Here are some pictures from a recent trip to New Orleans. One of the great things about the city is that it must be one of the few in the States that are easy to get around by bicycle. The famously eclectic range of influences – French, Spanish, African, Caribbean – mean that much of it is visually stunning. I found the wooden, porched “shotgun” houses – each different from its neighbouring ones – charming, and the French Quarter, with its long wrought iron balconies and hanging baskets was delightful (if you can keep out of the most densely touristed parts). There are wide, leafy boulevards, open parks with massive, bearded live-oaks and rattling streetcars besides. If there’s one compositional similarity I noticed between the paintings, it’s that they’re almost all painted under the shade of trees – a total necessity in the 35 degree sun.

The first day I painted, I by chance found myself stood outside a house bearing a plaque with the name Edgar Degas. Curious, I popped in and the woman inside explained that his mother had come from the city and that he had spent several months there, painting, in 1873. A Cotton Office in New Orleans was from this time. After showing me the room he slept in and used as a studio (big windows, north facing) I learned that she was the great-granddaughter of Degas’ younger brother. Astonishingly, her own daughter and son-in-law had worked at my primary school in Dunbar and I had known them both.

Louisiana is home to huge amounts of swamp, and whilst I didn’t get to paint any this time, I found some of the massive live oaks in the city park, generously adorned with Spanish Moss, a non-parasitic plant that lives on the trees and droops, large and beard-like, from the branches.

The last one is a quick sketch of Jackson Square, formerly Plaza de Armas, from the gateway after I’d been booted out of the actual square by one of the wardens.

There is masses to paint in New Orleans, and Louisiana besides, and I never got so much as a look in at so many of the things that interested me. Suffice to say I look forward to doing much more work there in the future.