Sketch of a Potager in Provence

This is for Ruth - I've just read on Facebook that she feels she no longer has enough time for her garden in Provence due to all her other commitments and is thinking of giving it up.

A potager in Provence
6 ½” x 12” / 29cm x 42cm, pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in
Moleskine A3 size Folio Sketchbook

This is my sketch of her wonderful potager (a kitchen garden) at Couguieux with Mont Ventoux in the background. I never got round to posting it on this blog although it was posted to Four Go Painting In Provence.

I absolutely adore kitchen gardens and can always be found wandering around them very slowly whenever I come across one!  It was therefore a real joy to have one to look after and sketch during our stay in the Postcard from Provence house.

I liked the fact that one had to walk a little way down the road to visit the potager - as we did every evening to water the vegetables.  All the water had to be transported using a hose and/or watering can so it is no little effort to maintain such a garden under the hot Provencal sun.

I sketched this potager just over three years ago. It was too hot to finish it and I really should have a go at doing a proper drawing of it as the view was wonderful.

It was one of my first sketches using the very large A3 size Moleskine sketchbook which means I can do large sketches with no binding line down the middle of a double page spread! If you're interested in the sketchbook you can find out more here - The Largest Ever Moleskine Sketchbook!

20 years ago in Belcastel

While going through my sketchbooks for the book, I came across a sketch in a very old sketchbook that I'd never posted before.

This is a sketch of Belcastel in the Aveyron done 20 years ago in July 1994.  I'm looking up at the Château de Belcastel from the banks of the River L'Aveyron right next to the bridge over the river (here on the map). It's one of my favourite parts of France.

Belcastel in the Aveyron

This has 'status' in terms of me still being in the very early stages of using coloured pencils.  I remember I used mainly pastels on that trip which involved staying in a very nice house in Cougousse.

One of the interesting things about sketches is the way they take you back. I vividly remember drawing the angles of the houses and roofs of the houses very carefully. Plus being intrigued about how to capture the light under the bridge and its reflection in the river.

I think I'll mentally file this away as a 'need to think about working up' folder.

Maybe I need to post some more of my old sketches from 20 years ago?

Bali - paddy fields and palm trees

Palm trees and paddy fields in Bali

28 April 1997

Neocolor II in Daler Rowney Sketchbook

I had paddy fields right outside the window of where I stayed in Bali.

However we saw some some pretty spectacular views of paddy fields on the hillsides of Bali as we travelled around the island.

One afternoon we stopped at a point where it's possible to draw the rice fields.

This was my sketch for working out what I wanted to do with my plein air pastel.  Sadly the latter never happened because:

• it took a long time to work out how to represent the palm trees and the paddy fields.  Never under estimate how much time you need to get your eye trained to draw new objects!
• it started to cloud over and then began to rain and pastel and rain do not mix!

I really feel like I didn't do the view justice - but it was overwhelming!

I still have the photographs I took while trying to work out the best angle for a drawing.

However it's very evident to me that even though photographs are generally unable to provide a reliable colour reference that my neocolors did not provide the colours I needed for this sketch.  Everything is looking a bit too blue whereas the vegetation while lush leaned more towards apple / sap green end of the green spectrum - with some deep olives around the palm trees.

Writing this post has made me want to have another go at capturing the scene and the colours.

You can see below some of the photos I took.  The view was spectacular.

Paddy fields in front of me - on so many different levels!

This next one shows the level on which i sat - I was perched on a narrow ledge just in front of one of the hawker's huts (which is hidden by the very prominent palm tree at the front of the photo).

I was sat on a ledge just in front (to the right in this photo)
of the Hawker's Huts

The spot where we stopped was obviously a regular tourist stop judging by the hawkers' stalls and sheds.  One of the hawkers provided a very entertaining sideshow for our expedition.  He was very adept at splitting coconuts for drinks and nibbles!  Plus modelled three hats at once to show how stable they were on one's head!

The most entertaining hawker
three hats on his head and ready to split a coconut at our command!

This last photo shows one of my fellow painters sat in front of the vista of paddy fields and palm trees.  Not a place for easels!

First take a big sheet of paper.........

From here we went to Petalu - a small village north of Ubud - to see the white herons (kokocan)  of Petalu coming home to roost in the trees along the road to the temple.  They arrive from all over Bali.

This is a video of the White Herons of Petalu by a couple called Hans and Fifi which gives you a good sense of the sights and sounds of Bali villages but doesn't quite capture the moments just as dusk falls when wave after wave of white herons arrive and land in the huge trees lining the road to the temple.  Magical!  (This site has some good photos of a celebration associated with the herons and the village - and provide some commentary on what has happened at the village in the past).

