Le Mont St Michel

My sister wanted to visit Mont St Michel having visited it once before on a school trip. I'd always wanted to visit but had a niggle that I was going to like it more from a distance than close up. It seemed to me that there was every likelihood that it would have been taken over by tourism.

Mont-Saint-Michel 3rd October 2009
 11" x 17",  pencil and coloured pencils in Daler Rowney Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I was right - although it was not as bad as it could have been - probably due to the fact that it's a World Heritage Site. However the combination of souvenir shops and coachloads of tourists made it somewhere I didn't want to be. It gets 3 million visitors a year.

I didn't climb to the top to the Romanesque Abbey (which has wonderful pointy bits), as my right ankle was making loud and painful protests at the time. I ducked into the little church on the way up - which offered a little bit of peace and quiet. Then I went up further but headed for one of the look-out areas. At which point I became completely entranced with the sand and the estuary. You can see photographs taken from the viewpoints on my Flickr site - Mont St. Michel set on Flickr. I watched a group of people who were right out on the sandbanks of the estuary.

The view from the viewing platform
at the rear of Mont St Michel

I then decided to come back down via the footpath along the peripheral walls - which made the experience a whole lot more satisfactory as this walk for some reason was almost deserted!

We visited three times - on Friday afternoon (which was when I stayed longest), Friday evening when we came back to see it lit up - a very spectacular sight from a distance and then again on Saturday morning.

On that occasion I stayed down in the car park, got into the back seat, opened the door and got out my sketchbook to sketch. The result is the sketch at the top.

You can see more of my drawings since I got back on my Making A Mark blog post today - From sketchbook to studio - which comments on the thinking and drawing process when I get back home.

I've yet to produce a more finished drawing that I'm happy with!

About Mont-Saint-Michel

Perched on a rocky islet in the midst of vast sandbanks exposed to powerful tides between Normandy and Brittany stand the 'Wonder of the West', a Gothic-style Benedictine abbey dedicated to the archangel St Michael, and the village that grew up in the shadow of its great walls. Built between the 11th and 16th centuries, the abbey is a technical and artistic tour de force, having had to adapt to the problems posed by this unique natural site.
UNESCO World Heritage Site

Plan Mont Saint Michel

Source: WikiTravel

You can see a gallery photos of Mont Saint Michel on the UNESCO World Heritage website and yet more on the Monet Saint Michel page on the "Our Place" Collection of Photographs of World Heritage Sites.

There are also more links below which tell you more about the site below.

Links:

• Mont-Saint-Michel - official website
• France - National Monuments - Abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel
• UNESCO - World Heritage Site - Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay and its Bay
• Our Place - Mont-Saint-Michel page
• Wikipedia - Mont St Michel
• Wikitravel - Mont St Michel
• Official Mont St Michel website
• Our trip plans: 3rd October: Mont St. Michel

Petit déjeuner at the Château de Boucéel

Petit déjeuner at the Château de Boucéel
8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Actually staying in a Château on our French holiday was a treat! The Châteaux are all so very different and Château de Boucéel, the one we stayed in near Mont St Michel, looked like a very grand house. You can see some photos of it below and there are more online on Flickr.

Château de Boucéel - exterior and hall and stairs

It turns out that Château de Boucéel has been reincarnated a few times. There has been a castle on the land since the twelth century. It's moved a few metres too in that time

The Boucéel estate dates back to the beginning of the 12th century. It was awarded by Richard III duke of Normandy to the Pigace family. The present château is a Listed Building built in 1763. It is the third one on the estate. The second was a large square castle with four towers, typical of the Knight Templars, and a stopping place for the Mont Saint Michel pilgrims in the Middle Ages.

This one is a large “ Malouinière” ( typical Saint Malo architecture at the time of King Louis XIV) with a curve forwarded front on on the North side, with primes on the South side and two lower wings on each side that give it a wide spread.

The story of the history of the estate also recounts what happened in various wars and battles

My sketch (at the top of the post) is of breakfast on the Saturday morning and the breakfast table (linen, silver etc!) in their very grand and very lovely dining room which was panelled in wood painted a very pale pistachio colour. A curious colour but it worked really well.

It was fascinating to learn from the Comte Régis de Roquefeuil that his father had always drawn his life - in comic book style - and that this was now recorded in a book. He showed me his father's record of his honeymoon in Venice.

