After two fun-filled days in Paris, it was time to pack my bags and go to work, teaching a week-long workshop with French Escapade in Giverny. I had been looking forward to this trip for a long time and was so excited to finally see Monet’s garden and walk in the footsteps of Van Gogh.
To read earlier posts about this 2025 France travel journal, check out these links:
The title page for this chapter of my journal has a pretty frame with a floral theme, inspired by the flowers that were everywhere in Giverny.
Facing the title page is a map of the places we visited during the workshop.
The map was drawn after I returned home. I think it’s easier to do something like this at the end of a trip, so you can look back and see what the highlights were, the things that were memorable and important to include.
Would you like a peek into my process for putting together an illustrated map?
I begin by doing some geographic research, calling up Google Maps to see where all the towns I want to show are in relation to each other. Then I go through my photos to find images I can use to represent each place.
Step 1 - Rough drawing
To start the drawing process for this map of the area around Giverny, I laid a piece of tracing paper over my sketchbook page and did my layout directly on the tracing paper, roughly placing the towns in positions relative to each other. (There is definitely a lot of artistic license involved in the map geography here!)
Why use tracing paper?
- I can easily draw, erase, and resize/redraw the sketches and lettering without damaging the watercolor paper in my sketchbook.
- Having the drawings on tracing paper makes it easy to shift their positions slightly or move things around when I transfer them to the sketchbook page.
- I can trace images from photos if I want to.
Step 2 - Transfer drawings to the sketchbook
After the rough layout was done, I flipped the tracing paper over and went over all of the lines with a pencil using firm pressure. HB lead or softer works best for the pencil lines.
After the reverse-side tracing was completed, the paper was turned right side up again and taped in position on the sketchbook page.
To transfer the lines to the page, I rubbed over the line drawings using my fingernail and firm pressure. This transferred the graphite lines on the back side of the tracing paper onto the page.
The rough layout was then visible on the journal page, ready to be inked and painted.
Step 3 - Ink the sketches
The sketches were inked with a permanent black pen, but I ended up erasing all the transferred lettering. I decided it would be better paint the sketches first then adjust the position of the lettering. Having the titles on tracing paper meant I could shift the word positions a little bit, if needed, without having the rewrite everything.
Step 4 - Paint the map
After painting each of the small sketches, I added a yellow-green background wash in the empty spaces. The wash helped to tie everything together.
Step 5 - Lettering & border
After everything had dried thoroughly, I transferred the title lettering and used a calligraphy pen loaded with watercolor to write the place names.
Finally, I inked the border and added roses to the corners as a reminder of the rose gardens at Giverny.
The sketches feature some of the top locations that we visited, like the old mill (Vieux-Moulin) and fortress (Château des Tourelles) at Vernon…
…and Monet’s Garden. It was tough figuring out how to represent the immense gardens and lovely pink house on the map. There was so much to see – how could I portray it in postage stamp size? In the end, I decided to draw part of the house (love that pink!), a suggestion of flowers, and a framed view of the iconic lily pond and Japanese bridge, the same view I sketched the day I was there.
The party drinks (on the right) were included as a reminder of a magical afternoon spent painting with my students in the garden of Hotel Baudy, a favorite hang-out of Monet and his buddies. Our reward for painting all afternoon was a fun happy hour, sitting in the sunshine and chatting about the week and how good life can be.
One of the most memorable experiences of the trip was our visit to Auvers-sur-Oise and Vincent van Gogh’s grave.
And, of course, I included a sketch of the wonderful place where we stayed.
We loved the luxury bus that we rode around in all week, so it, too, earned a place on the map…
Holiday preparations are in full swing here, so I haven’t had much time in the studio lately to work on my France journal, but I’ll be back to post more Giverny sketches as soon as things quiet down.