Links:

• Travels with a Sketchbook - Bali Sketchbook (1997)
• Pastels and Pencils - Katherine Tyrrell travels with a sketchbook - in Bali

46 Ananda Cottages at dusk

46 Ananda Cottages (dusk - 4 May 1997)
pencil in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

In 1997 I went on my second painting holiday to Bali. I first stayed in Bali in 1992 on a painting holiday organised by Spencer Scott for The Artist magazine

We were so impressed with the place that five years later, the artist and his wife arranged another painting holiday as part of the overseas painting holidays they offer (details at end).

We stayed again at Ananda Cottages on the northern outskirts of Ubud. It's located in the rice paddies and is far enough outside Ubud (about 25 minutes walk) to be very quiet and peaceful.

This is a pencil sketch of my room done just as dusk was starting to fall. There's no glass in the windows - just split cane blinds. Outside the rooms is the most amazing lush vegetation.

I remember being quite jealous of other painters who were on the ground floor with the open air bathrooms! It's a very memorable place to stay and still seems to be very popular with its guests

Bali Accommodation

• Ananda Cottages, Jl. Raya Campuhan, Ubud 80571, Bali, Indonesia
• Trip Advisor
• Ubud 
• Ananda Cottages
• Wiki Travel - Ubud

Painting Holidays

• A Making A Mark Guide - Painting Holidays
• Coombe Farm Studios - Courses: Courses Abroad
• Spencer Scott - Escorted Painting Holidays

Ary's Warung in Ubud, Bali

I thought while I'm waiting for my new glasses, I could post some of my sketches from a long time ago.

 More to the point - I've never posted my sketches of Bali as a series!

The Japanese waiting for a plane
Ary's Warung, Ubud, Bali
5 May 1997
pencil in Daler Rowney hardback black sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I've still got my sketchbook notes of my stay in Bali in 1997 and this is in fact the last day and very nearly the last sketch.

This was morning and lunch on the last day.

5th May 1997 Taxi down to masseur (Metari). Bought shirt for J and T shirt for me. Changed money.  Thai calamari salad, lemon grass tea and white cocolate cheescake at Ary's Warung.  Sketched interior.  

Venice has Harry's Bar and Ubud in Bali has Ary's Warung.

Looking at what it's like today, I'm rather glad I visited it back in the 90s before it introduced chrome and the starched linen!  It looks as it's changed a lot.

Back then it was cane, cane and rattan on the verandah which contrasted with the lush greens of vegetation outside where I sat, watching the world go by.  There was a constant stream of customers - although some waited rather longer than others such as the Japanese couple in the centre of this sketch who were obviously killing time before the journey to the airport.

This is what I wrote when I first posted on Making A Mark about this place

I sat in Ary's Warung on the main street in Ubud in Bali and started to draw some people while I had a pot of their lemon grass and ginger tea. And it just turned into one of those sketches where you order another pot of tea and then lunch as your sketch keeps creeping across the page until every last bit is filled. People came and went - which was a bit of a challenge - and the Japanese couple with their suitcases that I had started sketching originally finally left for the airport to catch their flight.MAKING A MARK: Ary's Warung 27 April 2006

What I do remember - across the years - is the lemon grass tea.  I think it had a sliver of ginger in it as well.  When I think of Bali now I think of the lemon grass tea - and I've never been made able to make it the way I had it there.  Must be something to do with the freshness of the lemon grass....

I'll see if I can get my sketches about Bali posted before I get my new post-operative glasses at the beginning of next month - at which time sketching can return to normal.

Address: Ary's Warung, Jl. Raya Ubud Kedewatan, Ubud, Gianyar, Bali 80571, Indonesia
Contemporary Reviews of Ary's Warung on: Trip Adviser | Lonely Planet | Frommers.

You can see other sketches from this particular travel sketchbook on my website at:

• Travels with a Sketchbook - Australia
• Travels with a Sketchbook - Bali

You can also see other sketches from different places in the Travels with a Sketchbook galleries on my website "Pastels and Pencils".

Restaurant Nausicaa, Boulogne sur Mer - my last meal in France

Two sketches from my trip to France last year - and my final french meal!  I'm trying to fill in the gaps where I've missed out posting places I went to and sketches I did on my Painting in Provence trip last summer.

Today I'm posting my lunch at the Restaurant Nausicaa in Boulogne sur Mer and the view from the window.  This was the "get as close to the tunnel as you can and then stop and have a meal" meal!  The idea was that I'd leave myself with half an hour's journey to the Tunnel and I wouldn't need to have a big meal when I got back home which would be quite late.  Plus it was the last chance to indulge in French cuisine!

Lunch at the Restaurant Nausicaa, Boulogne sur Mer - 4th July 2011
11" x 16", pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This meal continued to endorse my theory about the colour palette of chefs and the notion that chefs cook the food in the colours that they like! The dishes on the menu in my sketch are:

• L'Entree top left - Oyster, whelk and celery soup and croutons Soupe huitres et des bulots, veloute de celeri vert, petis croutons 
• Las Plat right - Grilled large prawns with a paella like creamy risotto and red pepper sauce Gambas grilles, coulis de poivrons rouges risotto crémeux au chorizo façon paëlla
• Le Dessert bottom left - Half-cooked chocolate cake Mi-cuit au chocolat

They were delicious!  I have a policy of eating one new thing every time I eat out in another country! Which is how I came to add a new food to my list of things I've eaten over the years - whelks (although I thought at the time that they were winkles).

