or two later and I have to say they were really scrummy!New Hampshire is the second most forested state in the USA after Maine. When we got home I had another go at trying to workout how one does sketches of extremely tall trees in back gardens - in this case Swamp Maples. which were just beginning to turn. Lizzie entertained me with her toy teaset while I scribbled away at my plein air sketch in a somewhat 'impressionist' style - all I can say is Louise has been showing me too many images of works by Wolf Kahn !
Back garden, Keene 18.09.06. 6pm10" x 8" pencil and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell
In the evening Nicole and I both had a go at doing an art card from the apples we had picked earlier in the day. Nicole has started doing art cards and smaller works as a way of making her work more affordable for new collectors - and they're selling well!I was particularly interested to try out the properties of the Grafix drafting film which Nicole uses and am now of the opinion that this is the nicest of all the types I've tried to date. I produced two art cards but can now only find one - which is on the left. It is in fact slightly larger than the required 3.5" x 2.5" of an art card.
Links:
- Nicole Caulfield Fine Art
- Fine Line Artists
- New Hampshire State website - information for visitors
- Keene, New Hampshire
- Keene Pumpkin Festival
- Walpole
- Burdicks Chocolatier and Cafe - home of handmade chocolates! P.O. Box 593, 47 Main Street, Walpole, NH 03608
- Grafix drawing film
The drawing of the trees is stunning! Love all that verticality. Now, for a little lesson in 'American' : we don't have borders between states. We call them state lines ;D. Here I've seen signs at cafes which say, 'We speak American' and I've wondered how the English feel about such a statement. American is not a language!
ReplyDeleteThat was too funny to read Katherine! So it was tea that Lizzy was offering you on the patio? :)
ReplyDeleteI love how you add all the links in your posts and repeat them on the bottom - its like a trip through my area!
Can'y wait for tommorrows post and find out what happened with you, a covered bridge and the NH police!
-Nicole
I'm fascinated by the idea of coloured pencil on drafting film. However I find it difficult to imagine that the end result could be something you might want to frame and hang on a wall (as opposed to coloured pencil on paper). I suppose what I'm saying is that there are some techniques and media which are fine for reproduction, but which don't necessarily have the tactile qualities that you might want from a one-off piece of art. Obviously this is all conjecture and I really need to see how it looks in the flesh. The apples look very attractive, but also different to your other work, so presumably the drafting film has an effect on the coloured pencil.
ReplyDeletebeautiful sketches that have brought back memories for me, I have been in Keene and Walpole and dined at Burdick's cafe! (fyi, their chocolates were voted the best in America a few years ago!) yet more of your wonderful colors, your combinations are fantastic!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful ceiling with the bulb light reflection.
ReplyDelete