Laurelines

One for the road

I'd completed a month's worth of animal sketches early,  so I didn't really have to do any more for August. But my Pearl Cat took such a nice long nap today (though she flipped from side to side in that cattish way), that I couldn't resist. So here's one last animal sketch for the road.

September's theme will be 'Out and About in Town ' and I'm hoping to limit myself to 10-15 minute sketches. Hoping, you understand. This is to loosen me up for October in Paris. Themes for the rest of the year: October in Paris, Machine/Machin (machines and odd thingamajigs) for November, and maybe an All-Themes Month in December, in which I do 2 or 3 drawings from each of the eleven topics I've worked on all year. What do you think of that? By the way, I can barely believe there are only four more months left in 2006. 

Travel Sketchbook World, Part 1

As requested, my published travel sketchbook list, sorted roughly by style, and in three parts:

• Sara Midda’s South of France, a Sketchbook, Sara Midda, Workman, 1990. The success of this small, charming book has virtually created a whole new genre in American publishing. The visual record of a year in southern France, packed with tiny watercolor and pencil and pen images, and scores of interesting facts.
• Very Charleston and Very California, Diana Hollingsworth Gessler, Algonquin/Workman, 2003 and 2001. Two Sara Midda spin-offs, more commercial and less inspired than her book, but worth looking at and, for the collector like me, worth owning.
• Across the Aegean; an Artist’s Journey from Athens to Istanbul, Marlene McLoughlin, Chronicle Books, 1996. Delicate watercolors similar in scale (and somewhat in style) to Sara Midda’s book. Though nice, the work lacks Midda’s graphic punch and wit. Text is minimal, more descriptive than informational.
• Road to Rome; an Artist’s Year in Italy, Marlene McLoughlin, Chronicle Books, 1995. See comments above.
• A Year in New York and California, a Sketchbook, Elisha Cooper, Chronicle, 1995 and 2000. More Sara Midda spinoffs. The drawings are weak and perfunctory. Not recommended.
• A Year in Japan, Kate T. Williamson, Princeton Architectural Press, 2006. Not strictly speaking a sketchbook, but a compendium of Japanese images, design elements and vignettes. A second-generation Sara Midda descendent with fewer stylistic borrowings from the original. Interesting and attractive book.
• A Watercolor Journal of Florence, Douglas Lew, Mandragora, 2002. Lew’s warm and rich palette, broad and juicy brushstrokes, and strong compositional sense make this a beautiful book. Sargent’s watercolor work is a clear influence.
• Richard Bell’s Britain, Richard Bell, William Collins, 1981. The encyclopedic record in words and images of Bell’s yearlong exploration of the British countryside. A magnificent book. Bell also publishes small, paperback nature journals such as: This Distant Northern Sea: A Day’s Drawing in Scarborough, www.willowisland.co.uk, 2004.
• David Gentleman’s India, David Gentleman, Hodder and Stoughton, 1994. One of a series of Gentleman’s watercolor travel journals. A wonderfully kaleidoscopic treatment, full of gorgeous sketches and interesting accompanying text. Others in the series: DG’s Britain (1982), DG’s London ( 1985), DG’s Coastline (1988), and DG’s Paris (1991).

Travel Sketchbook World, Part 2

•   Paris Sketchbook, Fabrice Moireau, illus, Mary A. Kelley, text. St. Martin's Press, 2001. Gorgeous pencil work with luminous watercolor washes. Superb book. My favorite illustrator.