Arnaud de Roquefeuil, my father, has told his life in comics between 1923 and 1955. The drawings that you can visualize here come from his album which is in Boucéel.

Chronique illustrée de la Manche en guerre
by Arnaud de Roquefeuil

On this page, the website displays the cartoons his father drew during the war about his experiences between 1939 and 1945. These are published in a book called Chronique illustrée de la Manche en guerre by Arnaud de Roquefeuil. They are absolutely fascinating as contemporaneous accounts of what the war actually looked like in that part of the world. It includes one of planes in the skies overhead on D day.

I can highly recommend Château de Boucéel if you ever want to stay in the area. We were made very welcome and I had a wonderful night's sleep in a very comfortable bed followed by and a splendid Petit déjeuner. We stayed in La chambre de Charlotte which is one of the bedrooms which has three beds. I was in a separate bedroom on the other side of the bathroom - which you can se on the link. My sister and I speculated about whether we were going to go home and start creating padded walls. We'd discovered that the walls upstairs were all covered in fabric which when touched had a firm padding underneath. I just kept wondering how they were kept clean!

From here we went back to Mont St Michel and managed to get there before the hordes arrived - so the next post on this blog is all about our visit to Mont St Michel!

Links:

• Comte & Comtesse Régis de Roquefeuil-Cahuzac, Château de Boucéel, Vergoncey, 50240 France

Auberge du Terroir, Servon

Early evening at the Auberge du Terroir

8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

On Day 6 of our French trip, we drove from Rouen down to the coast near the border of Normandy and Brittany coast to see Mont St Michel.

Given that we were going very near the beaches where the Normandy landings took place we decided to round out the education of my niece by stopping to pay our respects at one of the many second world war graveyards in the area. This one was east of Caen.

Banneville-Le-Campagne War Cemetery

Normandy contains a large number of battlefields associated with the D Day Landings and the invasion of Normandy during second world war. Consequently, there are also a large number of war cemeteries in Normandy for troops from a diverse set of countries. Those who died tend to be buried in cemeteries for the Allied Forces or for the German Troops. The cemetaries are largely associated with the D-Day landings in June 1944.

We stopped for a while at Banneville-Le-Campagne War Cemetary (location on Google Maps). It contains 2,172 graves many of which relate to Operation Goodwood which has been described as the biggest tank battle the British army has ever fought.

The cemetery contains burials from soldiers killed in the Normandy fighting, largely during the second week of July to mid August 1944. At this time Caen was finally captured, there was heavy fighting in the Bocage, and the Falaise Gap was closed as the Germans withdrew from Normandy. Casualties from Operation Goodwood particularly dominate this cemetery.
D Day Casualties - Banneville-la-Campagne War Cemetery

One of the soldiers buried there is an artist - Rex Whistler (1905-1944). He's the man who painted The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats - the mural in the Tate Britain Restaurant now named after him . (See my post Dining and sketching at the Tate Britain Restaurant June 1007)

Reginald John ('Rex') Whistler by Reginald John ('Rex') Whistler
oil on canvas, circa 1934
National Portrait Gallery

Painter, illustrator, theatrical designer and muralist, a master of pastiche and trompe-l’oeil. Whistler’s elegant baroque designs and witty murals enlivened many interiors including the Tate Gallery Refreshment Room (1926–7) and Plas Newydd, Isle of Anglesey (1936–8). He was killed while on active service during the Second World War.
National Portrait Gallery

While reviewing the data relating to these graves I found out that you can search for the details of soldiers who survived and those who died - via this website A Short Guide to researching British Army Soldiers in WW2.

Mont St Michel

We reached Mont St Michel in the late afternoon. I'm going to save my comments about it until the post for the 3rd October in which I'll include my sketch.

Château de Boucéel

We were staying overnight at the Château de Boucéel and arrived there in the late afternoon after our initial visit to Mont St Michel to be greeted by the Comte Régis de Roquefeuil - Cahuzac! We were made to feel very welcome and and the Comtesse very kindly gave me map of how to find our restaurant for the evening.

More about the chateau in the next post!

Auberge du Terroir

In the evening, we had what was undoubtedly the best restaurant meal of our whole trip. I'd booked a table at the Auberge du Terroir which was, according to Dorling Kindersley, #3 on the list of the 10 best places to eat in Normandy. I'd certainly agree with that decsription. My only sadness is that I forgot to make a note of what we ate in my sketchbook - however I do have a vivid recollection of enjoying an excellent meal. We were also the first to arrive and the last to leave!

