Monthly Archives: January 2016
It is January and 30 C — It must be — Mauritius!!
The Beach at Le Touessrok Watercolour 14 inches by 10.
Hi Readers
We sometimes like to escape the winter in the UK for a week or two and so this year we have just been to Mauritius.
Mauritius has a lovely climate, with a little rain so the whole countryside is very green, but the beaches are beautiful sand and the sea is very warm.
Most days in January the temperature gets up to 30C and even in the evenings it is very warm.
For my watercolour paintings it isn’t ideal as painting “en plain air” is very tricky (at least for me) but nevertheless I have managed to produce a few paintings during our holiday.
Some of them are for me unique as I painted then whilst reclining on sun bed on the beach at our resort of Le Touessrok. As one passer by said “well I have never seen that before!” Le Touessrok, now a Shangri-La hotel is on the East coast of the island of Mauritius, which is often described, especially by the delightful Mauritian people, as “Paradise Island”
At the end of this post I have added a couple of paintings that I produced on previous trips to Mauritius as they also give different aspect of the area.
We like to play golf there as well as soaking up the sun and the golf course, (which you get to on a boat!) is on Ile des Cerfs, and is very challenging, but beautiful. It was designed by Bernard Langer, a famous Golf professional.
Now we are back in the UK and it does seem cold here, but those 10 days in the sun will be good memory while winter is still here.
I hope you enjoy the paintings
Happy Travelling!
Brian
“Sailing By”. Watercolour 14 inches by 10.
“Homeward Bound” Watercolour 14 by 10
“Fishing off the Reef”. Watercolour 14 by 10.
“Grand Bay, at the north of Mauritius”. Watercolour 14 by 10.
And a couple from previous visits
The view from the Green at 11th hole at Le Touessrok, Mauritius
The Bernard Langer course at Le Touessrok from the air.
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Thanks
Brian
A Day in ………. Villifranche sur Mer, on the Cote d’Azur
The Quai at Villefranche. Watercolour 14 inches by 10 on Arches Rough paper.
A Very Happy New Year to you all. Thanks for visiting my site.
Sometimes in the winter it is nice to look back to days spent in a particular place.
Scanning through my paintings it struck me that this theme would make an interesting theme for a Post and so here is the first one of what I hope will grow into a series of Posts.
When we visit The South of France our home there is not far from Villefranche, about 40 minutes, so it makes a nice day out and a lovely place to sit on the Quai and have a delightful lunch.
The town has a nice harbour, a fine , and huge castle and is in sheltered bay on the Mediterranean.
It has become a very popular harbour for cruises too, but it is much nicer there when the cruise ships aren’t!
There is a lovely small Church (Chapelle Saint Pierre) which dates from the 16th Century by the waterfront The inside of the Church has been decorated by Jean Cocteau after it’s restoration in 1957. Definitely worth a visit before or after lunch.
Villefranche has thus become quite a favourite spot for me to paint watercolours of and so here are some of the watercolours of some recent visits there.
Villefranche, walking by the Castle. Watercolour 14 inches by 10 on Arches Rough paper.
From the harbour there is path around the outside, the sea side , of the castle which gives lovely views of the bay and of the Town and Castle.
Across the Bay is the very tiny Port Passable , above which stands the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, a beautiful House and Gardens open to the public. Nearby also is the Villa Grecque Kérylos. Both are very well worth the visit.
Port Passable at Villefranche.
There is so much to do in and around Villefranche. Access is easy by car or train and I am sure you will enjoy it just as we do.
Happy travelling!
