“I chose Newfoundland because I've always been drawn to the sea and I was looking forward to that misty, island light. I love the sounds and colors associated with fisherman villages - the old houses, textures of wood and rusted metal. On my trip I was lucky to have conversations with people everywhere I went. I sat for lunch at the old Mallard Cottage next to a 73 year old man named Jesse Julius Junior and listened to his life story. I followed old wooden signs to the edge of a cliff where a woman named Angie keeps a trinket shop open year round - seemingly to lure strangers in for a hearty conversation. I felt a part of the family that runs the Round Da Bay Inn on the way north to Bonavista. Everyone on the island was amazingly friendly. I filled a whole book with stories collected from strangers-turned-friends at each pit stop.

I created something that I like to call a memory-map, highlighting one of my favorite days on the island. It shows my travel north towards Bonavista - the top of one of the eastern peninsulas. My first stop was by an old church on the cliffs - I walked down to the water, sat on rocks and played with pieces of an iceberg that had washed ashore. I continued north to the town of Bonavista where I sat in a cafe called Neil's Yard for hours listening to the local ladies gossip, watching couples come and go. The windows were fogged. It was raining. From there I went to the lighthouse at the very tip of town. There three huge rocks in the sea that you can see at the top-center of the print. Looped around town to a place on a hill called the Bonavista Social Club - sat in a window seat and watched the grey waves move and the sheep seek shelter at the bottom of the hill.”

Travel diary

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

YO - IT’S ME KRISTIN TEXEIRA

heading to Newfoundland - warming up w these new oil crayons

stay. tuned. 

Friday, June 23, 2017

New Lucky Sketchbook for Newfoundland - collecting conversations, colors, flower petals, buried memories, buried treasure and so on.

Met Angie up on a cliff after following her hand-painted sign that read “crafts and souvenirs”. She pointed out some paintings her sister-in-law Zita did. Each one had a long, hand-written anecdote on the back. Angie herself had some stories to tell. I got this one to remember – 

Saturday, June 24, 2017

DAY 2

drive from ST. JOHN north towards TRINITY

pit stop in Port Rexton at a brewery in the middle of a farm town + grilled cheese truck were the “Saucy Brudder” is the popular sandwich choice

GET LOST - wrap around the bay - discover a glacier that is really just an iceberg

end at the AROUND DA BAY INN - the inn keeper’s 10 year old son had a dream the night before about paintings with abstract shapes and colors. Seems like a good sign.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

gathering color

THE INN KEEPER

is also a painter

I told him how this painting is my favorite time of day - he called it the “Blue Hour”.

There is another painting he did of the sea - said the gulls in the painting were an afterthought - came home one day and the screen door had snagged the canvas so he had to paint the birds in to cover it up. Looks like you can see the ribs of a gull – but, it was just a mistake from the wind.

EXPLORING BONAVISTA:

sitting on a rock next to an iceberg

collecting sea urchins 

sitting in a fogged up cafe for two hours while it rained listening to the old lady locals talk

etc

etc