After 8 weeks sketching in Italy as part of my Virtual European trip, I headed somewhere new… Luxembourg.
This is the first destination on this trip which I hadn’t previously visited so it was the first time I was completely dependent on Google street view for reference photos. I spent a number of hours exploring Google earth to build a collection of screenshots to sketch from.
The reason for my visit to Luxembourg was to attend a USK sketch weekend which obviously was cancelled. USK Luxembourg did host a virtual event so they had a few locations to sketch from. Due to time differences I wasn’t able to join them sketching at the same time but I did appreciate the locations. And it was great to be inspired by other people’s sketches from the same spots.
It was a shock to be in a different part of Europe (the feel is so different from Italy!) and also to be looking at Google street views which were taken in winter. I tried to find some summer photos to refer to so I could modify the season in my sketches.
On the Monday I pretended to spend the day with a good friend who lives in a small rural village outside of the city of Luxembourg… here is the local church.
Damien is my accountability buddy (I met him at a conference in Austin, Texas a few years ago) and we talk nearly every week about our workload and projects. So it was fun to explore his part of the world via Google and a few photos he sent.It was fun to discover a nearby ‘castle’!
Anyway although a short visit, it was great to virtually explore somewhere new.
Here are the full spreads (click to view larger)
Next stop Brussels!
2 Comments
I just started following your blog a day or two ago, and so it was such a fun coincidence when you posted your paintings of Luxembourg. I just moved back to the States after living there for three years. You did a beautiful job capturing the look and feel of the architecture there. 🙂
When I was laid up for 3 months after a surgery, I could not post anything I was drawing (my limited world, as in the same view daily with differences) in USk. This was when Jorge was still alive (RIP) and we talked about this — and about those who are bed or housebound for long or short reasons (snow up above windows, surgery, stroke…) are so isolated. I started Virtual Sketchwalk on FB as a way for those people to participate. I’ve been leading monthly google walks — and now it has grown so that other people offer images of the towns we are “visiting” or lead virtual walks of their towns — for five years. I’ve met some amazing artists who could no longer get out for whatever reason. Now, suddenly, USk has seen that there is value when you can’t get out to these techniques because for the first time, they can relate as a group.
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