I checked the menu and only the sauce with the main dish is what's on offer on the menu today!  Always good to see a restaurant that changes it's menu on a regular basis!

I switched between drawing the dishes as they arrived and then drawing the scene out the window as I waited for them to arrive.

My view from my table - the beach at Boulogne sur Mer
11" x 16", pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I was sat high up next to a big glass window looking out on to the promenade and beach to the rear of the Nausicaa Centre - which is Boulogne's huge aquarium.  Small wonder that fresh fish and sea food featured on the menu!

The restaurant is actually independent of the Centre and I highly recommend it as a stopping off place to eat in the Pas de Calais for anybody facing a long journey when they get back to Folkstone. It serves excellent food and does not keep normal restaurant hours.

For the record the journey to the EuroTunnel was not straightforward as the satnav didn't understand the port and I missed the turning and then couldn't work out how to get back to the place where cars need to go to enter the Tunnel!  Calais could do with some better sign posts!

However it was nice to get back home and reach the end of my journey and a very long drive from Provence to London.

You can see

• more of my sketches from my trip to Provence and my drive there and back through France in the page at the top of this blog marked Provence Sketchbook 2011
• more of my sketches of meals by clicking on the labels:
• food sketch - this can be food in its raw form as well as food raw, uncooked and cooked.
• sketching meals - these include sketches of meals such as the one at the top of this post
• restaurant sketches - these include views from where I'm sat in the restaurant
• You can also see sketches of the interior landscapes of places to eat on my website

Links:

• Boulogne sur Mer on Wikipedia
• Restaurant Nausicaa

Caer Caradoc Hill in Shropshire

At the end of September I spent a weekend with my extended family in Shropshire to celebrate the Australian contingent being in the country and my cousin's 40th wedding anniversary of "the best wedding ever" on 30th September 1972!

A house had been rented just outside All Stretton which had a wonderful view of the hills nearby.

Caer Caradoc Hill from The Oaks
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 16"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is my sketch of Caer Caradoc Hill which I did late Saturday afternoon after my cousin's husband had climbed to the top in the morning.

The hill is made of Pre-Cambrian rock (see page 3 of the link) and has a whaleback shape.  It's approximately 459 metres or 1500 feet above sea level. From the top you can look north to The Wrekin, a hill in east Shropshire, look east to Wenlock Edge, a limstone escarpment just outside Much Wenlock and south west to the Long Mynd situated a little way down the road just past Church Stretton.

On top of the hill are the remains of an Iron Age Hill Fort (see aerial view plus you can read more about the Iron Age in Shropshire).

The hill is associated with Battle of Caer Caradoc in 50 AD.  King Caractacus was a first century British chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe who became King of the Britons between 43-50AD and led the British resistance to the Roman conquest. There are many legends associated with King Caractacus - also known as Caradoc - and one of them is that he made a last stand with his followers on this hill - which is now known as Caer Caradoc. He was defeated and Caractacus was taken, as a prisoner, to Rome.  There he pleaded for his life in front of the Emperor Claudius - and got drawn by nineteenth century artists for his efforts!

Audley End

We visited Audley End near Saffron Walden in Essex in early July.  It used to be the home of Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII in the mid 16th century

Tea garden at Audley End
11 x 16", pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I spent most of the time on a 'full on' sketch of the house which I haven't finished and which I'm not posting here as I'd like to try and finish it first.

Here instead are a quickie sketch (after the one that's not being shown) of the bridge in the garden and another of the tea garden with the house in the background (see top).

The bridge over the River pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The house is an amazing Jacobean Mansion on the site of a much bigger Tudor mansion. (More about the house) which in turn was located on the site of a Benedictine monastery.

Apart from the grandeur of the main house, it's a house to visit if you enjoy looking at the kitchen, laundry etc as it has a particularly good services wing (More about the Services Wing in the 1880s) and stable yard (More about the stable yard) which has been described as the the "grandest surviving stables of the early 17th century"

I particularly enjoyed the walk around the gardens and the visit to the walled kitchen garden.

Website: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/audley-end-house-and-gardens/
TwitterL https://twitter.com/EHaudleyend
Opening Times and Directions

Sault and the Lavender Fields of the Nesque

Sault and the Lavender Fields16 ½” x 12”, 29cm x 42cm, pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in
Moleskine A3 size Folio Sketchbook

One very hot day, Sarah and I decided we would go out later afternoon and scout out the Lavender Fields over near Sault.

To get there we took the D1 which skirts around the edge of Mont Ventoux from its western edge to its eastern slopes above Sault.

