Lizard for Borromini / Liz-Art from S.Domingo

Liz spent 3 days at an Urban Sketchers Symposium in the Dominican Republic.

I wish I would have been there too! 

Thank you so much Liz for your colorful July-card. The image shows a warm sunny day in the Caribbian. The nice stamps on the back made me curious to know who this person Dame Melba was. Now I understand the connection with the stamp in the middle... 

Next time downtown Heidelberg I will think of you and her while enjoying the dessert. 

(I hope it is alright using Borromini's wonderful gift for covering the address)

Teaching to Observe - Albrecht in Bavaria

Derwent Graphitint

Last month Albrecht was busy teaching in Majorca .  This month he's been teaching in Bavaria.  I'm the lucky recipient of a card he drew when he and his students were at lake near Bad Reichenhall, not far from the Austrian border and the city of Salzburg.  It's one of his students in the shade overlooking the lake  -  clearly engrossed in his own sketching!

You can see more images from this course on Albrecht's blog  here  Some great photos of his students drawing mountains and various other studies.  There's a very impressive standard of draughtsmanship amongst them.  It's definitely inspiring to see the kind of detailed observational drawing Albrecht teaches. 

Albrecht has a book coming out later in the year.  I am hoping we will be able to obtain copies over here in England! 

A Christmas Butterfly from Cathy to Desiree

Cathy sent me a double delicious postcard, I do love when both sides are eye candy! The painting side, is of a Boy and Fish Fountain in the beautiful Shepstone Gardens that Cathy visited the other day. She says it has stone houses, walls, temples and paths and was built after the Anglo Boer War from 1,000 tons of rock! Wow, what an amazing place to be able to visit and sketch! But wait, there is more! When you turn over the card it reveals yet another beautiful piece of art, a wonderful butterfly that is safely delivering my postcard! I love your whimsical spirit and with my current obsession with butterflies it is an instant favorite over here! Thank you so much for a wonderful surprise in my mailbox! Oh, and all the stamps are amazing!

This is where the postcard was written, I have erased most all of the written letter but you can picture the text surrounding this wonderful butterfly.

How now, Ayrshire cow?

My second postcard from Bridget, and I'm so pleased to have one of the very appealing residents that abound in the area in which she lives. This Ayrshire calf was spotted in a field on a walk with friends - it sounds like Bridget had to forego the packed lunch to get him on paper! She says she had such trouble drawing the legs that she left them out, but I love the way he seems to have walked right up to her in the quizzy way that cows sometimes do, full of movement and twitching skin, to stare at her with those beautiful eyes, and now staring at me!

Castiglion Florentino

Robyn Sinclair
Watercolor on paper

Robyn sketched this postcard in Paris, France when she was on vacation last month and then she said she painted it in Italy when she got home.  It is lovely and a real treat for me because I was at this shop a gazillion years ago and it seems like yesterday.  This card is also special because some of us in the Postcard From My Walk group helped Sennelier with a study for their new formula of watercolor paint that has now just become available to the public.  Robyn said she hadn't realized it was beside the river, on the Left Bank.  It really was Sketchercise getting there and back.

PS the stamp is very cool, too. 

When yellow and blue make shades of green

My postcard from Vivien is a double delight  -  golden yellow on the front and an array of blues on the reverse.

So what's my meaning in the title of this post? Obvious! When one is lucky enough to receive a postcard from Vivien, you just know that everyone else will be a shade of green. Green with envy.

The front depicts some of the fields close to where Vivien lives. The bright gold is oil seed rape,  now grown abundantly in many parts of England during spring. In huge fields it's visually mind blowing.

On the reverse Vivien's used gouache.  Blue sky and a blue and turquoise sea, done from memory in a 'wish you were here'  right now kind of moment.

Thank you so much Vivien. I love both sides equally -
The fields remind me of my family home ........   and
The sea.... yes, me too, I'd love to be there right now...... !

Californian Hollyhocks

On a very cold wet winter's day there was a lovely surprise for me in my mailbox.(sadly it was a little wet - but not too wet on the front!) This wonderful card from Desiree shows the Hollyhocks in her amazing garden. These were not blooming when she had her garden tour... what a pity "they are in full bloom now - they must be 7 feet tall and the giant, peony type flowers take turns blooming up the stalk. I have light pink, dark pinks and white". I hope that one day I will be able to visit her incredible garden - see here

This certainly brightened my day! I also love the way it is a page ripped out of a sketchbook - somehow it makes it more personal to think that it once was in Desiree's sketchbook.

Thanks!