  Other titles in this excellent series:
• Loire Valley Sketchbook, Fabrice Moireau, illus,  Jean-Paul Pigeat, text. St. Martin’s Press, 2003.
• New York Sketchbook, Fabrice Moireau, illus, Jerome Charyn, text. St. Martin’s Press,  2005.
• Venice Sketchbook, Fabrice Moireau, illus, Tudy Sammartini, text. St. Martin's Press 2004.
• Bali Sketchbook, Graham Byfield, illus, Diana Darling, text, Editions Didier Millet, 1998. Byfield is a celebrated English illustrator.  He’s published other sketchbooks, including one on Paris and one on London.--- the Bali one is the only one I own.  Highly recommended.
• My Italian Sketchbook, Florine Asch, Flammarion,  no copyright date given.
• My Egyptian Sketchbook, Florine Asch, Flammarion, 2003. Perky, staccato penwork and soft watercolor washes. Asch is one of my favorite illustrators. I’d buy any travel sketchbook she published.
• My Paris Sketchbook, Alain Bouldouyre, illus, Christophe Auduraud, text, Flammarion, 2003.  Another in the Flammarion sketchbook series.  Lovely pencil and watercolor work.
• My Venetian Sketchbook, Isabelle de Borchgrave, Flammarion, 2004. Stunning gouache sketches, occasional collage elements, interesting text.
• My Chinese Sketchbook,  Fu Ji Tsang, Flammarion, 2005. Vivid watercolor sketches with spectacular, loose, wet-on-wet brushwork. Ample text elucidates the cultural, geographical, historical framework underpinning the Chinese landscape.
• Paris Sketchbook, Ronald Searle and Kaye Webb,  Perpetua Books,  1957. A classic in the travel/Paris sketchbook genre. Soulful, vibrant pen and ink and pencil sketches by the famous English illustrator Ronald Searle.
• Simenon’s Paris,  Frederick Franck drawings, Georges Simenon, text, Dial Press, 1970. More pen and ink sketches of Paris, done in Franck’s signature feathery, broken line. Fun to compare these sketches with Searle’s, done ten years earlier.
• Seeing Venice: an Eye in Love, Frederick Franck, Codhill Press, 2002. Pen and wash drawings accompany, in the author's words,  'an inner travelogue.'
• African Sketchbook, Frederick Franck, with preface by Graham Greene, Peter Davies, 1962.

Travel Sketchbook World, Last Part

• Carnets de Paris, 6e et 14e arrondissements, Cyril Joscet & Laure Chrech'riou, Equinoxe, 2003.
• Carnets de Paris, 7e et 15e arrondissements, Rene Oghia, Equnioxe, 2005. These are two of a series of small books with illustrations of varying quality, part of a series that covers all of France. I have also one for Burgundy and one for Provence. French text.
• Voyages en Littoral, i'Ile de Porquerolles, etc, Denis Clavreul et Francine Boillot-Grenon, Equinoxe, 2003. One of a series of sketchbooks celebrating the natural beauty of various regions in France. Clavreul is a gifted artist with a fluid style.
• La Luberon and La Corse, Denis Clavreul, Gallimard, 1997 and 1995. More Clavreul, different series. French text.
• Carnets Parisiens, Yers Keller, ASA Editions, after 2001. Text in French and English. Lively pencil and watercolor sketches of mixed quality.
• Martha's Vineyard and Other Places, David Hockney, Thames and Hudson, 1985. A facsimile edition of one of Hockney's 1982 sketchbooks. I bought this in London in 1986 and have treasured it ever since.
• Delacroix et La Normandie, Musee Nationale Eugene Delacroix, 1993. Catalog from the Delacroix museum in Paris, featuring sketches and also more completed works, from Delacroix's visits to Normandy between 1813 and 1850. His watercolor and gouache seaside sketches are particularly stunning.
• Baghdad Journal: an Artist in Occupied Iraq, Steve Mumford, D & Q, 2004? One of the most beautiful books I own. Powerful, painterly ink and watercolor sketches tell the story of the conflict in Iraq in a way that words cannot.

Travel sketchbooks, mine and theirs

I'm crazy about published travel sketchbooks. I have more in my personal library than the law allows ---and one day I'll share the titles with you, if you like. I've made travel sketchbooks myself for a long time. In the beginning, the books were more journal than sketchbook, with many fewer drawings than words. Now the reverse is true. Here's a sampling:

I've created a new gallery of my recent travel sketches. There it is--- at the top of the left column on this page.