On the way we came across the Belvedere de la Nesque (on the D1) and found a map of the Lavender Fields in the Nesque Valley.

A map of the Lavender Fields in the valley of the River Nesque
- as seen from the Belvedere de laNesque

The Lavender was getting there but would be better for a few extra days and so we decided to find the best places to paint and then take a trip up over Mont Ventoux via the Route du Ventoux on the way home (of which more in another post) and then come back in a few days time.

The way lavender looks depends on which way round you paint it - so you can EITHER see the rows in which it is planted

Rows of Lavender at Senanque Abbey on 27 June 2012

OR alternatively you are just looking at a sea of lavender.  I preferred the latter since it focus more on the colour and less on the shape.

We found a field some way from Sault which had a good view of the town - and all the other fields of lavender.  D164 - Route du Ventoux - View of Sault & Lavender Fields is the Google Maps location on the Route du Ventoux from which I sketched Sault and the Lavender Fields. [I've started a Painting Places in Provence map so I don't forget where I went to sketch something!]

We returned to this spot on June 25th and sketched and painted in the late afternoon.  I think Sarah produced two paintings in the time it took me to do this sketch! :) I was very struck by the pinky shades which kept coming through - although I guess that might have been the late afternoon / early evening light.

The Pays de Sault website has some other suggestions about Suggested Circuits to View the Lavender

To see a review of the Sketchbook I used for this very large sketch see Making a Mark Reviews: Moleskine Folio Sketchbook - A3 size

More from The Provence Sketchbook (2011)

Lunch Chez Guy in Gevrey-Chambertin

Lunch at Chez Guy in Gevrey-Chambertin
11.5" x 16.5", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Yesterday it was frog's legs and today it's escargots - snails!

I had a giggle when I realised I could complete the set of unusual things the French are renowned for cooking.  After my dinner of "brown food" on Saturday night I continued north through Burgundy in central France and had a very fine and appetising Sunday lunch on 3rd July in the red splendour of the terrace parasols at a restaurant called Chez Guy in the centre of the village of Gevrey-Chambertin.

 I remember when I first started travelling through France being absolutely amazed at how the names of  wines which are well known all over the world often relate to what turn out to be small villages in France - completely surrounded by vineyards.  Gevrey-Chambertin is one such village on the Côte de Nuits in the northern part of the Côte d'Or which is worth driving down if you ever get the chance - I did a special detour to do so!  More about the village and the wine at the end of this post.

Chez Guy

The restaurant offers a number of options depending on how many courses you want to eat.  I had the Menu de Carte (Entre, Plat, Fromage, Dessert) - partly because one of my delights is to eat good French food and partly because the aim of the exercise was also to give me a good break in the middle of a long day's drive.  I hasten to add I had a very light meal when I got to my overnight stop at Epernay!

As I was in for the long haul I ordered a Sarah inspired Suze and tonic to drink while I read the menu and drank Badoit over lunch.  Such a sin to come to a restaurant in the middle of such good wines and have no wine to drink - however I was driving - c'est la vie!

Chez Guy Menu Carte
right click and open in new tab
to see much larger image

The Menu is in French however I got some help from the staff who were a lot friendlier than my experience the night before.

The courses were as follows (preceded by an indication of where they were in the above drawing:

• (top right) Amuse Bouche - two glasses of fresh light mousse concoction (avocado and shellfish?).  I know what the taste of my appetiser was at the time but have forgotten now
• (Bottom left) Fricassée d'escargots au beurre persillé, poêlée de girolles, sauce pesto (Fricassee of snails in herb butter, sautéed mushrooms, pesto sauce)  All I can say is snails are yummy!
• (top right) Filet de Bar, pâtes crémeuses au basilic, tapenades d'olives noires (Fillet of Sea Bass, creamy basil pasta, black olive tapenade) - a bit odd to choose fish on a Sunday in the middle of France however, while I wanted to enjoy my meal I was leaning towards the lighter courses so as to avoid feeling too sleepy after lunch!
• (centre bottom) Assiette de fromages régionaux de chez Gaugry, fromager à Brochon (Cheese platter with regional Gaugry, cheese Brochon) - this was a good range of local cheese served with decent bread.  The cheese was served on wood from a crate of local wine which added a nice touch which was only slightly cheesy!
• (Bottom right) Crumble de fruits rouge et rhubarbe, emulsion de thé vert, sorbet fromage blanc red berry and rhubarb crumble, emulsion of green tea, cottage cheese sorbet - a very light and refreshing way to end the meal.

My notion of cooks having preferred colour palettes is further upheld.  This one is a lot more colourful with ample doses of red, creamy yellow and green.

My bill including my suze aperitif, bottle of Badoit and a coffee at the end came to €52.50.

I did tackle a second sketch of my view, however - unlike Saturday night - I was so interested in the food that it hardly got a look in and is unfinished.  So here's a photo of the view from my table - taken at the end of the meal when the people at the other tables had left.

