Leslie Landers

Though it’s all sunshine in the photo above, it was a misty morning at Santa Cruz Harbor. The sun didn’t make an appearance until I was nearly wrapped up and it was COLD. My solutions were lots of hot coffee and simplifying the scene to a single orange sailboat. I used this as an exercise to closely observe the colors from life as subtlety can be lost photographs. I’m looking forward to another Santa Cruz Harbor paint day soon.

This is the last post for now from our time in Switzerland. We ended our trip in Geneva. I painted this on the bank of Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) early in the morning as the light was reaching the Swiss Wheel and the Savoie paddleboat ferry.

When I think of the Alps in Switzerland, I hear cowbells. We enjoyed hiking in several places on our trip, this cow and the scene below is from the top of Wispile … a short gondola trip from Gstaad.

There would be no Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) without the Rhone River. The charming town of Aigle is located on the Rhone close to the lake in the Rhone Valley.

The turrets of Aigle Castle are what stands out architecturally … but … the magic is really in the location. Aigle Castle is surrounded by stunning vineyards. A friend who is originally from Switzerland raves about the wines from this area. Fondant is the local white. Dole is the red.

Some of these vineyards remain connected to the castle. Most, are owned by small local wine producers. Entrances to individual vineyards exhibit unique personalities.  Some entrances can accommodate vehicles while others lead to footpaths. Each differs from the next.

One of the gates provided me with great shade stone steps to sit on. I took advantage of both for the painting I did at the top of this post.

Such a wonderful memory I have of the day. Views, grapes, old stone walls and charming vineyard signs at every turn. And then there was lunch overlooking vineyards and the castle on a stone terrace underneath a grape arbor. It was almost too perfect. Almost.

We were completely charmed by the town of Vevey which is situated on Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). The watercolor above is of the vielle ville (old town) section along Rue du Lac. It’s lovely that the old town section is so close to the lake and I didn’t miss the cardio workout of steep streets that you have in Montreaux and Geneva. The town benefits from being low key while having two ferry docks to venture beyond to other Lac Leman towns.

While we were in Montreaux we caught a took a cog train up the gorgeous alpine area known as Rochers de Naye. The scenic area is located between two peaks at 6500′ elevation. The 360-degree views are stunning and there are wildflowers everywhere.

We spent a wonderful day hiking, lunching of cheese fondue and exploring the most charming alpine flower garden. This second painting was done quickly. It was just starting to sprinkle and our train was about to arrive to take us back to town. You can make out the train track and covered bridge it the photo.