The sketch at the top was drawn at the start of our meal in between arriving and the first course arriving.

Following the Comte's recommendation, after dinner we made our way back to Mont St Michel to park on the road and see it lit up at night. It was well worth the effort and I have to say it's much more impressive in real life than can ever be captured using a camera!

Mont St. Michel - 11pm on 2nd October 2009
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Links:

• Normandy Battlefields
  
• D Day casualties - Banneville Cemetary
• Banneville-la-Campagne War Cemetery
• Google Maps - Banneville-La-Campagne War Cemetery
  
• Mont St Michel
• Chateau de Bouceel
• Auberge du Terroir

Sketching Rouen Cathedral - from my hotel bed!

Sketches of Rouen Cathedral
(left) nighttime on 01.10.09
(right) 8am on 02.10.09.
pencil and coloured pencils in Daler Rowney sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Next stop on our French trip was Rouen. Here's my post about Rouen posted while we were travelling - 2nd October: Rouen and Normandy

One of the objectives of the trip for me was to be able to see the paintings by Monet of Rouen Cathedral in the Musée d'Orsay and then to be able to see the Cathedral in real life. (Much as we had done with Monet's paintings of the garden at Giverny and our visit to Giverny)

"Voila mon atelier" Claude Monet 1880
They have better looking construction hoardings in France
- spotted next to the cathedral

I was ecstatic to find that, as promised, the hotel that I'd booked (Hotel Le Cardinal at 1 Place de la Cathédrale) did indeed look out on the Cathédrale Notre Dame. However it was off to the side rather than looking out at the front. Which was probably a very good thing as the front was completely enveloped in polythene and scaffolding - obviously some restoration going on!

What was even better was that I had a balcony which overlooked the south aspect of the cathedral. I think I did mention I wanted to draw the cathedral! Check out the video from my hotel bedroom balcony - which, for the record, was on the third floor at the front of the hotel.

I also started - but didn't finish - a sketch of the interior of the Brasserie Paul where we had dinner. It's the oldest brasserie operating in Rouen and is right next to the hotel - but it had been a very long day!

We had previously walked down to the Place du Vieux Marché (Old Market Square) which is lined with restaurants - but we were on the trail of comfort food rather than haute cuisine! It did however constitute another part of our Jeanne d'Arc trail. Rouen Castle is where she was held and tried from 21 February to 23 May 1431 and the Place du Vieux Marché is the place where she was executed by being burnt at the stake after being found guilty of being a relapsed heretic. (This site records the relevant places)

In the centre of the Place du Vieux Marché is the modern church of Saint Joan of Arc. This is a large, modern structure which dominates the square. The form of the building represents the pyre on which Joan of Arc was burnt.

I was saving myself for late night sketching - of the cathedral from my hotel bed! I did two sketches - both of which involved nothing more strenuous than lying on my bed propped up by a pillow! I did one last thing at night and one about 8am the next morning - both of which you can see at the top of the post. It was actually very interesting to see how the form of the cathedral changed in the different light and how different parts were emphasised less or more.

A view of the west front painted by Monet - above the scaffolding!

At 10am we departed for our journey across Normandy to visit Mont St Michel - via a 2nd World War cemetary asscoiated with the Normandy landings in 1944 - of which more in the next post about our French trip.

Links:

• Monet's Series Paintings - Rouen Cathedral
• Cathédrale Notre Dame on Google Maps (with photos, reviews and links to other information)
• Rouen Cathedral / Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen on Wikipedia
• Rouen - Wikipedia
  
• Rouen Cathedral (Monet) on Wikipedia
• Joan of Arc Biography
  
• Hotel Le Cardinal at 1 Place de la Cathédrale, 760000, Rouen
  

The Water Garden at Giverny

The Water Garden, Giverny
11.5" x 17", coloured pencil in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

On 1st October we started our grand tour around northern France (Giverny, Rouen and Mont St Michel) before moving down the valleys of the Rivers Loire and Cher to see the chateaux.

We picked up our Renault Grand Scenic from the Gare du Nord and set off for Giverny. It's not that far from the centre of Paris and is a relatively easy drive - although Google maps will insist on trying to send you to the Foundation Claude Monet in Vernon!

