Back from Our Trip

I am back; it is hard to believe after all the excitement of planning and travelling that our trip is over. We flew to Toronto to visit with family then onto Nova Scotia. We visited with friends, travelled along the southern shore, took the ferry to New Brunswick and visited areas along the southern shore there as well. It was great, the highlight for us was the day we spent at Hopewell Cove walking around the flowerpots, they really are an amazing thing to see. From there we flew to St. John's, Newfoundland and travelled right over to the west side to Gros Morne National Park. There were many highlights to this trip, we saw an iceberg and lots of moose, took a trip up the fiord at Western Brook Pond and for my husband, the real highlight was we took a trip out with a lobster fisherman while he pulled his traps. In all the weather was great most of the time, the scenery was breathtaking and people were friendly and helpful wherever we went.

I have posted several pictures from my sketchbook that I thought would give a taste of our trip. The first sketch is Peggy's Cove; no trip is complete to the east coast without a visit to the Cove. It may be a tourist trap but it is still a very scenic spot. This is followed by the famous fishing plant in Lunenburg, the Nova Scotia shoreline,
some scallop boats at the wharf in Digby
and the Flowerpots at Hopewell Cove, NB.
From there my sketches move to Newfoundland. The first is the Narrows that lead into the harbor at St. John's, it is so narrow it makes you wonder how a cruise ship can get in. Also the slopes are covered with fabulous walking trails. (Some were way too steep for me!)
The last picture is the Lobster Head Lighthouse at Rocky Harbour in the middle of Gros Morne Park. It was such a great view I just had to stop and draw it.

I really enjoy keeping a sketchbook/journal when I am travelling. It makes a great souvenir when I get home but also I find it helps me relive those special moments on the trip. I tried a few different tricks this time which I found really helped to make my sketching fun. I took some watercolor pencils and a brush that had a water compartment in it. It was fun to sketch and color and then quickly bring the colors alive with a little water from the brush. You could move the paint around and blend it without putting too much water on the page. And a great plus was the brush didn't leak! Another thing I did was use some of my brochures as references. I did sketch on sight but I also found that there was not always time to do a quick sketch during the day but in the evening when everyone was relaxing or early morning before things were happening I had time and wanted to draw. It was a great to pull out the brochures and complete a drawing of one of places we were at.

Enjoy your holidays and remember to take your sketchbook along and have some fun.