New Orleans Travelsketching Solo

I left on november 18th for my first solo travelsketching trip.  My destination: New Orleans.

I was quite nervous as I never travel alone before, but luckily I speak english and if I encounter bad guys, I will just have to pock them in the eyes and run.  So there was no actual reason to be worried.

My trip didn't start quite as smooth as I would have liked though: A migraine kept me awake most of the night before my flight and sticked around until noon the next day.  But I was determine to sketch so I did manage to get the plane sketched anyways... Ouf!

To make things better, when I got to the hotel my credit card wasn't working...  All I wanted is to go to bed and hope that it wasn't a preview of how my vacation will go...

So here I was alone in New Orleans to sketch.  I've done it.  Well at least I got there, now I needed to go out and actually sketch... hehe

On my first morning in New Orleans, I took a magic pill to try to get reed of my migraine took my sketching bag and went to the discovery of this beautiful town.

I ended up renting a hotel room on the west bank so I had to get to the ferry terminal and cross the Mississippi in order to get into the interesting part of New Orleans.  Or so I thought.  On the first day I decided to walk to the terminal... it took about 90 mins.  Most of the walk was boring but when I got to Algiers historic district, I fall in love with the trees on Opelousas Av. which I sketched a little further in my trip.  It was also a very nice little neighbourhood with an architecture that varied a from the french quarter so I decided to sketch some of them.

For my first sketch in New Orleans I picked the St-Louis Cathedrale.  It was a pleasant experience as I could listen to the various street bands while I was sketching.

I really enjoy the architecture of the French Quarter.  But it wasn't easy to sketch as if you put everything it just look like a mess...

I also explore a little more:  Went to Charles av and did a ride on board a street car.

I, of course, waited over 45 minutes to savour those famous beignets from the café du monde...

Did some touristy activities as well: a Cruise on the Mississippi River on board the Creole Queen, a visit of a and a boat ride in a swamp looking for alligators.  I also visited a sugar can plantation that I sadly didn't have time to sketch.

One of the thing that I found a little more hard about travelling alone was the meals...  The waiters were quite nice though, and I did a few sketches to pass time...

And Here's a few more sketches

All in all I'm quite happy with my experience.   The people of New Orleans were very nice.  Sometime people would stop by and talk to me about my work which I appreciated as it made me feel less alone.

I thought I would have more sketches done, but I ended up doing a lot more walking around than I planned. I found it very hard to choose what I will be sketching, maybe there was going to be something more interesting further?  might as well walk a little more....  And sometime I ended up walking for hours telling me the same thing without sketching nothing hehe

Next planned travelsketching trip? Kenya and Tanzania in March!  I'm soon excited!

All good things must end

My first travelsketching trip is done.  I filled 25 pages with more then 60 sketches from 7 different countries in 14 days.

Since I left with reasonable expectations (had to be realistic as I went on a organized tour with my mom) and I'm quite satisfied with the outcome of my first experience. 

I started my first sketches with a pencil to put some guide lines in before I used the unforgiven pen and ink.  While on the cruise on the Rhin, I quickly realized that I had to be more courageous and skip that step as I was short in time due to the crasy schedule of the tour...  Which was a good thing  as I'm now definitively more confident with it then I was at the start...

So all the sketches was done on site, except for Sisi's Castle that I added afterward because I didn't like the hole left by the sky of the bottom sketch.  The Györ Sketch also had to be completed in the bus as I thought I would have the time to do one big sketch on site...  Silly me!... hehe  

As for the color, it was mainly done on the bus.  It made the bus ride seemed shorter...  And it also allowed me to make more sketches on site.

The only thing that I was slightly disappointed was my difficulty with keeping up with this blog...  But hopefully next time it will be better!  At least I will be the master of my time :)

So I had an amazing trip, with an amazing group, fantastic weather, beautiful things to see, and zero troubles :)

Next time: New Orleans in November!

The Bus:)

A lion at the base of a statue in Munich

A street in front of the Munich's Opera

Salzbourg and the eagle nest

Sisi's Castle, Vienne, and a musicien

Orchestra we saw in Vienne

Gyor

Budapest, bratislava and Prague

At some point I got tired of buildings...  So I did a few statue in Dresde

Amsterdam and Bruxelles

Our bus driver Giuseppe

And the airport to take the flight that brought me home.

 

Time is flying by way too fast

I'm getting ready to see Prague this morning... Already more then half way through the trip.

So here a few more sketches i did :

At the eagle's nest and salzburg

The street in front of the opera in munich

A lion from the statue in the max joseph plazt in front of the opera in munich

A few building in Munich again

And a little bite of budapest bratislava and my evening in prague

Already in hungaria

I was planning to post way more frequently...  But i had troubles with dealing with pictures and my iphone and we had terrible internet...  

So here a few more sketches

The ride

We went to a concert with classical music ballet and opera

Just before that we went to a restaurant with local music

We also watch a little show in Munich

And my mom took a picture of me at the eagle's nest - a building at the top of a mountain given to hitler

Getting ready for my very first travelsketching trip!!!

How exciting is that: tomorrow is the first day of my very first travelsketching trip!

I say travelsketching trip as it is my personal main goal, but I will also have to go with the flow ( I do want to have a great time no matter how it goes)...

For various reasons, I decided to go on an organized trip around Eastern Europe with my mom for 2 weeks, which is far from being sketching friendly...

But my mom has been firmly advised of my intentions and for the rest, will see ...  (but I'm quite motivated, so with a little bite a discipline, I should be able to get done the sketching I want to do!)

First stop : Montreal airport where I'll take the plane to Bruxelles Belgique! :)