I've been to Monet's house and garden at Giverny before and it was much as I remembered it - although a little less colourful being a little later in the season. However, that's all relative given that this is Giverny!

We got there just before lunch and left late afternoon - but inevitably it wasn't enough time. I think next time I visit I'll try and make it an all day visit. One of the reasons being that your eyes are assaulted with an awful lot of densely packed visual information. It takes quite a while just to get used the gardens - so you can see what you are seeing.

I didn't take enough photos last time I was there - and this time I had my new digicamcorder to play with too. It was actually very interesting looking at the garden through a frame as it helped me to see potential views to work up.

The weather changed quite a lot while we were there from cloud to sinshine and back to cloud again! I imagined Monet whipping canvases on and off the easel!

One of the things which struck me is how much more the garden had grown since I was last there. then it occurred to me that it probably now looks nothing like the way it did on the water garden side. I checked back to early photos and it's certainly the case that the trees surrounding the pool appear younger and not so dense.

If you've not been to Giverny and you'd like to get a bit of a sense of what I'm getting at, take a look at the two movies I've made of the two gardens

• A walk around Giverny - #1 The Water Garden (where the nympheas/waterlillies and willows are). This was supposed to be a nonstop walk around the garden however it turned out to be 12 minutes long so I shaved and snipped until I got it to 3 seconds short of 10 minutes - which meant I could upload it to You Tube!
  
• A walk around Giverny - #2 The Close Normand (the flower garden). This is a walk from the point where you emrege from the tunnel - up to the verandah on the house - and then from the verandah to looking at the Grande Allee - and the nasturtium - from both ends. This would have been the route that Monet took to his water garden.
  

Or the photos I took which are on Flickr

• Monet's water garden, Giverny
• Giverny - Clos Normand

I sat down for a while in the Water Garden - on the only seat in the two gardens - and did the sketch you can see at the top. It's one of those "every green goes with every other green" sketches! It hasn't got the depth of value that's needed as there wasn't enough time - but I'm working on that in a new drawing.

Tips for visiting Giverny

• Unless planning to stay all day, I'd suggest you go early or stay late or be there over lunchtime to enjoy the garden when it's quieter. Out of high season, I've had success in parking in the car park right opposite the house when I've done this. The tourist groups off the coaches tend to be either side of the lunchtime.
  
• Ear plugs are probably a good investment for those wanting to enjoy Giverny in tranquillity. The road which separates the two gardens is not that busy but it can be very noisy - especially in the water garden. Ear plugs also protect you against the completely inane comments of some tour guides who appear really eager to discuss Monet's deomestic arrangements and who slept where rather than the paintings he produced while living here!
• It's very easy to lose track of time - and the gift shop at the end has some really good out of print books about Monet which are well nigh impossible and/or very expensive to get hold of elsewhere. I came away with The Color of Time which is a prizewinning book about Monet and his work.
• You can't paint with easels in the garden when other people are visiting - there's just not enough room. However you can apply to paint in the garden and visit on a day when it's normally closed to the public. or you can be like Joan Tavalot and paint small standing up - check out her paintings of Giverny on her blog! (see Painting Monet's Garden - Day 1 and Painting Monet's Garden - Day 2)
• it's worth checking out images of the garden on different websites to see what time of year you'd most like to visit. They all have their pros and cons.

Links:

• Giverny - a great garden
• Claude Monet - Resources for Art Lovers
  

Travels with a sketchbook in France (2009)

I've done long trips before and know that it's difficult enough trying to fit in all I'd like to see and do without taking time out to post what I'm up to - even if I could! I've tried to resolve that problem this year by

• posting about where I was going before I went.
  
• Plus today I'm starting my sequence of posts about what I actually did on my recent trip to northern France.

I always start my record of my trips with a summary of the posts I'm expecting to do about my travels with a sketchbook (and camera). It keeps me organised and helps me to avoid missing anything out. Plus I get to work out how many sketches I need to scan! I'll insert the hyperlinks to the blog post titles and hyperlinks in this summary as I post them and this post will go in the summary of trips in the side column for easy reference.

I'm also going to be posting photos and videos to my Flickr account - so you might want to keep an eye on France - which is going to be the home of those photos and videos from the trip which i publish for people to see.

This was my actual itinerary in Paris, Normandy and the valley of the Rivers Loire and Cher.