The view from my seat in Chez Guy

I sat on the outside terrace at the front of the restaurant, underneath a huge red parasol which provided good shade but cast a red tint over everything!  Trying to determine the colours of my meal was interesting and the photos are of no help at all!  It had to be done while I was there.  Hence the white dish of snails does not have the red colour cast it had while I was drawing and eating them.

Chez Guy - and a vintage pink cadillac in the centre of Gevrey-Chambertin

This is a photograph of Chez Guy complete with an amazing vintage Cadillac with enormous fins - painted dark pink - which turned up towards the end of lunch, parked right outside - on the bit which I thought appeared to indicate 'no parking'!  Out trooped a rather larger than life middle aged 'guy' and his large entourage which included children.  He was obviously well known at the restaurant and I spent my dessert and coffee wondering whether he was the owner or a local rock star with taste.

I'd definitely recommend this restaurant to anybody passing through the area - however do book ahead and arrive in good time - unless of course you're a passing rock star of repute!

The vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin

Gevrey-Chambertin is located in Burgundy.  It's located on a limestone ridge about 12 km south of  Dijon and about 30km north of Beaune.  The village has just over 3,000 inhabitants and an awful lot of vineyards.  Its inhabitants are called Gibriaçois.

Premier Crus vineyards above Gevrey Chambertin

There are 550 hectares of vine "Pinot Noir" on a gentle slope which lies to the east of the wooded limestone ridge.  This area has nine Grands Crus (the highest level of classification of AOC wines from Burgundy) which lie to the south of the village and 27 Premiers Crus which mainly lie to the west of the village.  The best wine lies close to the limestone at the top of the slopes while the more ordinary wine which can also be labelled Gevrey Chambertin is on clay soil in the valley bottom.

It seems likely that the very first vines planted in Burgundy were planted at Gevrey Chambertin.  There's evidence from archaeological digs that there were Gallo-Roman vines planted in the area dating back to the 1st Century BC.  Pliny the Elder wrote about wine in this area!

Pinot noir grapes in July in Gevrey Chambertin

The next links are to a couple of Burgundy wine sites which:

• show where all the Grand Cru and Premier Cru sites are Gevrey Chambertin lie
• provide a detailed profile of Gevrey Chambertin and its vineyards

Links:

• Chez Guy 3 Place Mairie, 21220 Gevrey-Chambertin, France 
• Tel: +33 3 80 58 51 51
• Location on Google Maps - Chez Guy 
• Burgundy Report - Gevrey Chambertin - Village Profile - a very detailed listing and analysis of the vineyards, crus and producers associated with the village
• Château de Gevrey-Chambertin - on the outskits of the village
• Official Village Website www.ville-Gevrey-chambertin.fr 
• Telephone: 03.80.34.30.35
• e-mail: @ mairie.gevrey nerim.net 
• Area: 2746 ha 3120 inhabitants
• website of the commune of Gevrey Chambertin

More from The Provence Sketchbook (2011)

Les Quatre Saisons in Bourg en Bresse

Interior of Les Quatre Saisons in Bourg en Bresse

Dinner at Les Quatre Saisons in Bourg en Bresse was interesting rather than pleasurable.  I felt a little bit like I'd stepped into a 1980s time warp as I don't think the restaurant had been decorated or had a makeover in a good 25 years.

On the other hand the bright yellow tablecloths and blue walls made for a colourful sketch and made up for the fact that my meal seemed to lack any colour at all.

The chef contributed yet more evidence to my theory that chefs cook the food in the colours that they like.  This chef liked brown.  See my sketch of my meal below.

Meal at Les Quatre Saisons in Bourg en Bresse on Saturday 2nd July 2011

The menu was as follows:

• (top left) an Amuse Bouche  I have absolutely no idea what this was!
• (bottom left) Grenouilles a la verre et ciboulettes - I knew what the Grenouillles (frogs legs) were but was less certain of the ciboulettes (chives).  My first frogs legs - quite tasty and not at all chewy
• (top right) Volaille de la Ferme de Valaisant, creme morelles and Vin Jaune - this should have been tastier than it was.  The worst bit was that the fact that there was nothing that made it look appetising - wall to wall bland!
• (Bottom right) I think this was a Tarte Tatin with a very ordinary ice cream but forgot to make a note of the dessert having become totally disinterested in the food by this stage.  Lack of colour is a real turn off for me.  I'd switched my focus to my sketch of the interior which was Bright with a capital B!  You can always tell how good the food is by the relative merits of the sketches of the meal and the place where I ate it!
• (centre) The only spot of colour came with the petit fours!

My own impression was that the restaurant would be fine for people who spoke French well, liked a more traditional French way of cooking food and enjoyed discussing the food.  My French is limited and their English was virtually non-existent.  With no translation on the menu or from the waiter I had a rough idea what I was eating.  It's probably more accurate to say I had to opt for courses where I had an idea of what it was.  I'm not sure a single woman who doesn't speak much French was very interesting as a customer to them.  That's said in the context of having been in other restaurants in France where I've been very well looked after and had an enjoyable time despite the language barrier.

