en enfance
Cela faisait bien longtemps que je n'étais pas retourné dans la maison des parents. Elle était toujours là au mieux de sa verdure. Après une journée à piocher le sol desséché et casser des cailloux, je me suis offert un dimanche matin paisible et l'ombre d'un noisetier pour croquer les l'entrée du jardin, au feutre pigments et aquarelle ocre.
Mes parents ont souvent des choses étranges à montrer, et parfois de celles qui ont le caractère touchant, un peu magique des objets désuets. Celui-ci est un vrai trésor. Vraiment dans notre monde électro et technophile on n'a pas fait mieux. Figurez-vous, cet appareil archaïque pèle les pommes, ôte le coeur et les coupe en rondelles, en rien de plus que quelques tours de manivelle.
(Et il a posé pour pour ma deuxième petite aquarelle du jour.)
Villa Chapelet
A rare sketch I did during the rare holiday I took earlier this month in Provence. The place was a treasure, we did a lot of hiking.
Blue sky
Watercolor speedpaint
I did that one between two mouthfuls of corn flakes. I have this big table that occupies nearly the entire room, that endures the function of drawing area, paper storage, dining table, computer desk, candle holder and much more ( not to mention its glorious past has multi-users office table, and as .. hmm no, let's shut that part).
Well despite it was speed-painting I arrived very late at work. I like the painting. Was caught: a bottle of painting medium, a Delirium Tremens beer, sketchbooks, a candle, an Ikea cutlery bucket converted to a pencils pot, a small canvas for my dad with lineart longing for some paint for ten years, the awesome and inspiring 2008 Aubade photo calendar, my psychotic interpretation of the black baroque wallpaper, and that's it!
There is also this quick watercolor sketch, done on the terrace of
a bar in Arcachon, on the basin shore. Weather was dull and girlfriend pushed to hurry, so it ended up lightspeed watercolor ( ten minutes is cruel timing for the slow me) but I also like how the foam ended up looking tasty.
quelques dessins du Canada
Ici c'est à l'aéroport, un croquis d'une salle d'attente en contre-bas. C'était étrange, il n'y avait absolument que des femmes sur ces bancs (je n'ai même pas eu le temps de les dessiner toutes)
J'ai essayé de dessiner dans l'avion bien que l'on fut un peu trop serrés. Elodie s'était endormie, une modèle bien sage que voici, mais ce bandeau lui faisait vraiment une drôle de tête, toute allongée vers le haut. Mon dessin était assez ressemblant je me souviens; mais dans la vraie vie, ma cousine est beaucoup plus jolie que là!
Trees. Lots of. We've been traveling north in a rental car, doing some camping, hiking, canoe and other sightseeing. The weather wasn't too nice to us, and we felt like we spent most time in logistics hence the lack of drawings. But we were lucky enough to meet with a bunch of wild animals and take a whole lot of pictures.
Here are some people doodled. Even a doodle of a doodling man. Another kind of forest, the crowd when you sit down. Not some good sketches here, which outlines the fact that practicing should be a everyday habit.
Below is a little watercolor that I painted for my friends Pat & Anna. It represents a view from their balcony, from the house where they kindly hosted us in Montréal. 
I made it the day of their wedding, and sent the postcard the next day so that they receive it in their mailbox after we went back to France. This way, they would get both the surprise and the stamp with wedding date ( almost) and their home address as a souvenir.Postal art is always at risks, but it arrived perfectly safe!
Moleskine pages
Quelques croquis tirés de mon carnet, un Moleskine assez petit pour tenir dans une poche de veste, compagnon de mes gribouillis éclectiques et de ces autres moments où il faut regarder le temps passer.
Cette maison à Astaffort, petit village typique de mon sud-ouest natal, tiens en ses murs les souvenirs les plus insouciants des étés de mon enfance _ceux de deux générations précédentes aussi. Parfums de soleil et de bois, de la campagne profonde et paisible, la compagnie des moutons, des chiens, des poules, et l'inénarrable rire de mes taties.
Festival de philosophie, au Cloître de l'église Collégiale, St Emilion, un lieu inspiratoire, une après-midi ensoleillée à l'odeur de pierres, anciennes, les voix de Barbara Cassin et Heinz Wismann.
