Outdoor sketching in Neouvielle National Park

Bonjour! Summer has arrived and even if the pandemic is still around the corner, we can start moving again here in France. Mefisheye and I decided to relocate our workplace in the Montains, more precisely in the Pyrénées, a mountain chain at the south of France. It is the perfect starting point to do hikes and do outdoor sketching in places like Neouvielle National park.

Outdoor sketching in Neouvielle National park
The view from the top

What tools do I take when I go outdoor sketching?

I usually like to pack very light. This day we hiked for around 5 hours so every extra weight is unwelcome. For outdoor painting in Neouvielle national park I took the following :

  • My homemade watercolor Sketchbook
  • A pencil case with brushes and pencils
  • A tiny tiny bottle of water
  • My homemade watercolor palette
  • Some tissue
  • Another sketchbook that I ended up not using.

Up we go! Visiting Neouvielle National Park

This park is very beautiful, during the busiest days of summer it’s all packed with visitors and tourists that come to enjoy the lakes and the view. So I suggested that we go early in the season to avoid the crowd.

And oh dear did we get rewarded. At the beginning of our hike there was a dense fog. Fog is alright when the path is well marked, wich is the case here, and not only is it alright but it is fabulous! I took some pictures for later reference and I can’t help but share some with you.

We hiked up for a good 3 hours, stopping often to take pictures and film a little. I made a youtube video out of that trip, you should totally check it out for a more live version!

At the top it was breathtaking, the clouds gave us an amazing scenery, but I wanted something simpler to paint. It would have looked nice, but I don’t feel to confortable painting clouds right now. I should definitely do some studies and try to be better at it.

Actually sketching on location!

Back at the lake we found a nice spot to sit in the grass. In the park I especially like the rocks/trees formations. The landscape is pretty arid, there is a lot of big granitic rocks and pines have a curious pleasure to thrive in the middle of it! It always looks quite beautiful and I decided to paint one of these.

Outdoor sketching in Neouvielle National Park

This was my actual breath of fresh air after quarantine.

You want to come hike with me! Check out my youtube video, and wait until the end to see the cute marmot!

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