Lapin Agile

 On Tuesday nights I am always ready to sketch Lefty Lucy but this week there was some kind of power failure and she couldn't pose for us. Now what??? I was ready to sketch and had no model, so I decided to take a virtual visit to the Montmatre area of Paris. I used Googlemaps to find the area and saw that there was a cabaret in that area. It took a while to get a front view of Lapin Agile which is a landmark venue in a 19th-century stone house and features chanteuses singing classic French songs. Too bad Jerry and I didn't know about it when we were in Paris...he would have loved it.

Blowing in the Wind - Part 1

On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers had the theme of "Blowing in the Wind" and captured windmills all over the world. It was very hard to narrow down the selection of windmills that called to me...so I did more than one. 

The first windmill is from the Moulin Rouge in Paris. I did see this one in person when I was in Paris. It is in the Monmatre section. My friend, Lois and I took a small tour of the area when we were there.

The second windmill has a stone base and is located in Cesis, Latvia.

Continued tomorrow...

Parisian Window

This art postcard was done based on a sketch I had done in Paris last year. 

Workshop with Pat Southern-Pearce

Believe it or not, I think I am down to a final post from my trips to Amsterdam and Paris. I am skipping back to Amsterdam for this double-page spread. The first workshop I took in Amsterdam was with Pat Southern-Pearce. She does these wonderful spreads that usually incorporate sketching, lettering, and writing. They are a very unique style and I am not sure how I can incorporate her teachings into my own work, but I am going to attempt it from time to time. One of the important things about Pat's work is that she uses toned paper. For our workshop Stillman & Birn supplied their new 3 toned sketchbooks for us to use...grey, tan and black papers were included in one sketchbook. It was fun to follow along with Pat. She usually begins with a skyline sketch of the area and then includes small sketches (very often in boxes) to show other details of the area. She has a wonderful font of her own that she uses when doing any kind of lettering or writing. I finally finished the spread that I started in her workshop. Yay!!

Around Paris 2

Since I only had a short time in Paris to sketch I planned to make the most of it. The same day that I sketched from the cafe and did the fountain I kept going. Most of the Paris sketchers took a break for lunch at a restaurant but I kept going. I sketched this everyday market on the street.

 

Next I wandered back over toward the Seine and came across this interesting building that I just had to sketch.

And I just had to sketch outside Shakespeare & Company.

This is my farewell to Paris...one last photo.

Around Paris

My hotel in Paris was near Notre-Dame and I passed it quite often. One morning I got up and went out to get a croissant and coffee for breakfast. I went down along the Seine to sit and eat. I was facing the back of Notre-Dame where a lot of the scaffolding could be seen. I did a sketch of the view.

My friend, Lois, had met a few of the USK Paris sketchers at the Symposium and they let us know about their gathering on Sunday. We met up with the sketchers at a cafe and sketched from there until most of the group arrived. We talked, shared information and had coffee. I did this sketch of the view from my cafe table. There was a cute stuffed bear sitting there so I included him too.

The group moved to the Luxembourg Gardens next. There was a beautiful fountain with far too many horses to sketch....but I did them anyway.

Here are a few more photos taken around Paris.

Paris Art

Although I wasn't in Paris for too many days I had some museums that I wanted to visit. I set aside  a day to visit museums stopping at the Musee d'Orsay first. I love the Degas statue of the little dancer and sketched that in pencil.

My favorite area was the Impressionists. It was still early and I was able to capture one lone visitor with some of the artwork.

The clock on the interior of the d'Orsay is one of my favorite parts of the structure of the museum. They renovated it since I was there and the clock isn't quite as prominent in the cafe.

There was a wonderful special exhibit of the work of Berthe Morisot. She is a founding figure of the Impressionist group and was considered to be one of the most technically daring artist in the movement. Probably due to the fact that she was a woman her work was shown much less frequently than than her fellow artists of the time and she was not nearly as famous as the others. Much of the work on display was figures in landscapes or settings and was beautiful. 

Next I headed to the Orangerie which displays Monet's waterlilies as he wanted them shown...in the round. It is a very moving experience to see them. I can't figure out how to show a video so I can't show them to you. 

I made a visit to the Sennelier store...I just had to and bought a few pens and some paper.

On my way to the Orangerie I passed the Louve. I sketched it but didn't go in.  I used one one of the new pens I bought at the Sennelier store.

Next Stop Paris

My time in Amsterdam did come to an end and I headed to Paris on the high-speed Thalys train. It only took 3 1/2 hrs and then probably that long to find my way to the correct metro stop for my hotel. lol Of course I couldn't resist sketching on the train on the way there. This mother and daughter were sitting across the aisle from me.

