Autumn

What does autumn mean to you?

Woodsmoke, coffee, bonfires, apples, walnuts and roasting chestnuts. The smell of decaying leaves and unknown fungi, the rustling sound in the trees that was not there a week ago, dark earth, complex, textured colours, gold, green, red and yellow, cold dry air, a warm sun and a lack of birds.

Sunbathers

Still living a vacuous life (at least on the weekend) of burning under the sun, cooling down, heating up, cooling down and drawing other people doing the same, all dressed in brightly coloured pieces of synthetic cloth and eating ice cream.

Lake Constance

At last the sun arrived this weekend and we were able to spend some time at the lake, which meant as well as getting in a swim and attempting to convert my pristine English whiteness to something resembling the colour of weak tea, I could also get out my paintbrushes. This time we were in Steckborn and Ermatingen, two small towns on the Swiss side of Lake Constance which have very nice Strandbad’s, (beach bath or bathing area)…Long may the sun shine!

Pfäffikersee

The weather has not been kind these last few weeks…and the weeks of rain and overcast skies are now running into months. In german they call this kind of weather durchwachsen (streaky bacon), so the opportunities for getting out to the lakes and pools have been minimal, (only one day since the last time in June!) I did attempt to paint some of the aforesaid clouds but without success, so here instead are some happy sunbathers….

Summer season

The summer season is now in full swing here in Switzerland which means lots of Radfahren and visits to the Strandbad(s) (cycling and lake swimming)….There are lots of opportunities to do this here in Switzerland.

Most of these doodles were done over the last weekend at Pfäffikersee, a small lake west of Zurich. I couldn’t resist adding a couple of older ladies from our last holiday to Santa Maria di Castellabate in southern Italy….I love to sketch people on the beach, but especially those glamorous, or not so glamorous older ladies….also they are a little easier to paint as they tend to sit still for a bit longer.