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
Those are recent sketches from my Moleskine notebook, which is small enough to fit in a pocket, my little companion of eclectic doodles and those moments when you have to watch the time pass.
A house in Astaffort, small typical village in south west France, a place I much endear, holding memories of my most innocent childhood _ and my mother's and grandmother's as well. Smells of sun and wood and of deep countryside, the company of sheep and dogs, and the warm laughter of my aunties.
In the cloister of Collégiale church, in St Emilion, where was held a talk by philosophers Barbara Cassin and Heinz Wismann in a sunny afternoon, as part of a festival of philosophy.
Middle night insomnia, no place else but the busy kitchen not to wake up the lady, and in the traced lines, retrieve the peace needed for a proper sleep.
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
Finally, after showing I was such a hopeless procrastinator, I managed to post the painting that I finished a few months ago. This is gloomy, you are warned ! You can go check: Pas d'Ange
As an apologies, and since you've been patients, or for equity of genders, or maybe because, if we please to close our eyes long enough, they could come if we want to, i offer you an angel.
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 '' )
