Blog
York to Chianti by train
October 2022
I left York station on train for King’s Cross at 17.03 on Tuesday 11th October, carrying my two bags and easel. Amongst my clothes are small box of watercolours, a recharging pack for my ipad, swimming trunks for use in the hot springs at Colle de Val d’Elsa, and Alain de Botton’s The Art of Travel.
The first night, at an Airbnb near Wood Green tube station, I wake at 3.30am. It’s probably travel anxiety. Cats fight in the street. I can hear someone snoring. I listen to A Good Readon my ipad. I’m still awake at 5, switch off my alarms and get dressed. There’s no hot water (I tried last night) so I just brush my teeth and smear on some deodorant, take my pills.
Walking to the tube, the streets are already coming to life. A rough sleeper is in exactly the same pose as last night, propped against a metal post. Everyone’s clothes are dark, people sit with their eyes closed as I draw them. I almost miss the stop for Kings Cross St Pancras.
The security staff at Eurostar are less than friendly. The policewoman checking my passport doesn’t meet my eye, let alone smile. On the plus side, I don’t set the alarm off when I walk through the scanner.
Pret A Manger offers an expensive breakfast and the coffee is disappointing. The staff are nice though.
I draw a fat couple waiting…the young woman with a slight smile is playing her left hand across her partners back as he gives his full attention to his phone. They look very happy. The terminal is packed; eventually we move en masse to the train. I check my seat and carriage number, written in biro on my hand, and hoist my bag and easel onto the rack. At 08.11, we leave, and I start to relax.
My confidence continues to rise as I negotiate the metro from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon,shake my head at beggars, pointing to their mouths, and with plenty of time before the train to Turin, set up my easel in front of the station and draw for about an hour. A group of Rumanians chat and fist-bump with me and a Frenchman asks me for directions.
On the five hour journey to Turin I meet a gardener from Sussex, also saving his carbon footprint. I find myself sitting next to a French lawyer and discover how rusty my French conversation is. However, she joins me for an evening meal in the buffet car. I’m not sure at what point one should use “tu” rather than “vous”, so I go on using “vous”. Maybe she thinks this is charming. She gets off at Chambery after giving me her card.
Mountains appear and the light is failing as we stop in Modane and the customs officers embark with their dog. They ask which is my bag. They are not suspicious of the grey bag containing my easel, which surprises me.
Finally we’re at Porta Susa in Turin, a modern, huge, blank walled concrete and steel station, and I find the 19 bus waiting almost empty. I don’t have a ticket and this late in the evening, I can’t buy one, but the driver lets me ride for free.
It’s now getting on for ten, but my body clock is set an hour earlier, and I can’t resist doing a quick painting of the view from my balcony.
Aldo, my host, speaks excellent English and tells me Turin was once the capital of Italy and I should go to the car museum, the Egyptian museum, the cathedral… however, no time for that. In the morning, my train is due to leave soon after 10, and he breaks off his buddhist chants to bid me goodbye, point out my sponge bag still in the bathroom, and suggest a small, quiet café across the road for breakfast.
The café is all heavy, dark polished wood and the owner, and his mum, are quietly attentive. Unfortunately they speak no English and though I have no trouble selecting a croissant crema, I end up with an espresso. Then a stroke of luck – a man overhearing me ask for directions, offers me a lift in his taxi to Porta Susa, where he is going this minute. In retrospect maybe it was foolhardy to accept a lift from a total stranger but it was completely genuine. His English is excellent too, and he tells me Turin was once the capital of Italy andthere are many wonderful museums, the car museum, the Egyptian museum, the cathedral…
The journey to warm, sunny Florence is uneventful. It’s like stepping into summer. After a lengthy search for the bus terminal, lugging my heavy bags through crowds (“Scusi…scusi….prego…prego”) I’m admiring the vineyards from a bus window, as we climb out of the city into the hills.
This trip cost me over £500 and took almost two days – I’ve been several times before and I’ve always flown – it takes less than two hours and costs under £100.
So why go by train? The reason is, climate change is happening, and we aren’t taking it seriously enough.
In his book, There is no planet B, Mike Berners Lee identifies plane travel as one of the most significant contributors to global warming. We don’t have to think very hard about the cost before hopping on a plane to Pisa, or wherever. Budget airlines have brought the cost right down. Fresh fruit is flown thousands of miles to land on our supermarket shelves. Some planes are even flying back and forth without passengers, just to get to the right place at the right time for their schedule. We don’t need this.
I travel rarely, and I enjoyed the train journey more than I would have enjoyed the flight. Because I had no accommodation cost, the overall cost of the holiday was still low. I hope I’ve made a tiny contribution in the changing of attitudes in which environmental considerations form part of a new morality.
And on the return journey, I visited the car museum in Turin, which was once the capital of Italy.
Saturday 16 October 2021
Sitting in the car resting the iPad on the steering wheel is very comfortable so I was happy to spend an hour and a half on this. Also I did something new; resized the whole image and tilted it slightly, then went on. That’s why there is a straight edge visible on the left hand side. As usual, there is a lot left to do. But at least I’m developing a language and techniques.
Sitting in the car resting the iPad on the steering wheel is very comfortable so I was happy to spend an hour and a half on this. Also I did something new; resized the whole image and tilted it slightly, then went on. That’s why there is a straight edge visible on the left hand side. As usual, there is a lot left to do. But at least I’m developing a language and techniques.