My hotel was on the Ile de la Cite, a small island in the Seine. To get to it I had to walk past Notre Dame which has fencing around it. I did take a photo of it from the front. They seem to be doing a lot of work and making progress. From the front, aside from the spire being missing it doesn't look bad. But then again I couldn't see behind the fence and the bottom of the cathedral. There is a lot of scaffolding inside and toward the back. 

I made plans to meet on of the NYC Urban Sketchers who was also in Paris at the time. She suggested meeting at Shakespeare and Company, a famous bookstore there. I went a little early and sketched the top of the restaurant next to it.

There was an artist there painting and selling her work. I did a very small, quick sketch of her and a customer.

After dinner, Lois and I walked around the Ile de la Cite a bit. There were lots of people picnicking along the Seine.

The sun was starting to set over Paris. 

Being that we were both sketchers we did sit down and do an evening sketch.

My first day in Paris was great!

Porto Day 7

Although the USk Porto Symposium itself was over there were a lot of sketchers who stayed on in Porto. On Sunday morning Julie and I decided we wanted to sketch some of the narrow streets near R de Belmont and R de S Joao. We set ourselves up and let Sandrine from Paris know where we were. She was checking out of her hotel and leaving that afternoon, but she wanted to sketch with us one more time. Her chair was already packed so she stood and painted resting her materials on her luggage. As you can see there wasn't a lot of room to work and still let people pass by.

Here is the painting I did in that location.

And a closer view.

We went out for a relaxing lunch before Sandrine left for the airport. Hopefully we will see her next year at the Amsterdam Symposium.

Julie and I sketched again and heard from Marcy and Shawne. The plan was to meet them at the Monastery da Serra do Pilar which was on the other side of the Luis I bridge. I hadn't walked across the bridge yet so this was a treat...although it was a long walk and then the Monastery was up on a high hill. This was the view from the Monastery.

View of the upper level of the Luis I bridge from the Monastery da Serra do Pilar.

Imagine our surprise when Julie and I got to the top to find our NYC Urban Sketching friend, Mel up there sketching the view. He had the same idea as the rest of us to watch/sketch the sunset from up there.

Mel Barranco working on his sunset painting.

Julie Kessler sketching the view.

Shawne Cooper capturing the scene.

My sketch with the view.

Sunset over Porto.

My double page spread of the sunset over Porto.

By the time we walked down from the monastery we had no luck making dinner reservations on this side of the river, so we crossed back over the bridge and found Canfinho da Se' a wonderful restaurant near the bridge. We hung out there talking for a long time. We said goodbye to Mel who was heading to Madrid to visit his parents and celebrate his mom's birthday. Julie was leaving for NYC in the morning,  and Shawne & Marcy were heading to Lisbon the next day, so it was a night for goodbyes until we see each other in NY.

Judy Morris Workshop - Day 2

Here is the beginning of the first painting I am working on in class. The reference was a photo I took in Chinatown a few years ago. I did the street sign above the lanterns, but I wanted to add the word "Chinatown" across the bottom. I went on the computer to look at fonts and Chinese words. The problem was that I couldn't enlarge the pattern for the words without a copier that enlarges...which we didn't have in the class. I ended up freehand drawing the words on tissue paper and using a light box to copy it onto my paper. Then I painted it with white latex paint that Judy had which is colored the exact color of Arches paper. When you paint over it some of the color remains on the latex outline and you get a subtle lighter color where the letters are.

Our lesson for the day was on texture and pattern which Judy calls "eye entertainment." The texture and pattern draw you in and make you take a closer look. She uses stencils and patterns to trace and paint through. She brought along several for us to share.

We discussed color chords. Two of the more popular ones are the desert triad which consists of indian red, cerulean, and yellow ochre. The other is the transparent triad which contains quinacridone gold, permanent alizarin, and french ultramarine. Both of these are nice but I wanted something a bit brighter. I used winsor red, permanent alizarin crimson, burnt sienna, and french ultramarine.

I also sketched out a second painting based on a photo I took from the apartment we rented in Paris. I wanted to use words as texture, but I wanted them to have meaning to the painting. So I headed to the computer to print out a few phrases. Here is the sketch of this second painting. I believe it says "a beautiful morning in Paris, hello.

Judy also did a demonstration on applying gold leaf to paintings. This is her latest addition to her watercolors and it has a wonderful effect.

It was a very busy day. Class was from 9 am to 4 pm. Then we went for a swim in the indoor pool, showered, went to dinner, then a presentation, and back to the studio until 10pm.