Thursday, January 25, 2007

Life drawing


It's taken a while to find a location for life drawing. There are some famous drawing groups in Paris but they tend to be very full of people so it's not so interesting. Recently I was invited to join a small group of artists at an atelier. There are four of us once a week and the space is good and big. Nice energy there and big windows with good light. The model is excellent.
Here are some drawings from the last session. Each took about 20 minutes.




This is the atelier. Nice big windows. Nice light.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Environmental concerns? Find out more.

http://www.climatecrisis.net/

This video is vital information on the future of the planet.

Christmas 2006


Christmas 2006 was a very good Christmas.
We spent it with Amelies parents in the south of France. It was good for many reasons but mostly because nither of us worked during the time and I could communicate well in French with family and friends who didn't speak English. On previous visits I needed to have an interpretator or to stumble through conversation. Finally I feel like I am in France.

The weather was uncommonly mild. The mistral didn't blow in from the Mediterranean and there was no snow. I could walk in teeshirt and jeans without worrying about the cold. I'm very warm blooded most of the time so that's not so unusual. However I saw some flys and
other surprising out of season elements.

It was very beautiful. We went hill walking and visited some of the mountain fortresses from Pre Roman times.

There was the usual amazing feasts which only the french can do. Eating for six hours straight and looking like you've just finished a salad is no longer a surprise to me. I can't do it though.

They tell me that they only eat soup for weeks after these events to get back into shape. Wine and dark chocolate are part of this diet. It's remarkable to me. Irish people don't think about food the way the french do at all.

There was lots of inspiration there. Beautiful light and amazing architecture. The landscape is wonderful. Many paintings and drawings will come from this.