Sudeley Castle was decked out in summer roses during my last trip to the Cotswolds. It’s is one of my favorite places to visit during my Cotswolds workshop. It has it all: centuries of history, a dramatic royal back story, well-tended gardens, a museum, and a gorgeous Victorian Gothic chapel where an English queen is […]
Leslie Fehling
Ruthie’s Garden
I spent a few days last week at my friend Ruthie’s house in the Pisgah Mountains near Brevard, NC, and had a chance to sketch part of her beautiful and expansive garden. Our pal Judy had flown in from Florida to join us, and we enjoyed four days of girlfriend time – laughing, talking, eating, […]
Lower Slaughter & Snowshill Manor
With its flower-draped cottages, stone footbridges, and picturesque water mill, the tiny village of Lower Slaughter is a must-see on any tour of the Cotswolds. (In Old English, Slaughter meant “muddy place”.) We visited on a beautiful day but could only stay for an hour or so. Nonetheless, I managed to dash off a quick […]
England Sketchbook: Fish & Chips
Here is another sketchbook page from our day in the village of Broadway in the Cotswolds. After a chilly morning spent sketching quirky Broadway tower and the panoramic views from its hilltop location, we headed down the hill to the village for a few hours of free time. (See my previous post about Broadway tower […]
England Sketchbook: A Visit to Broadway
When I taught a workshop in the Cotswolds in the summer of 2024, I never thought it would take me till now to finish my travel journal from that two-week long trip. But you know how it goes…life got busy and there were more workshops to prepare for and new sketchbooks to fill. So it’s […]
Sketch the Cotswolds in 2027!
Join Leslie Fehling for a week-long small-group painting tour in the Cotswolds, May 14-22, 2027.
Giverny Concertina Sketchbook
It’s always good to mix things up and try something new, so, in the middle of finishing up the travel journal from my recent trip to France, I decided to take a detour and play around with a concertina sketchbook I’ve had in my stash for awhile. While working on the travel journal, I’d been […]
Sketching in Giverny – The Old Mill at Vernon
During my workshop in Giverny, France, a few months ago, we visited Monet’s garden one morning, and then, after lunch, took a side trip to the nearby village of Vernon, famous for a beautiful old mill that sits on the River Seine. (I shared the journaling from that day in an earlier post.) The Old […]
Sketching in Giverny – Monet’s Famous Lily Pond
Years ago, long before I dared to dream of the life I’m now living, I looked at pictures of Claude Monet’s garden in Giverny with a sense of wonder and admiration. The iconic view of the lily pond with its arched Japanese bridge was so perfect it almost seemed unreal. But one day last September, […]
Sketching in Giverny – Monet’s Garden!
This flowery two-page spread chronicles the day our group of sketchers visited Monet’s garden in Giverny. I had so much I wanted to write that day that I had to glue an extra page (the one on the left) into my sketchbook to make room for more journaling. That’s always one of the trickiest parts […]
