Review: Chateau d’Orquevaux, A Travelogue

Disclosure: I’ve been accepted into one of the Spring 2025 art residency cohorts at the Chateau d’Orquevaux.

I’m deep into planning what I want to make and write there. That entails my usual obsessive research.

I came across this enchanting little self-published book by well-known illustration artist Christina Wald.

Christina Wald's sketchbook travelogue of her July 2023 residency at Orquevaux. A slim book with a blue cover and oval vignette showing the Chateau's pink and white facade looming over its grassy front lawn, with the forest, clouds, and blue sky beyond. In the foreground is a red armchair seen from the back, and a hint of a person's head jutting above the tall back. Christine sketching, presumably. I've presented it here on red variegated cotton cloth, with a red/blue/gold needlepoint bookmark I made long ago, and a string of arty European Hobe turquoise color glass beads.

Château d’Orquevaux, A Travelogue distills Wald’s July 2023 month-long trip to the same residency.

In it, the reader finds delicate ink and lush gouache sketches of Orquevaux, nearby towns, and day-trip adventures. Sketches of fellow artists, Chateau folk, tourists and denizens of the larger cities Wald visited.

A sober assessment of car rental in France, the mysteries of diesel engines, and how unforgiving France is about traffic violations (note to self, do not rent a car, but if you do, do it through CostCo.)

Wald’s wonder, joy, and wry humor are a rich part of this book, which was one of *her* residency pieces.

As a prospective resident, I’ve gained insight, encouragement, and a little insider knowledge.

Some future residency artists will want their experience to be a blank slate. Others, like me, will WANT this book.

Anyone interested in art, sketching, building their dreams, and European travel will find this little book a worthwhile purchase.

Here’s a link to Wald’s site and *signed* copies!