ArtPact #11

(Originally published on February 23, 2007).


Since I hardly had time for painting before we went to Grenada, and couldn't really paint while there, I turned to sketching.
It's a fun activity, very elating, the best way to pass time, and very, VERY asocial, as the person you are with gets totally bored.
And yet, 5 minuets here, 15 minutes there - and you get your daily exercise for the hand, the eyes and the right side of the brain.

Obviously, most impressions - and sketching time - were while on the beach.

Here is one from our brief visit to the pretty beach of Lance Aux Epines:
These two highly energetic toddlers kept the sand, the waves - and mostly their parents - very, very busy.

And, at the same beach, some older local kids, who were hanging out, jumping into and out of the water, pulling their boat, exercising like crazy and pretty much having a great time and looking very, very dude-ish.



A couple of days later we took a ferry to the little island of Carriacou.
The trip there was great, as you get to see the whole west shore of Grenada in quite a slow motion, then the ride gets bumpy - as you go over the infamous Kick 'Em Jenny - and when you get to Carriacou after the 90-minute trip, you have an interesting color, something between sickly-green and tan...

So, here is an obligatory sketch of boats anchored in turquoise Caribbean water. I skecthed it while we were waiting for the ferry to take us back to Grenada.
It just started to rain, so this one is sketched with ink, watercolor pencil and a couple of raindrops. Oh, and maybe a spot of two of coconut ice-cream. (they didn't have the nutmeg ice-cream there!).

And - just before the ferry has arrive, that one is of a local Carriacou man talking to some tourists. (who obviously weren't interesting enough to sketch...).

A day or two later, back in Grenada, The JohnnyB and I have finally succumbed to what an island vacation is really all about: hanging out on the beach, having a lazy lunch, reading a book, falling asleep on the beach-chairs, and getting the ultimate sunburn. (that part was reserved for The JohnnyB, that is. I was good, and used sun-screen!).

We chose the beautiful and quite-secluded beach of La Sagesse for that day, and while the JohnnyB was being roasted, I sketched the people, one of them a very sweet elderly tourist, who would giggle all the way to the water, and then start screaming like a teenager, as the water were a bit cool.
She did it each and every time she went in the water, to the merriment of us all.