If you’re an artist — or just someone who wants to see the world more fully — Guatemala offers something rare. It’s not just beautiful. It’s alive with meaning, texture, contradiction, and joy
Pueblos Mágicos, what an amazing way to break in the new year with the Travelling Brush. We had a small group of artists for this very unique art trip to of some of my favourite places in Mexico. Our group arrived January 3rd, starting our tour in this amazing Capital, if you have never been to Mexico City, there is a heap of cool things to see and do including some world class museums. Our first day included a visit …
I was attracted to this high vantage point because of the challenging perspective; as I painted I learned about Dubrovnik from the perspective of two locals caught in the daily riggers of mass tourism. Our painting group arrived in Dubrovnik after a beautiful drive down the coast from Split with a short interlude into Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to cross the Neretva River, along the famous 16th-century Ottoman bridge. Stari Most Bridge connects the two parts of the City …
I am lucky to have the opportunity to travel as much as I do and feel very fortunate to be in Croatia at this time, to explore such a beautiful country and discover my heritage. Once my group is on their way, I get the chance to visit the city of Rovijn in the Istria peninsula bordering Italy, and one of the first towns to fall to the Venetian empire in the 11th Century. Attacked several times over the next …
Friday May 19th Our last full day in Paris; we are off to the left bank of the Seine River to visit Musee D’Orsay, the former Gare d’Orsay, railway station built for the World Exhibition 1900 and re-purposed as a gallery in only 1986. The Musée d’Orsay’s collection includes stunning works by painters including Gauguin, Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, and Van Gogh to name just a few. I have visited this gallery several times in the past and always …
Paris: An artist’s dream to be sure, I have had the good fortune of being able to visit this amazingly art rich city once a decade for the last four decades – overwhelming in it’s architectural beauty, artistic style and cultural richness, she never fails to deliver a healthy dose of inspiration, wonder and sore feet. The plethora of galleries and museums is truly dizzying and one can only absorb so much in a week no mater how hard one …
Real experiences – this is what inspires me. The connection with travel and painting for me is similar to the relationship between bread and butter in western cuisine or like “Gallo Pinto” rice and beans in the Nicaraguan food experience. One of the great cultural and gastronomic pleasures of travelling to Nicaragua is eating at the iconic street stalls known as fritangas. The Nicaraguan fritangas specialize in home style Nica food including gallo pinto, carne asada (grilled meat), plaintain tajada (green), Frito, ( fried …
The air is fresh in Leon after what was a torrential rain fall last night. The hotels open courtyards and ceramic roof created a thunderous ensemble of echos and clatter of epic proportion … lasting only 10 min. Enough to clear the air and give a sweet smell of wet pavement for my morning painting. Not much to say about this piece – I am not that happy with the composition it kind of grew on me until it was …
New years resolutions are meant to be broken – so much for posting every day! Oh well, “if you don’t have anything interesting to say” my Father used to say! Not that my second trip to Nicaragua is not interesting, just the opposite; but finding time to sit down and write has been a challenge this year and I have been focused on the painting and less engaged in social media. After touring around Nicaragua with my family for the …
We arrived in Nicaragua on Christmas morning after a long flight from Vancouver – San Fran – Houston and then Managua. Straight to our hotel in Granada in about 40min. The Hotel Polvora was just what the doctor ordered after our 16 hour trip, a charming little colonial hotel decked out in hand made tiles, made right on site, with a beautiful pool and a spacious and quiet room. We had an amazing first 4 days in Granada, slowly getting …