Sunday 26 September 2021
Drew a new version of Micklegate Bar. Want to make a set of four pictures of all the Bars. Looks very picturebooky…style clashes rather with the one of Monk Bar I did 3 (!) years ago. I’ll probably do more work on it, and also need to do Bootham and Walmgate.
Drew a new version of Micklegate Bar. Want to make a set of four pictures of all the Bars. Looks very picturebooky…style clashes rather with the one of Monk Bar I did 3 (!) years ago. I’ll probably do more work on it, and also need to do Bootham and Walmgate.
Saturday 25 September 2021
About an hours work near Aldborough, near Boroughbridge. I was waiting to join in with the YCCN relay walk to COP26 (I’m not going to explain that sentence). Met several dogs and their owners and drew this….allowing myself to go all 18th century. Actually I do quite like it….needs more wok obviously in the shade particularly but I’m happy with the style, there’s something very comfortable about it.
About an hours work near Aldborough, near Boroughbridge. I was waiting to join in with the YCCN relay walk to COP26 (I’m not going to explain that sentence). Met several dogs and their owners and drew this….allowing myself to go all 18th century. Actually I do quite like it….needs more wok obviously in the shade particularly but I’m happy with the style, there’s something very comfortable about it.
17 September 2021
I’ve had two sessions painting a small clump of trees (above) on a stream near Nunnington. I decided to use solid colours directly from the start. I don’t think the finished result is more than a first attempt, but I’m pleased with some of the colour combinations. I saved it several times. Actually no 1 in some ways is the most appealing.
I also did a close up painting (below) of the trees and bushes in a different part of the stream, simply because I needed to work in the shade. I used a very different approach which might work well but needs so much more time. I’m only just starting to get to grips with the intricate shapes, colours and space.
I’ve had two sessions painting a small clump of trees (above) on a stream near Nunnington. I decided to use solid colours directly from the start. I don’t think the finished result is more than a first attempt, but I’m pleased with some of the colour combinations. I saved it several times. Actually no 1 in some ways is the most appealing.
I also did a close up painting (below) of the trees and bushes in a different part of the stream, simply because I needed to work in the shade. I used a very different approach which might work well but needs so much more time. I’m only just starting to get to grips with the intricate shapes, colours and space.
28 August 2021
Just returned from a five day visit to my sister’s in Guernsey. Travelling is always an emotional upheaval. This time I realised I’d forgotten my keys, and spent a couple of hours in York kicking myself and waiting for Sue to come over from Leeds. My neighbour, who had been popping in to feed the cat, had posted the key through the letterbox that morning!
Fascinated by other travellers, I draw them covertly but the girl in glasses asked what I was doing and was very interested so I did drawing of her in the 60 seconds before her train arrived. I had longer to draw Li Yuan.
Just noticed the sense of distance is not working in the sketch at Manchester airport so the man in the foreground looks surprised to see a miniature traveler at a model table…..
Just returned from a five day visit to my sister’s in Guernsey. Travelling is always an emotional upheaval. This time I realised I’d forgotten my keys, and spent a couple of hours in York kicking myself and waiting for Sue to come over from Leeds. My neighbour, who had been popping in to feed the cat, had posted the key through the letterbox that morning!
Fascinated by other travellers, I draw them covertly but the girl in glasses asked what I was doing and was very interested so I did drawing of her in the 60 seconds before her train arrived. I had longer to draw Li Yuan.
Just noticed the sense of distance is not working in the sketch at Manchester airport so the man in the foreground looks surprised to see a miniature traveler at a model table…..
1 August 2021
I spent a couple of hours drawing on the road between Hovingham and Terrington. There’s a view that was revealed a year or so ago when a lot of trees were cut down that appeals to me. So I stopped there after dropping Emilia off this morning. In the end I didn’t draw that view but the road itself, as it snakes up the hill. And I was kind of fascinated by the cars roaring up and down. It’s quite a fast road and some of them make the most of it. One Range Rover was closely tailing a small hatchback, flashing his lights, and they were both doing sixty at least.
I started experimenting with different textures, even different styles in the same picture, and in the end left it unresolved. I can see now that it needs pushing through with the stronger simpler style but at the time I was unsure. I’ve got a fascination with Kirchner and I think I want to paint in strong colours, jagged lines and somewhat brutal handling.
What I did find, though was that when I started experimenting it became more enjoyable, I guess because then I’m in touch with my feelings as well as using my eye and brain.
I spent a couple of hours drawing on the road between Hovingham and Terrington. There’s a view that was revealed a year or so ago when a lot of trees were cut down that appeals to me. So I stopped there after dropping Emilia off this morning. In the end I didn’t draw that view but the road itself, as it snakes up the hill. And I was kind of fascinated by the cars roaring up and down. It’s quite a fast road and some of them make the most of it. One Range Rover was closely tailing a small hatchback, flashing his lights, and they were both doing sixty at least.
I started experimenting with different textures, even different styles in the same picture, and in the end left it unresolved. I can see now that it needs pushing through with the stronger simpler style but at the time I was unsure. I’ve got a fascination with Kirchner and I think I want to paint in strong colours, jagged lines and somewhat brutal handling.
What I did find, though was that when I started experimenting it became more enjoyable, I guess because then I’m in touch with my feelings as well as using my eye and brain.
Nice to see my illustrations being used by Riding Lights to advertise their Summer School again😀. I think I did this in 2017