Laurelines

Rainy January day, Paris

I was in Paris for really only two days, since the first day was given over to airport delays. On a short break from attending to my daughter, I looked and looked for a place to stand and sketch. On the steps of the deliciously frou Palais Garnier, I found it. Until the cold started traveling from the stone floor to my feet and up my legs, like blood poisoning to the heart. Until it started to rain. But, still . Then I looked for a warm, dry place. I found one nearby: Chez Clément on Boulevard des Capucines. The food was mediocre but the décor was a little bit charming. You can see that I'm continuing in my resolve to use brush pens and oil pencils for sketching, instead of my oft used Faber Castell Ecco Pigment pens, with their tendency to produce staccato, meagerish lines. It will take a while for me to get re-used to these tools, but I'm enjoying the process!

Painting koi and a short Paris interlude

Here's a quick glimpse of some of what's going on in the studio before I leave for a very short trip to Paris tomorrow. (I hope you can tell that the leftmost painting is in the very early tadpole stage!) My daughter is interested in a master's degree program at the American University in Paris, so she and I are going to check it out. I'll be back late Sunday. I'll have Parisian sketches and reflections about the koi series to share with you when I return. A bientot!
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Baby and his bear, loosely drawn

From the majestic and mystical Northern lights to the light of our hearts,  Jonas, aged 15 months, napping on our bed.

As I've resolved to do, I'm finding my way back to more fluid and quicker lines. Here, I've used a Kuretake Fudegokochi pen, caran d'ache crayons, and a dash or two of gray Pitt artist pen. Fun!

Icy Northern Lights!

In my pajamas, at 6am, outside in the two 17F mornings of this week, I've been brushing water on paper and then flinging paint at it! This ice painting technique is one I learned from Jeanette of Illustrated Life, a fellow Watermarks blog member. I wrote more about what I did on the Watermarks blog and included more examples than the ones I'm showing you here, so go check it out if you have a mo.

Northern lights are the perfect subject for painting with ice, don't you agree?

Some are less icy than others: You get all sorts of accidents with this method of painting, some happy, but, oh, it's so much fun! Thank you, Jeanette, for giving me an excuse to summon up images and memories from my fantastic Norwegian voyage!

Margaret Rabb, 2/24/1953 - 1/3/2010

Peg o' my heart, I love you.

 

 Stone to Stone

No bright star, and I not steadfast, lone,

    Not leaning at the last, not in the least.

I watched the moon's white bullet as it shone

    A rain of glitter flakes on grass, increased

The flat reflective face of glass in panes

    Until no eye could see behind its silver

Rule. So sorrow, no news tonight, wanes

    And waxes. Skies cloud over, cover, shiver.

Yet steadfast to this turn, I will still breathe-

    As if ground's milky quartz rose overhead

And I could stretch my step from stone to stone.

As if that opened space showed Pleiades,

    The sisters far away, dim lights, the dead,

 Each breath a sun, a galaxy, then none.

Margaret Rabb