However this was in Bourg en Bresse which is not a tourist destination and it would be totally unreasonable of me to expect restaurants to cater for English tourists.  A shade more hospitality wouldn't have gone amiss though.  More colour in the food would have been even better!

The whole meal (including coffee but without wine) came to €42 which I thought was a bit steep.

What's really odd though is that my two worst meals of the entire trip were a short distance from Lyons which is supposedly the gastronomic centre of France.  Very odd.

I went to bed very much looking forward to my lunch the next day in Gevrey Chambertin in the Côte de Nuits in the northern part of the Côte d'Or, which is home to the vineyards which line the limestone ridge that is at the heart of the Burgundy wine region.

Links

• Les Quatre Saisons, 6 Rue de la République, France - 01000 Bourg-en-Bresse
• Phone 0474220186 | Fax0474211035

More from The Provence Sketchbook (2011)

Dinner and sunset at Le Mas des Vignes, Bedoin

Two more plein air sketches - of a dinner at a restaurant called Le Mas des Vignes with a fantastic view of a sunset.

Dinner at Le Mas des Vignes 30 June 2011

First the preamble.  On Thursday 30 June, I had a minor meltdown as I began to realise that the whole of France was about to take to the road at the weekend as the schools broke up on Saturday and their "grand vacance" was starting as mine ended.  I was due to start travelling back to England on the Saturday morning.

The bottom line was that getting a hotel room was providing to be very difficult.  The notion that it was something that I could do with ease from the house went out the window as soon the thunderstorm blew the broadband.

After 3-4 hours of phone calls and lots of pouring over my Michelin map and red book I finally got sorted.

I almost didn't want to look at their websites when I came down to the bar in town to access the wifi and post to the blogs. However it turned out that it seemed as if I had picked a good (although not cheap) hotel for Saturday night in in Bourg en Bresse and decent places to eat on both Saturday evening and Sunday lunch.  The latter was to be in Gevrey Chambertin on the Cote d'Or.

The shenanigans with the bookings blew out any attempt to go visiting places on Thursday as I was mentally stwed by the time I'd finished doing the bookings - so I decided I had very definitely earned dinner out!  I rang one of the restaurants which had been recommended to us and got a table.

Which is how I came to be sat on a rather breezy terrace at Le Mas des Vignes, on the Route de Ventoux just outside Bedoin, watching an absolutely stunning sunset.

I had the option of sitting indoors however I didn't want to miss the sunset and managed to collar a table which seemed to be in the most sheltered spot.


The sketch of my dinner is at the top of this post and the courses were as follows:

• Foie Gras de Canard en terrine, Fraicheur de Celeri et the Pomme Granny - the Fraicheur had ice crystals which was a bit weird.  I suspect it had maybe been sitting rather too near the back of the fridge
• L'Agneau aux Herbe de Provence, Risotto d'Epaule(?) de Sault et Petit legumes - the lamb was heavenly - absolutely delicious.  Not quite sure what the reference to Sault was - but they do have some fine food shops there.
• Les Fromages de Fermier, et affines par Claudine Vigier ail confit - the cheese seems to have come from the best cheese shop in Provence - La Fromagerie du Comtat in Carpentras.
• and petit fours with my coffee.

This was the meal when I began to notice that there was a pattern to the meals I'd been eating in restaurants - and this related to colour.  The Chefs seemed to have a distinct leaning towards certain colours as all my dishes harmonised around a harmonic palette.  Look back and you'll see what I mean.

This is a sketch of the sunset as seen from my table.  I sketched the food when it arrived and the sunset while I waited for the next course!

Sunset at Le Mas des Vignes on 30 June 2011 (first course)

and this is what it was like a little bit later!  I didn't have enough pencils in my toolkit to quite get the colour and intensity of the sunset as it set properly.

Sunset at Le Mas des Vignes

More from The Provence Sketchbook (2011)

Links:

• Le Mas des Vignes, Route du Mont-Ventoux, Saint Estève, 84410 Bedoin, France - watch out for the hairpin bend to access this restaurant
• Tel 0490656391
• Via Michelin - Le Mas des Vignes
• Trip Adviser - Le Mas des Vignes

Lunch at La Maison Jaune, St Remy de Provence

Lunch at La Maison Jaune, St Remy de Provence 29 June 2011
11.5 x 16.5", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

One of the things I really enjoy about France is that you can go into a restaurant - on your own - for a four course meal like the one that you can see above - and nobody thinks you are the slightest bit odd.

However they might look twice when you pull out a sketchbook and proceed to sketch every course before you eat it - but that's what I like to do!