Une insomnie en milieu de nuit, et pas d'autre refuge qu'une cuisine encombrée pour attendre qu'elle passe sans réveiller sa belle; retrouver dans le geste traçant lentement des lignes sur le calepin la paix nécessaire pour un supplément de repos.
There's no actual point about drawing churches and cathedrals in terms of creativity. That was a big task and I deepened into it because all in all, it made much more sense than just sticking inside my head and observe the failure of my feelings and my behaviors.
Detailing the whole sight was basically intended as a humble gift to someone deserving much more but also a self-inflicted punishment in practice. Though I was happy of it eventually (except the large dark slate roof that ended up messy due to watercolor on bad paper) and feel ready for another intricate image of spiritual and severity symbolism whenever it is needed to bring that troubled man into line.
The drawing is a view of the gothic cathedral Notre-Dame de Rouen ( link ), seen from a fifth floor apartment, almost facing the south portal. The paper is like A2 format and it took about 12 hours of standing on a small balcony. Luckily, I had a very compassionate weather on my side. Clicking on the image pops up the full picture in original cropping.
Sorry for being both confused and mystic again. ;)
But i heard the flutter
J'ai enfin posté ce tableau dont je parle depuis longtemps sans oser le montrer. Vous pouvez regarder à quoi cela ressemble ici: Pas d'Ange .Ce n'est pas bien joyeux, vous êtes prévenus!
Pour me faire pardonner, ou parceque vous avez été sages, ou bien pour la mixité, ou parceque, si on se plaît à rêver assez fort ils existeront peut-être, voici, une ange.
Cyclopean friends
We spent our time lazying with Isa & Estelle in a beautiful winter day, involving picnic with oysters on the desert Bassin d'Arcachon, shooting silly photos under the sunset on the ocean's shore, finding a restaurant in the freezing cold evening after being stopped at the door of ten of crowded them, sketching guests on tables, then a last drink at La Comtesse, a well known bar with baroque decoration.
There I pictured the two girls in cyclopes, which is weird I must agree.
It was rather dark so I used only a black marker, I'm a bit uneasy with this technique that doesn't allow any correction, but is highly formative eventually.
Below is a sand sketch of the girls playing frisbee. Indeed we are 5 year old ;)
Two drawings
These are two small drawings that I made as gifts for my cousin and my sister.
The stress of last-minute missing gifts helped a lot there, since I managed to draw both in a row during the same afternoon before christmas. From scratch ( idea, sketches, drawing and framing ) it took me 3 hours for both. Wow, I had never been that fast!
With help from some blurry and noisy photographs I attempted to have the drawing actually look like them. My cousin is a singer, she likes old fashioned flower patterns and deep carmine colors. My sister is a dancer so I made her moving in a swirl.
There is watercolor, ultra thin Copic waterproof ink pencils ( black and sepia ), Some Tombow and Copic markers over watercolor paper ( first one ) and layout paper ( second). Both are 10x15 cm in size ( 4x6 '' )
Sketches from Paris
Last weekend I went to Paris, officially to visit my dear cousin, but also as a shy attempt to leave the company just for one full working day _ I hadn't done that in months _
The relative franticness of the journey still managed to leave me with several occasions to doodle.
The first one was done in the train, and made the trip pass faster. The shape of the, sort of, tablecloth, is supposed to make a pair of butterfly wings for the girl. The perspective is odd, and the image happens to look better upside down, but this is the orientation I drew it, and it has to remain this way to get the butterfly effect correct.
The drawing below is a view of my cousin's apartment. The viewpoint is from my standing position. I did a quick graphite sketch for the structural lines, shaded it with 4 shades of grey markers ( Copics ), then traced the outlines over with a black ballpoint pen. At that step I messed up with the direction of the floor's lines, and attempted to correct that but there's nothing much that could be done unfortunately.
I took my _ way too small _ cousin's bike for a ride to explore the riverside a bit. It was a rather chilly end of the afternoon, and humid because of the recent rain, and windy, and the place where I sat was isolated and strange looking. Thus I hurried the drawing more than I wanted. Despite the wonky bridge I like how it turned out for some reason; it looks better than in real. This is a place in north Paris, after the tip of the Ile-saint-Denis.
