Painting in northern Pakistan - First Day
If you've been following me for a while now, then you know I took a plein air painting trip to Pakistan last September. And while I was there, I filmed and vlogged some of my experiences and paintings every day.
To be honest, I'm still a bit behind on editing the videos from Pakistan, but I'm trying to work my way through them - more to come!
Today, I'd like to share with you what it was like on the first day of painting in the mountains of northern Pakistan.
I. The Drive
We left early in the morning from Islamabad and started driving towards the north with Batakundi as the destination for the day - about 7-8 hours away. The sunrise was amazing on this day.
The sights along the drive increasingly became more incredible every hour it seemed, as we headed deeper into the mountains. Passing through villages and towns along the way. So many things to see. Luckily I brought my little GoPro camera and was able to film a lot of it, right out the van window.
The weather was sunny and nice and eventually in the early afternoon, we arrived at the destination for the day, Batakundi. We unloaded our gear and hiked down the ridge to the Kunhar River to do our first painting of the trip.
And the location was awesome. I could've filled up a sketchbook just at this first spot
First painting location in Pakistan - Batakundi, along the Kunhar River
II. The Paintings
My first painting of the trip was of the Kunhar River and the surrounding rock cliffs and trees. I struggled a bit, as I was just getting warmed up and used to painting again.
I crossed the river on this wooden bridge to reach my spot. And just above me on top of the hill I was painting on was a few, little tents and houses of people who lived here. What an incredible place to live.
As I painted I had a few people pass by me and walk up the pathway. Eventually a couple cows went up as well followed by a young girl. Later on, I had an older gentleman trying to say or ask me something, but I couldn't understand him. I believe he was asking if I wanted some Chai at his home up the pathway on the hill - and I regret not taking up his offer and having some. (lesson learned)
After the first painting, I walked around a bit and filmed and photographed. And eventually I went back to the other side of the river and did a second painting. I decided to paint the tents and houses on the hill, the spot where I was just painting.
Local man with his son (and slingshot)
But before I settled here and painted, as I was walking around - one of the men who live here tried striking up a conversation with me. We couldn't understand each other as he spoke Urdu, but I learned through gesturing and hand movements that he owned around 25 sheep, which could be seen walking on the steep slopes above us. He said that he had 35 before, but that 10 had died.
I wish I could've spoken to him more with someone who could translate. It would've been a cool experience to ask him about his life and experiences living in such a place. He also had a young son as well, and I saw him a few times playing on the slopes and hiking paths with his friends.
You can see the small plot of houses and my 2nd painting below. The man seen above didn't live in this little plot actually, his house was much, much further up on a slope isolated. He walked up and down every day - and what a workout it is!
2nd painting subject (the location of my first painting on the pathway)
III. Sunset
After the 2nd painting, we hiked back up the hill (and I learned how out of shape I am, very quickly haha) to the yurts we were staying in. We still had a bit of light left, so we did one final painting of a nearby valley and glacier on the mountain.
You can see this 3rd painting and the location in the video I just recently published on my Travel Sketching channel here: Painting in the Mountains of Northern Pakistan
I hope you enjoyed the story of my first day of painting while in Pakistan. Sometimes it's hard to capture all of these little moments in the videos and tell these stories, so I wanted to share it with you here :)
