One of the great loves of my life has been travel. Throughout my late teens and twenties I was constantly making a trip to one place or another, whether it be across the US, Europe or the Middle East. Most of these voyages were done on my bike; with little more than one backpack filled with three dresses and my sketchbook I took off, thrilled to conquer the unknown…I became very much a “flaneuse” in the words of French poet Charles Beaudelaire; a person who roams and strolls the streets in order to experience it. My method of documenting my experiences was with my watercolors. If I came across a place that caught my eye- a lake, a grand chateau, a small alcove in a coffee shop, I would take out of my watercolors and paint, sometimes for hours. As such, some of my most prized possessions are my sketchbooks. I recently started going through them again and thought I would share some of the images. The two images below are from my 1978 trip to France (Loire Valley and Bretagne).
“LOIRE VALLEY” 8 1/2″ x 11″
“CHATEAU AMBROISE” 8 1/2″ x 11″
amazing work Deirdre! Great to see the progression of your art work over time. I would really interested in buying a print of “Loire Valley.” Let me know if I could do this. Thanks!? Maya