We have just returned from 4.5 weeks of travelling; elated, exhausted, inspired. It has been 6 years since I’ve done a European working trip for research/reference photographs for my paintings, so I planned a pretty cramped itinerary in a new-to-us corner of the old world (don’t worry, I know the world doesn’t have actual corners…) with as many cities as we could reasonably fit in. Since light is central to my work, seeing the subject matter at all times of day or night is key, but particularly during the evening when light is long and chandeliers and street lights glow (we won’t talk about morning here) so we tried to stay a minimum of 2-3 nights in one place.

The trip started in New York city at the American Watercolour Society’s 156th Annual Awards dinner where I received my elected Signature Member pin (more on that on the previous blog post “February…Already.”) We then bounced to Barcelona for a week. One of our goals was to visit Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, an astounding work of architecture and ingenuity. We’ve seen a lot of (mostly Gothic) cathedrals in our travels, but this is like nothing else. Based on organic themes and the geometry of nature, the impression is of being inside a great forest, it’s columns are shaped more like trees forming a canopy of stained glass, dappled light bathing the interior. (I can’t help but think that Tolkein and/or Peter Jackson were inspired by La Sagrada in their creation of Rivendell, and that Art Nouveau inspired all things Elvish.) Still a work in progress, it is a marvel. Will I try to paint it? Maybe, probably. I can’t fathom doing an inkling of justice to its enormity of size and detail, so I will instead focus on capturing a few small details.

We then rented a car (thrilled to have the independence) and drove through the Wallonia region of Belgium, into France to see Reims and its massive Gothic cathedral, Epérnay for its picturesque champagne houses then to Sedan for it’s great fortress. We dropped off the car (thrilled to return it unscathed ) and continued by train to the next set of cities: Brugge, Antwerp, Amsterdam and Brussels. Some of the highlights were seeing the Vermeer Exhibition at Rijksmuseum and Rembrandt’s house and studio in Amsterdam, the canals of Brugge, Antwerp’s unbelievably beautiful train station, and Brussel’s Grand Place - one of the most beautiful squares I’ve seen in Europe. It is bordered by Gothic and Renaissance civic buildings and guild halls, all with decorative cornices and embellished with gilt. The effect is of being inside an enormous glittering jewel box open to the stars.

Another highlight was finding out that some dear friends were to be in the same corner of the world at the same time, so we met in Amsterdam for a couple of dinners and to visit the Rijksmuseum, then a few days later for dinner in Brussels. How welcome friendly faces are after being away for several weeks! I managed to take nearly 9000 photographs, replenishing my “idea bank” & reference archive for the next several years of painting. Many are just a record, typical tourist shots or just plain lame, but still precious as memories or maybe for a tiny detail in a painting. It’s taken me several days just to do a first review, and I am now starting to distill ideas and plan the first several paintings which I look forward to sharing with you in the fall.

Travel expands one’s horizons and at the same time focuses one’s appreciation of home. One of the best feelings is flying into Canadian airspace, reinforcing the understanding of what a privilege it is to be Canadian in spite of the alluring beauty of other cultures and lands.

There is so much more to say about this trip and travel in general eg. post-covid tourism, seeing great art in great architecture, connecting with people, bike chaos in Amsterdam, the joy and humiliation of fumbling through foreign languages, recognizing our strengths and weaknesses. I won’t burden you with all of that just now, but I will express my extreme gratitude and respect for my partner in travel and life, Neil, not just for lugging out-sized suitcases up the 78 spirals stairs to a microscopic hotel room, calmly navigating 8-sprocket traffic circles or patiently waiting for me to get my photographs, but because he is just the best company.

Thanks for reading, and safe travels to the travellers out there, happy art-making to the artists, and happy summer to all.