With my stay in Paris fast approaching, I'm mulling over what art supplies to take. I plan to do quick sketches, but I also want to work on a series of larger, more complete mixed media pieces. So I'll take more art stuff than I usually do---but what? Lots to ponder, n'est-ce pas?

If you, too, are a travel sketch fan, you MUST go look at Katherine Tyrrell's new blog. She is so organized, energetic and knowledgeable that it'll make your head whirl. I nominate her as President of the World.  Do I hear any seconds?

And then there are the delightful travel sketches made over the years by Carol at Paris Breakfasts. Charming beyond words.

September 30 is my Paris departure date. I have a month to work out what I'll be doing. I'll keep you posted. And I might be asking for your advice, so don't go away!

Three pigs in August

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Before yesterday, I had never examined a pig closely. Extraordinary-looking creatures, pigs. Self-contained, too. Apart from a few minor skirmishes at the food trough, these three didn't commune much with each other--- and not at all with me.  They did lie down near each other for a nap, though, as you can see. Buttocks to buttocks. Cozy.

Once again, many thanks to Chapel Hill Creamery for giving me another fabulous morning to visit, to look and to draw

Drawing Miss Daisy

  I had SO hoped to have a more detailed drawing of Daisy to add to this post. Daisy is half German shepherd, half basset hound, the most improbable-looking person I've seen in a long time. You can see her here and there in these sketches, but not in her full, low-slung, big-headed glory. Her buddy is Lily and she's also in these sketches. Lily and Daisy live with Moreton, whose garden and dining room you have seen, perhaps, before.

With these 3 sketches I have finished my 31 drawings for August, with one to spare. Technically, then, Animals Month is complete. However, there are some pigs at Chapel Hill Creamery that I want to draw this week. Promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. Unfinished business.

(Later: inspired by Lori's comment, I changed the title of this post!)

Mike and Cathy have a farm...

  and on that farm there are some chickens. Among those chickens is a rooster named Sylvester (seen to the right of the two colored roosters in the first spread and again in the upper left corner of the final page.) Poor Sylvester once had a comb but now he doesn't. Some of the other chickens saw to that. I meant to ask Mike if Sylvester's comb would grow back, but I forgot. Cathy, Mike, or anyone smart in the ways of poultry, could you let me know? I worry about things.

Most of the eggs we eat come from Mike and Cathy's chickens at Perrywinkle Farm. Those are tasty eggs. Mike and Cathy are wonderful people, too. They, like all of the people whose farms I've visited lately, sell their goods at our local farmers' market.

Swans' way

There's a swan couple in a pond near our neighborhood and I paid them a visit this morning. A fence separates their area from that of onlookers. When they saw me settling in, they waddled out of the water and found a place to sun themselves near where I was. For twenty minutes or so, we three sat peacefully. They groomed themselves and gazed about. I gazed at them and drew. Then the female stood up, stretched a bit, and ambled back to the water. The male followed. And that's the way it was.

(I apologize for the execrable state of these images. I spent a long time trying to make them better. I'm getting an Apple computer and a good scanner soon, so I hope things will improve.)

Dairy goats and a hen

As I sat on my portable drawing stool sketching drowsy kids this morning, a little hen rootled nosily around me. She wanted to know what I was doing and she wanted to know what I was doing it with. Peeking into my bag, peeking into my lap, she then settled herself about 10 inches from me, flopped down on the grass, shimmied her plump feathery self into a comfortable position, closed her eyes. And fell asleep.

This llama was llovely and she knew it. ( You do know that leg hanging there doesn't belong to her?)

The two little ones on the left lay next to each other and did not move the whole time I was there.

Many thanks to Celebrity Dairy for letting me come and draw once again.