It’s a balmy Sunday afternoon in Luang Prabang and before me lies a streetscape my fingers are positively itching to sketch.
On the left, a perfect row of French colonial houses, each with their painted shutters and doors, each with their awnings and balconies forming neat parallel lines.
And on the right side of the street, luscious bunches of bright fuchsia bougainvillea spilling across the brick sidewalk, beneath a yellow flowering tree I have yet to find the name for.
It is the exact incarnation of every vision I’d held of Luang Prabang before arriving in this sleepy, UNESCO-preserved town in northern Laos, and to finally stand before it – with pen, paints and sketchbook at the ready – fills me with satisfaction.
The only problem is this: there is nowhere to sketch from.
All the cafés in sight are on the wrong side of the street, tucked away in the very houses I’m wanting to sketch, while the more make-shift local restaurants on the other side of the street are hidden away behind flora and foliage.
But then I come across an old wooden table – a desk, really, with peeling white paint – and a dubiously functional plastic chair, not only set on the side of the street I need, but in a spot affording the precise angle and view I hope to capture. I look around; both table and chair are unoccupied. Not for long.
Out come my paints and my pens, out comes my sketchbook; within minutes, armed with an iced coffee from a local shop, I am at home at this desk, and the desk feels like home. Recently, I’ve been looking into artist-in-residency programs, to give my sketching some kind of official stamp of approval – the very same way I’d looked into writer’s retreats before making my own in Goa.
But on a Sunday afternoon in Luang Prabang, while sketching at a sidewalk desk, I realize there’s only one stamp of approval we need to do what we love.
Our own.
PS: You may have seen on the blog’s Facebook page that my home away from home in Luang Prabang was the beautiful La Residence Phou Vao, kindly made possible in partnership with Orient Express. I’m excited to share more about my time there in the near future, but for now, check them out if you’re headed to Laos soon!
Your sketches never disappoint:)
Thank you, dear father of mine! That means a lot coming from you 🙂 13 days! 13 days!
Ooh, I think this sketch has just become my new favourite – I absolutely love it!
Ahh, I’m so happy to hear that, Hannah! I have to admit – I kind of felt the same way as I was sketching it…everything just seemed to flow with this one 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend, my love!
This makes me miss Laos, and Luang Prabang. I was there last year and loved that quaint little town.
Wish I could draw like you, I absolutely adore your sketches. You’ve got a pretty awesome talent 😀
Thanks so much, Rachel! I really appreciate that. And I’m so glad to hear this took you back to your time in Luang Prabang – it was definitely one of the highlights of my trip! There was just something about its sleepy atmosphere and having nothing to do but soak up the scenery and streetscapes that won me over. Thanks again, and have a great weekend 🙂
Really beautiful sketch.
You just get better and better – as evidenced by your recent ‘temples and tiered roofs’ post in which you displayed three sketches together which were made several months apart.
So much more evocative of ‘place’ than a photograph.
I look forward to a book of your sketches someday!
(BTW, I think that the yellow flowering tree may have been a cassia fistula, which are quite abundant in SE Asia.)
Hello Mark! Thanks so much for your kind words, and especially for identifying the nameless yellow tree for me 🙂 I searched cassia fistula on Google and that was exactly the one. And I really love what you said about how sketches are different from photographs – I’ve been thinking about that a lot recently myself. Hope to see you here again!
I really like this one! It gives me a sense of calm and peacefulness, the kind where I’ll be content if I can just sit on the side of the street and people watch.
Thank you, Pauline! I’m so glad to hear you liked this one – and what you said is exactly what Luang Prabang seems to be made for…it’s enough to just be there, soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the quiet beauty of it all. I hope you can get there soon!
Did we just miss each other in town?! You’ve described the incomparable beauty of this place so well. If I had a permanent home, I would buy up all these sketches and put them on my walls 🙂
I think we must have, Naomi!! The same thing happened with me and my friend Hannah from FurtherBound.com – she got to Cambodia just weeks after I’d been there 🙂 But isn’t Luang Prabang just perfect? I absolutely fell in love with it and would love to go back and spend more time there. Will you be going anywhere else in Laos?
PS – I so know what you mean about the permanent home…I keep buying little travel trinkets thinking they’ll be fun to display in my house one day, I’m just not sure when that day is going to come!
I love architecture. I have done one sketch of the building next door, and i will share them with you as i gather more that i like. I’ve discovered that regency and georgian are my favourite styles. what is colonial, exactly?
Great questions as always, my friend 🙂 I suppose by colonial I was thinking of the French colonial style they built while in control of the region…not sure if it has a more specific name such as regency or georgian? And yes, even though I’m trying to sketch people more and more these days, I think architecture will always be one of my favorite things to draw. Please share some of your sketches soon, I can’t wait to see them!