Laurelines

Two for the weekend

I drew yesterday from a live model with a couple of other women. It's a tenuous group ... I do hope it continues. I have missed this way of receiving the presence of another human being. Here is a head drawing of Sharon, the glorious model.

There is to be another drawing session next Friday, at least, with Sharon as model. I will be grateful for that.

And here are dahlias, the last of my earlier batch. Going to the farmers' market in a few minutes and hoping against hope, for one last gasp.

I note the gestures of Sharon's hair are very like the gestures of the dahlia forms. Oh, right, I was the one who drew/painted both...that explains everything.

Happy October weekend to us all!

Last dance for dahlias

We haven't had frost yet, but the flowers around here are getting tired. Some of them refuse to show up at all. But those who do, like these sassy dahlias from the Carrboro Farmers' Market, are putting their all into one last dance.

Donna Summer, eat your heart out.

Sketches from France, more of them!

Oh, these're just my usual subjects: wild boar, elephants and giraffes, giant chandeliers, assorted two-legged creatures...some tamer than others. I would have drawn fountains, but my favorite ones in Paris were all dry, so most of the fun there was missing. (Wish the blog could show the elephant drawing truer to size, but, alas, non. Click on image to get to Flickr and larger sizes!)

Elephant, giraffe, rhino et al in the parade of animals, La Grande Galerie de L'Evolution, Museum Nationale de l'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.

Lots of you are familiar with Rick Tulka. My husband and I met him in Paris a couple of years ago and we had a fun lunch with him this time! Here and in the drawing of my daughter below, I used a big fat laundry pencil I bought in Lisbon. It gives a nice, robust line and you can't be finicky with it, which is good.

My daughter, right side of spread:

My daughter, left side of spread:

View across the Lot River, Cahors:

Couldn't resist this *ahem* reconstituted sanglier and friends in a vitrine at les jardins Marqueyssac:

I was wowed by this chandelier at Le Bourbon in Paris:

And not least, but last, our friend Drake, whose deadpan face is a perfect foil for his Rabelaisian sense of humor:

Hope you've enjoyed the sketches!

Next stop: Copenhagen in midNovember, a 20th wedding anniversary celebration. And then put-staying for a very long time.

France sketches 2011, part one!

It was quite hot and dry in the Lot River Valley (and in Paris) while we were there. My palette out in the countryside was pretty limited, but the textures there were amazing... perhaps because there were no saturated colors to eclipse them!

We had rented an old stone house and it was out in the very middle of nowhere. Just as we wanted.

Of course, the Lot River and its boats gave us color:

Here is the left side of two-page spread of the Dordogne River, seen from one of my favorite gardens in the world: Marqueyssac.

I do so hate the space limitations of blogs, but it's kind of useless to, isn't it?

Here is the old stone house I referred to. It consists of several rooms from different eras, each with its characteristic materials, style of masonry, and architecture.

More sketches to come!