Walking in Burgundy: Arrival at Dijon

We arrived in CDG airport a little past noontime that Sunday but our train schedule to Dijon wasn't until 4:52pm at Gare de Lyon station.  The new EES system was just recently rolled out and online reports I saw talked of long delays at the CDG airport.  Since we didn't know how much time we will be spending at the passport control, we took that later train time for good measure.  Well, it turned out that the airport queue was a non-issue.  The kiosks were non-operational so we were out of the airport in no time.

We took two train rides from the CDG airport to Gare de Lyon station, had a nice lunch in one of the restaurants, and sketched a bit of the station architecture. 

It was a busy station with plenty of travelers at all times.  We found our car and reserved seats and soon we were traveling along the country side.  The views are amazing but it was also getting late in the day.  At Dijon, we took a taxi to the hotel which wasn't too far from the train station.  After getting settled in our room, we freshened a bit and headed out for short walk nearby the hotel before coming back for a good night's rest. 

Tour: Walking in Burgundy

Anne and I signed up with Macs Adventure for a 5 day self-guided walking tour in Burgundy last May.  Other than a few days visit in Paris many years ago, I've never been seen any other places in France so this was a good opportunity to do it.  The idea of doing this hike was in line with what she and I had done before - walking the Camino de Santiago.  

I will start reliving the experience by posting sketches from the time we left the airport and the time we came back.

Here's a sketch at JFK Terminal 4 while waiting for our delayed flight to CDG, France.  I used a blue tint Ugly Book pocket size sketchbook, a compact watercolor kit, a water brush, a Posca white pen, and my trusty Zebra F701 ballpoint pen.

  

Back to posting again

Hi there!  I know...It has been a while since I made a post on this site.  Actually, the last one before this entry was a piece I left hanging in draft mode and that I only published a few minutes ago.  I don't know why I became less active with this blog in the last three months!

I'm hoping to make some retrospective entries on my last two trips to France this year.  Stay tuned...more to come.... 

A Sketch Meet at Roosevelt Island

Back in mid April, the NYC Urban Sketchers held the weekend sketch meet at Roosevelt Island.  As I was late joining the event, I didn't know where everyone was situated when I got there but a short walk from the subway station, I saw this view of an industrial power plant across the river jetty.  I like the limited use of watercolor and the ballpoint pen line suggestion to complete the scene.

The Construction near the Bowling Green Park

After the NYC Urban Sketchers event at the National Museum of American Indian two weekends ago, I spent half an hour sketching the construction work being done near the Charging Bull sculpture.  The Preppy fountain pen with a modified Fude nib was used in the sketch.  Glad to have the coloring done last night to my satisfaction.  

Weekend Sketch Meet

The weekend group of the NYC Urban Sketchers went to the National Museum of the American Indian for a day of sketching.  I came in late but was able to sketch this room that I later played with some watercolor.  It needs more work but that would be another time. 

Quick Sketches

Lately, I've been doing some quick 30 minute sketch exercises, looking up, like a fun game.  There are many subjects to choose from in the big city.  When pressed for time, I just let my pen go with the flow.  I keep checking my lines the way I see them before committing them on paper.  I always look for the proximity of the line next to it so I don't get lost in the process.  This actually helps me a lot.  Below are some examples.