Sunday 27th September - there are going to be three small posts

• Travelling to Paris (one sketch) - an interesting story plus an introduction to my companions and hotel
• Eating International in Paris (two sketches) - two sketches from a restaurant that isn't serving French food!
• Sunday afternoon in the Jardin des Plantes (two sketches) - in which I visit the main botanical garden in Paris

Monday 28th September - two posts

• Petit dejeuner @ Dolce e Amaro - I did a sketch every morning in the cafe where I took breakfast. This is the record of an Italian cafe in Paris!
• Musée de l'Orangerie, Tuileries, Notre Dame and St Germain - this was a major walking day and I only got one sketch done - while I sat out the queues for Sainte Chapelle. However I do have YouTube Videos of:
• Monet's Nympheas (the Grand Decorations) in the revamped Orangerie for those who have not seen them before. See 
  Monet's Waterlilies at the Musée de l'Orangerie Paris.
• Plus Monet's waterlilies (slideshow), Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris
• a rather noisy Panorama of the Louvre and Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

Tuesday 29th September - two posts

• A day in the Musee d'Orsay. No sketches because this time I actually had a camera which took decent photos but didn't flash indoors which gave me the opportunity to record masses of paintings on my camera - so long as I didn't flash(!) and I spent the whole day here - apart from a quick trip to the Sennelier shop!
  
• However I did manage to make a video of the Van Gogh paintings, Musée d'Orsay
• Dining out in Paris - Montmartre and Saint-Germain-des-Pres - Two sketches from dinners in Montmartre (Tuesday) and the Latin Quarter (Wednesday) plus photos.

Wednesday 30th September - Another day spent in a museum. This time it was A Day in the Musée du Louvre followed by a walk through the Jardin du Palais Royal. I've got two sketches of self portraits by Rembrandt two sketches of people taking a break.

The Water Garden, Giverny
11.5" x 17", coloured pencil in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Thursday 1st October - Off to Normandy in our hire car. First stop Giverny (one sketch of The Water Garden at Giverny, masses of photos and a video of walking around the water garden); next stop overnight in Rouen. (See also The garden behind the paintings - Giverny on Making A Mark)

Friday 2nd October - Two sketches of Rouen Cathedral - at midnight and break of day. Both were done from my hotel bed (right next to the cathedral)! See Sketching Rouen Cathedral - from my hotel bed!

Plus a sketch of the Auberge du Terroir, Servon (near Mont St Michel) where we had the best restaurant meal of the trip.

Saturday 3rd October - a sketch of Petit déjeuner at the Château de Boucéel followed by a sketch of Le Mont-Saint-Michel (done from the back seat of the car in the car park!)

Sunday 4th October - lots of laundry and settling in - plus a sketch of the view from the dining room in our cottage at Chateau du Plessis and a visit to Ronell and her atelier in Montlouis-sur Loire

Monday 5th October - a visit to Château d'Azay-le-Rideau and two sketches of the gardens at Château de Villandry

Tuesday 6th October - a visit to Chinon and a sketch of people lunching in the sunshine under the trees in the town square in Dejeuner sous l'arbres. Followed by a visit to The Château d'Ussé which is the castle which apparently inspired Perrault's tale La Belle au Bois dormant (maybe better known as Sleeping Beauty)

Wednesday 7th October - a visit to market and medieval part of Tours in the morning, sketching over lunch with fellow Sketcherciser and Watermarks member Ronell van Wyk and another sketch of the chateau garden. You can already read about Ronell's post about this on her blog in Katherine in Touraine

Thursday 8th October - a sketch of the Château de Chenonceau

Friday 9th October - we travelled back to Paris, dropped off the car, my sister and niece headed off to L'aeroport Charles de Gaulle and I took the metro to La Mouette to visit the Musée Marmottan. Two sketches of Monet paintings of the water garden and one sketch while having a quick snack before boarding the Eurostar to come back to London - to be met by "he who must not be bored while I sketch"!

I'd just like to record before I get started that I actually finished the trip weighing less than when I went. Which means that Sketchercise very definitely works! I relaxed the diet just a little bit (odd glass of wine and a bit of cheese now and again) but did lots of walking as well as sketching.

So - I better get started! Sketches will be posted to accompany this post as I get them scanned. You can also see a gallery of all the sketches in France in Katherine Tyrrell travels with a sketchbook in France on my portfolio website.