I particularly like going to restaurants with Michelin stars and it's an absolute rule of mine that I'm not allowed to visit France without eating in a restaurant with at least one Michelin star.

Which is how I come to have this post about Lunch at La Maison Jaune, a restaurant in St Remy de Provence which got its one Michelin star in 2008.  (This is the link to the Menus)

This is out of sequence re France but as I said this week I'm trying to get all my sketching of meals posted before I do my review of the year!

Back to 29th June - Sarah and I got up early so we could leave the house at 7am and get Sarah to Marseilles Airport by 9am for her flight home.

And then there was one!

Those who know me well will know that one of my perennial preoccupations while travelling and sketching is with visiting the places where people draw or painted.  That was the grand plan for this Wednesday.  I was to have a Vincent Van Gogh in Provence day with a nice lunch in the middle.

I'd already decided that it was stretching it to try and do both Arles and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in one day so I opted for Saint-Rémy this visit as I'd been to Arles on a previous visit.

Hence the plan was to drive north from the airport, across the Crau Plain and the Alpilles to the town of St Remy de Provence where Van Gogh was committed to an asylum in the Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole in 1889.  He  painted frequently in the vicinity of the hospital in the year or so he was in the hospital.

I wanted to drive across the Crau Plain because this was the place where Van Gogh did so many of his reed pen drawings of the farming of the countryside which I so admire.  I wanted to see if it was as I remembered it and whether one could see its potential for drawings.  Here's an example - Harvest - The Plain of La Crau, 1888 reed pen drawing by Vincent Van Gogh - done while living in the Yellow House at Arles.

Then I crossed the Alpilles - the white mountains which so often feature in Van Gogh's paintings while he stayed in this area eg in the background of his painting of cypresses ( see below ) which he painted while in the hospital

Wheatfield with cypress tree by Vincent Van Gogh
- the Alpilles Mountains form the pale blue background to this painting

View from Van Gogh's bedroom window in the Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole

No sketches or photographs en route from either of these places as the road was not conducive to stopping - however as you can see I could take photos of the Alpilles from the Monastery.

One of the reasons I chose St Remy was because it was market day (closing at lunchtime).

I visited the Market, took lots of photos of yet more provencal food and flowers, had a lovely lunch (see sketch at top of post), visited the Van Gogh Museum in town and then visited the monastery hospital, St Paul de Mausole where Van Gogh lived for a year after becoming ill in Arles.

I'm going to deal with the visit to the Monastery in another post - so this is all about markets and food!

Here are some of the sights of the market.  Then I'm going to give you the menu for lunch.

La Maison Jaune, 15 Rue Carnot, 13210 Saint Remy de Provence 

Table setting on the Terrace

and so to the tasting extravaganza I had planned for the middle of the day.

I got to sit on a shady terrace with a tiled roof slight breeze in the hottest part of the day as I worked my way through five courses and listened to the market packing up - and then music being played down in the square.  It was very peaceful.

Lunch was extremely leisurely as I sketched, ate and coloured my sketches of the different courses - which were all stunningly good.  These were:

• Mise en Bouche - an appetiser (top left) gaspacho with mint, goats cheese and ham and an egg.  This set the tone for the whole meal given the level of attention given to each item
• Braised artichokes with Lomo Iberico and  air dried tomatoes - a wonderful combination and a chance for me to taste the wondrous loin of the Iberian Pig
• Roast Pigeon with Apricot Chutney Marmalade with a side dish of Fennel and Fresh Almonds - this was beautifully cooked and a wonderful balance of flavours,  Plus since I watched Masterchef recently I now know how fresh almonds are prepared!
• a selection of fresh and aged goats cheeses and ewe cheeses and rhubarb marmalade - I like goats cheese but there wasn't quite enough of a variation for me to make this the same standard as the rest of the courses.  Subtle rather than wow!
• Roasted Pineapple with ginger and vanilla, an amaretto granite and nougatine  This was wow! the variation in the tastes and textures was amazing and provided a deeply satisfying note on which to finish.

I was also rather pleased with the fact that I'd left enough room to get the whole meal on one double page spread.  No mean feat when you don't know what's coming or what it will look like!

You can see the menu proper (below) better on Flickr.  I found the restaurant and service to be excellent.  It was quiet at lunchtime but they apparently get very busy in the evenings.  I think I probably went at the perfect time for me. :)

Links:

• Four go Painting in Provence
• La Maison Jaune, 15 Rue Carnot, 13210 Saint Remy de Provence (location on Google Maps)
• Tel  04. 90. 92. 56. 14 | email lamaisonjaune@wanadoo.fr
• The restaurant is closed December and January.

Note:  Parking is in designated areas and the town is very busy on market day and it can be difficult to find a place to park.  The restaurant is right in the centre of the old town.  Hence if visiting one needs to park up and then walk to the old town - it's not far.

