Holiday painting

Over the years artists have always looked for inspiration in new places and nowadays is no different.

As great as it is painting the same subject over and over, change is always welcome. And a new location always delivers on that. Holiday sketching and painting is a big part of my art life.
Being on a family holiday is great without any painting but I love the way a new place refreshes my senses and most times i can’t resist a few sketches.
I wrote this post about this experience.

Last year I went on holidays to my home country – but to a never visited before, the Mazurian lakes in the North East of Poland.
The weather was perfect for the now Irish accustomed me – temperatures in around low 20ies and no rain for most of the stay.
We were staying at a beautiful house with access to a small lake and a paddle boat – perfect for sketching from the water! Or so I thought. It turns out it’s quite difficult to keep them still on the water while mixing watercolour paint (see below) but I kept trying anyway. Enjoyed every minute of my struggles to capture different shades of green. And after coming back to Ireland I’ve painted a bigger painting from the photo that summed it up for me. Enjoy these few pages from my sketchbook!