Back from a wonderful time in Catalunya, initially in the hills of the Collsacabra near Tavertet, then in Girona city where I enjoyed meeting up with the local Urban Sketchers group. I was mostly using a new larger sketchbook (it’s as big as possible while still fitting in my rucksack) so I could get more detail into the drawings. The gouache and coloured pencils suited the strong light and colours, but the heat made some of the pencils melt!

Here’s the scene at the airport, fellow passengers waiting to board, chatting, snoozing, reading books, writing, watching various screens…

…and the road from the airport to the hills.

We stayed at L’Avenc, a fortified manor house restored and extended by Matthew Parris and his family, described in his excellent book ‘A Castle in Spain’. It’s perched above spectacular cliffs on a single track lane high above a flooded valley (so no traffic noise!), with vultures circling, bright stars twinkling and bats flitting at night, and a pool, ‘which was nice‘.

Here’s L’Avenc top left, with Girona a tiny horizontal yellow smudge 50km away top right. The tilted geology added a surreal touch to the dramatic landscape…

The cliffs directly below the house, with obligatory vulture circling.

Mist rising from the valley below at 6am.

Afternoon clouds over the Montseny mountain range, a fellow guest photographing their dog.

A remote Romanesque church we walked to one baking hot day, taking shady refuge in the lovely tiled porch for lunch. We were chased off the hills by a thunderstorm!

And finally sketching while perched on a slab of rock jutting out from one of the cliffs, the track to L’Avenc winding below, the coastal plane far in the distance, beyond the Montseny Massif, and more vultures hovering.

I’ll post the Girona sketches next…