Below is a series of sketches I did in the train while going back to Bordeaux. In the beginning, I was stuck between the window and a rather antipathetic salesman reading space-invading sports newspapers _ not the kind of situation that triggers creativity_
It took a little while before the event of a young lady walking in the central alley caught my bored attention. I'll spare you the details of her description, but I can say it, she was very beautiful a lady. You could tell there was wind blowing in her blonde hair as she walked in slow motion, just like in shampoo ads. After passing by and passing again she decided to sit on the very seat in front of me in diagonal ( which was unfortunately sketch-proof). Then we got controlled and oh! From the controller's perspective she was kinda cheating, although she kept claiming it wasn't her fault. Well, without judging anyone, evil me used the occasion to draw something interesting at last, and the controller really looked like, and acted like Mr Bennett. You know, Claire's stepfather in Heroes. The lady seemed angry, and I truly pitied, such a beauty mustn't get used to men being rude at her very often. :P _eviiiil_ The unbending agent stood there long enough while writing his bill, to allow a rather faithful portrait.
Napping travelers have this advantage of standing still for long enough to get properly portrayed. Moreover I love the feeling that emanates from their sleep, a blend of beauty and innocence is simply adorable to capture.
The following sleeping girl was wearing a romantic black dress and had a labret piercing.
There was this other girl gently asleep with her head leaning against the window, two or three seats away. I sketched her in a quite disinterested manner. But when the wagon got sparse after a stop at the last station, she happened to move on the seats on my left side, right across the alley. I thought I was becoming flagrant but still, she offered her sleepiness to my crayons' pleasure until our destination was reach. That moment was really cute.
Window view
This is the view from my window on the west side of the apartment. It offers a nice view point over the Place de la Halle des Chartrons, a quiet square in Bordeaux that feels the lazy atmosphere of a southern french village in old summertime days.
I painted it using watercolors on a postcard-sized paper; put a stamp on the back and it makes a nice gift to send to someone dear. Although I'm not quite sure how much postal services can be trusted for that task.
Below is the view from my front door, when I get home late. The church Saint Louis des Chartrons has a relaxing, protective effect on me, when I walk along its porch or rest under its gaze.
Through summer with grayscale sketches
It's not exactly the case, to say the truth. However, those drawn tidbits are the witness of moments when the pace slows down until it nearly stops, suspended to the sliding of a pencil's tip, or to the fragile silence of a posing model. I never cease to value the income of slowness.
The only moments when I manage to be doing nothing is when I'm drawing one of those sketches from life. And I could be doing nothing for hours if I was authorized so.
Technically speaking, I'm starting to feel more comfortable with markers. I appreciate the easy setup, that allow to start a sketch while standing in the tramway's crowd between two stations. However I'm still not sure of what felt-tip brand / paper type to use so I tend to try out many at random. Layout paper doesn't come in small convenient sketchbooks from what I've seen so far.
The pictures below show some of those drawings. You can click on thumbnails to get a popped up view.
Cathedrale
Un dessin de la cathedrale Saint André, place Pey Berland à Bordeaux.
Quelques heures d'après-midi lascives, un verre de vin blanc à la terrasse d'un café, feutres gris, et mine graphite pour les petits détails.
Dessiner une église... c'est long, et tellement relaxant.
Murmure
C'est un dessin gribouillé au style bille sur mon petit carnet noir dans le tram.
il est écrit (un rien surréaliste)
Lorsque je t'ai rencontrée
Tu parlais alors en silence
Je tenais un murmure sur le bout de mes doigts;
Je n'avais d'yeux pour personne
et fredonnais depuis longtemps
le rythme des saisons.
A little old maybe, dreamer for sure
Once home I sat and drew this man.
I know he looks bizarre; his face features are disproportional, and his look asymmetric. One eye looks up, the other looks on the left. Is that the expression of this persistent dichotomy of mine ?
I didn't think much about what I was doing actually, and maybe that's the reason why he looks so me-like _ or at least the state of mind I was in.
The pencils I used didn't give me much chance to correct the mistakes.
Anyway.
Julie came home in the middle of it, offered me a rum and stayed a little while by my side. She was quite in advance of the drinks to say the truth; and I wasn't talking much.
It's silly how much I missed painting.
Rouge
visage porcelaine, sourire facétieux, et la plume des feutres promène sa caresse sur l'épiderme de papier.
Coffee on Caturday
Un croquis rapide, d'après une photo reçue sur mon téléphone le matin et qui me fit fondre de béatitude, au feutre Tombow (pointe pinceau), 5 tons de gris et un rouge.