CAP D'ANTIBES, watercolor and ink sketch

CAP D'ANTIBES, watercolor and ink sketch, 6x8 in.

Walking all around the peninsula in Cap d'Antibes last week, and sketching and painting along the way, was very tiring and extremely wonderful. The views are magnificent, the group from Paris I joined was a very nice group, and very talented watercolorists.

Almost every small town along the Côte d'Azur has a house/museum that belonged to Picasso. He seemed to have filled a house with art, such a prolific artist, then buy another house in the next town, and work in a different style. I'm exaggerating, but there are 12 houses in 12 towns where Picasso lived in the south of France, at one point or another!!!I've only visited a few.

SUN OF PRAGUE, watercolor and ink sketch

SUN OF PRAGUE, watercolor and ink sketch in travel journal.
The Church Our Lady of Loretto, in Prague, has an incredible jewel, called "The Sun of Prague". This was made with a donation from Countess Ludmilla de Kolourat, of 6,222 diamonds. Yes, six thousand two hundred and twenty two diamonds, which had been a gift of her third husband when she was 53 years old. So... three is a charm!! In her honor, the jewelers then made the gold center, with 53 rays. Please count, I drew 53 ink sticks in my sketch. There are so many cameras and guards in the bullet proof room where this big jewel is, that I had to obey the signs: no pictures.

PRAHA, VIEW FROM THE NEW TOWN HALL, watercolor and ink sketch

PRAHA, VIEW FROM THE NEW TOWN HALL, watercolor and ink sketch in my notebook.

The construction of the tower begun in 1348, when Charles IV was pursuing a grand-scale program as the future Holy Roman Empire. After paying a few Czech crowns and walking up about 150 steps, you have a wonderful view of Prague.