Sketching and Painting Holidays
Where does my love of islands come from? Is it inate, from being born and raised on a large one of sorts, albeit encompassing several countries? Or from my more recent past, living on Tanera Mhor (one of the Summer Isles), during four extraordinarily happy years? When I had the chance to visit the Isle … Read more
Many people of a certain age will remember the Cadbury’s flake advert of the early 70’s, in which a young woman in a floaty dress sat herself daintily down in the middle of a cornfield with her watercolours. It began to rain, but instead of hastily packing up and making a dash for it, she … Read more
Azwu bzef: A lot of wind. Too much wind. Enough wind; more than enough … more wind than you would ever want to encounter in the middle of a desert. ‘You are so lucky.’ Hamid, our Moroccan driver, always tells me when a sketching trip has ended without climatic hitch. According to him, March is … Read more
It’s as if I’ve never been away. The sticky heat; the salty waves, warm as a summer bath, and the blue-black belch of the tuk tuks as they scurry back and forth between Banderanaike airport and Negombo ‘beach-side’. It’s January, it’s a new year; it’s high season and tourists are arriving by the plane-load after … Read more
As I take my Christmas Day lunch out of the freezer, with rather more excitement than you might imagine, I do wonder if I’ve become just a little obsessed. It’s a large takeaway curry that I bought from our closest Indian restaurant, which is in Ullapool, thirty-six miles away. There’s enough to feed several people, … Read more
Vistas Sketching Holidays would like to wish all clients past, present and future, a peaceful and enjoyable festive period, wherever you find yourselves. From a very wet and windy Lochinver, I am very much looking forward to feeling the sun on my back and enjoying some beautiful places with some of you. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: From … Read more
Our skin is brown, our sketchbooks full as another ‘Mists of Time’ itinerary on beautiful La Gomera has come to a close. Our first return since March 2023, when we arrived back into the UK with flights being cancelled and borders closing behind us, I was delighted and somewhat relieved to find the island unchanged, … Read more
Every time I receive an enquiry from someone in a warmer climate asking about a sketching holiday, in Scotland, ‘this year’ – ie, during deepest, darkest winter – it always makes me smile. Perhaps they have not quite realised that Vistas holidays take place outside, in the landscape, and if the landscape is unavailable (behind … Read more
Last Saturday morning I was woken by the ping of my phone as a message came though. It was from my friend Jane, so I rubbed my eyes and opened it, wondering if she was heading into the village and wanted to meet for coffee. I would have slept a little longer if I could … Read more
There are few things I enjoy more than sitting in peaceful nature, in front of a beautiful view, in warm sunshine with my sketchpad out an a few spare hours to myself. One of those things is introducing a friend to the pleasures of watercolour, and teaching her the basics. Looking at this page, it … Read more
