Field Note №005 — Sète, France — 2026 Cat Azul sat with his back to the whole thing.
The one that almost got away
A page from the Sketchbook · Watercolour · 26 × 18 cm · 2026
I’d come for the lighthouse and almost missed it. What actually stopped me was the weeds — a scruffy, sunlit tangle of them doing all the living, while the famous tower stood politely in the back, half-asleep in the haze.
It felt like the kind of thing Aunt Go would notice and the guidebooks wouldn’t. So I sat down in the grass and let the lighthouse be the small thing for once.
“A small reversal: the monument waiting at the back, the weeds running the show up front. Can I belong somewhere without being the tallest thing in it?”
— more Aunt Go’s question than mine, but I borrowed it for the walk home.
Two decisions, before any colour
the messy thinking, left in on purpose
From the Paintbox
— tucked in for those who like to lean in. Skip it if you'd rather just look.
The sky — rose madder warmed toward the horizon with new gamboge; a glow, not a colour.
The backlit tower — ultramarine violet kept very watery, a breath of shell pink. Misty on purpose; it's the quiet one.
Foreground weeds — viridian knocked back with shell pink into a natural grey-green, then aureolin dotted on for the little yellow flowers.
Palm fronds & olive shadows — viridian + burnt sienna, a touch of that same violet so foliage and lighthouse belong to each other.
