“I had been to Poland before, but I had only visited the big cities. Poland is such a large country, that I was keen to explore the rest of it. Over the years I've heard a lot of stories from friends about the nice mountains and the beautiful countryside and I was glad to finally experience this for myself. The silence at night was extraordinary. Just darkness and stars, absolutely beautiful. It was for sure a much better view of the star-studded sky than I get at home.

Exploring the caves around Wierzchowska was without a doubt the experience that made the most impression on me during my trip. It was a real pleasure to look around inside this planet of ours. Being inside a cave is like an exercise for your eyes. Being in the dark makes your eyes work really hard to distinguish all the different layers and color tones from each other. There was an amazing amount of different shapes to see, ranging from soft and curvy to hard and sometimes even almost geometrical shapes. My print has been strongly inspired by my experiences inside the caves, and it has been my attempt to capture the shapes of the rocks and rock formations with my brush.”

Travel diary

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Im in the countryside of Poland, escaping the city and the usual. Today I’ve seen caves, mountains, lakes and valleys, but no clouds. It’s been great already for the first day of The Jaunt #36. Will keep you posted! ~ Vincent de Boer

Tuesday, August 01, 2017

Yesterday was a travel day, it took me 3 busses, 1 tram and two trains to make it down south. Watching the landscape of Poland was a joy, besides: I had a perfect chance for some drawings and listening to some music.

I’ve visited a cave as well, this was the best I can do with the camera of my phone. What a beauty though! Amazing structures and perspectives. Because of the spotlights in the cave there were beautiful high contrast views. Also a contrast: being ‘inside’ planet earth, but feeling like being on the moon :)

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Poland has been good to me the past days! I’ve enjoyed the nature of Wisla on a mountainbike yesterday. Went uphill. Which was quite challenging due to the 34 degrees. Went for a swim, of course, cause to me there’s no trip without taking a dive. To get to Wisla I had to make a long travel, several trains and busses. That was joyful as well, I love train rides. No screen can compete the trainwindow. At some point during the travel the train didn’t go any further, so I had to take a bus instead, and a 1,5 hrs walk. During the train ride I had the chance of reading in my book: the letters of Vincent van Gogh. Speaking of traveling artists… Its highly inspiring to read his letters to his brother, that are about his challenges as an artist, his constant struggle with getting by and his issues with other people and enjoying silence. Tomorrow I might have some time left to visit the famous salt mines nearby. During my trip I had some peaceful drawing sessions, it made me very focussed on some new ways of drawing and I also made some new alphabets. It was mainly after sundown that I took the brush, which is funny, usually in my atelier I prefer drawing in the mornings. Going to draw some more stuff now on my balcony. Bye!

Friday, August 4, 2017

Yesterday my travel in Poland ended! I was very lucky with the weather and with the fact that I was able to rent a mountainbike a few times, a great way to discover the landscape. Way better then a car if you ask me! Wanted to share this cave image with you, the lextures, the layers and the perspective is great to see. Going to try to capture that with a brush and some ink. Notice the entrance of the cave also: who would expect that inside you can walk an hour without seing anything twice! Thanks The Jaunt, for this great experience.