More from The Provence Sketchbook (2011)

The water and birds return to West Lake

At long last, after far too long, the water and birds are beginning to return to the West Lake in Victoria Park in East London.  The swans are back as are are the gulls and the geese - but there's no sign yet of the ducks or the coots.

I sat at the balcony at the Pavilion Cafe last week, ate a veggie brunch washed down with a mug of builders tea, and sketched plein air the view that I've often drawn before.

The water - and birds - return to West Lake
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The water level is at a stage where the birds give a very good imitation of walking on water.  Apparently it's going to take 12 weeks for it to fill to the level it should be.

The sun came out as I sketched and, of course, changed all the colours!

Below is a photo of the birds after somebody dumped some bread into the water right next to me!

Links:

• Victoria Park - beached and neglected?
• Lake Trees and a veggie breakfast
• Cold weather and small quick sketches
• Victoria Park Lake People #4
• Victoria Park Lake and a few birds
• The coldest snap for 20 years

Autumn Colour at Sheffield Park

Sheffield Park - 29th October 2011
pen and ink and coloured pencil, 11.5" x 16"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Following on from my last post about our visit to Sheffield Park at the end of September (see An Indian Summer (and ice lakes) at Sheffield Park), this is just a tiny sample of the Autumn Colour I saw at Sheffield Park when we visited again at the end of October.

I've never come across a National Trust property before which increases its charges to non-members for a specific period of time in the Autumn - but that's what happens at Sheffield Park.  "He who must not be bored while I sketch" noticed it on the sign so we were rather glad we'd just had him made up to the other half of a Joint Membership of the National Trust.

The garden is 120 acres (49 hectares) and has four lakes which means about a third of it is water.  In Autumn it becomes very specicial because it is, in effect, an arboretum - a collection of trees of both native species and ones from overseas.

In terms of history, the park was first laid out by Lancelot "Capability" Brown (1716-1783) in the 18th century and was subsequently remodelled by Humprey Repton (1752-1818).  There's little indication of they did although it seems likely that Brown cleared some trees and undergrowth to open up the landscape and Repton attended to the part of the garden which is nearest to the house.

‘Such is the power of vegetation at Sheffield Place, that every berry soon becomes a bush, and every bush a tree.’Humprey Repton

The first Earl of Sheffield was responsible for the balustraded bridge (1882), the cascade and the Middle Lake. He also started the arboretum.

A gentleman called Arthur Gilstrap Soames (1854-1934) acequired the house in 1910 and was responsible for introduction of the vibrant colour in the garden - and all the visitors!

He planted trees which were North American in origin, such as the Tupelo Gum and Scarlet American Oak which contribute signiifcantly to the autumn colour.  Other trees which he also planted in abundance included Conifers, cypresses and Japanese maples - with the acers also contributing very significantly to the autumn colour.

Clumps of lakeside rhododendrons were planted next to the lakes - and were a favourite of Virginia Woolf - and beds of autumn gentians can be found in the garden.

Certainly it's a very fine place to see and to paint in Autumn - particularly given the reflections of the colours of the trees in the water of the lakes. The photographers are also rather keen on it. I think I saw more heavy duty expensive cameras with huge lenses on our visit than I've seen for a very long time.

This sketch was done from the north eastern edge of the top lake - looking across the lake.

Arboretums are certainly a great place to paint and draw landscapes in Autumn - if they have the right type of trees!

Links:

• National Trust - Sheffield Park Garden
• article - Autumn Beauty

An Indian Summer (and ice lakes) at Sheffield Park

At the end of September and beginning of October we raced around the south east of Britain visiting gardens during the wonderful warm temperatures, sunshine and blue skies of an Indian Summer.  One of the places we visited was Sheffield Park.

Indian Summer at Sheffield Park
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils - 11.5" x 16"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The visit on 30th September was memorable for the number of chaps wandering around in long shorts.  It was a ratio of about 3:1 - and a lot of them weren't youngsters.  Which is how I came to persuade "he who must not be bored while I sketch" that maybe adding some long shorts to his summer wardrobe wouldn't be such a bad idea! :)

He also declared Sheffield Park Gardens to be one of his favourite places.  The lack of children shouting and screaming on a Friday afternoon being a major bonus!

I think he'd forgotten that the last time we went to Sheffield Park Gardens was to celebrate his birthday in the midst of winter - when the lake was frozen and there was virtually nobody there!  We had all our cold weather togs on at the time - quite a contrast to the hot days at the end of September (See Ice Lake at Sheffield Park)

We visited Sussex in January for a birthday treat and walked around the wonderful Sheffield Park gardens on a day when it was literally freezing! This was the view of the ice lake which had formed - looking back towards the house

Ice Lake at Sheffield Park
Coloured Pencil 20cm x 30cm
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Both views were done from exactly the same place - at the end of the second lake (I forget its name) with the view of the Ice lake being more towards the house and the view at the top looking more towards the northeast side of the Lake. I had brilliant blue skies on both occasions but the temperature varied by 25+ degrees centigrade!