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Sketching Tokala, the cat.

It’s been a while since I’ve done sketches of my cats. high time to do it again.

Tokala was chosen as the model, because she has a lot of finicky tricks when grooming herself. A good thing she isn’t a human, she would be unbearable! I caught some quick movements which are actually more gestures than anything else and one or two poses that she was willing to keep for longer. Good exercise to focus and concentrate. the colour was added later after all the sketches were done.

..Tokala the cat..

All sketches in watercolor and Prera pilot pen in Stillman & Birn sketchbook, alpha series.

Cats 1 Cats 2 Cats 4 Cats3

à bientôt

Ronelle

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Autumn acorns and walnuts…in aquarelle

Autumn is the time I take long walks in the forest/woods and gather mushrooms, and chestnuts, walnut, leaves and everything else that take my fancy. Back in the atelier it gets spread out on every available surface, pinned up on a board, hung on a chandelier, stuck in a vase….and painted or sketched or drawn. However much I love being outside, being in front of the drawing table in the atelier, gives me just as much pleasure.

..walnuts in aquarelle..

watercolour in Daler & Rowney artiusts sketchbook, 21×29,7cm

walnuts & acorns 1

.walnuts in aquarelle..

watercolour in Daler & Rowney artiusts sketchbook, 21×29,7cm

walnuts & acorns 3 ..working in the “barn atelier” in autumn and winter”..

acorns and walnuts 4552x3244

à bientôt!

Ronelle

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This and that in Bretenoux

I try to sketch every time I sit down for a coffee somewhere in a village. Not all my sketches are worth showing. Sometimes my people look like godzillas and my buildings look like mudhuts and sometimes I just sit and mess around with colour, because I simply love color. But, in the end they all serve one purpose. To sharpen the saw.

The sketch below is from different buildings; the top one just being a little pigeonnier that serves as the entrance to a park and the other a door of the church further away.

bretenoux this and that-001

One of the things I adore about our old Europe, is the church bells. Even here at Coin Perdu I can hear the church bells ring. Sitting in the old town centres sipping a modern Perrier, while hearing the church belles right next to me, sometimes feel completely surreal. Below is the old church in the center of Brive la Gaillarde, la collégiale St MArtin, dating from the XII th century.

bretenoux this and that 3372x5341

Some  of this and that in the street of Brive la Gaillade.

bretenoux this and that 5122x3436

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chestnuts

Two years ago I sketches some chestnuts in the forest.  Yesterday I did a new sketch. The chestnuts are only starting to open in the forest now, but we have to be fast, before the squirrels and other chestnut lovers get hold of them.

chestnuts 1

watecolor and pen on Arches watercolor paper,  23×30.5cm

chestnuts 2 6784x5044

chestnuts 2(done 2 years ago)

chataigne

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August sketching 14: a red roof in Beaulieu

My august sketching have slipped a little from under me and I lost a few days. The constant rain we’ve been having added to the difficulty of getting out. today’s sketch is just a large simple house  with a impressive red tiled roof…I love these red roofs..

..a red roof in Beaulieu..

watercolor and Prera pilot fountain pen in S&B sketchbook

a red roof in Beaulieu

à demain

Ronelle

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August sketching 7: Just half of a porcherie(pighouse) and three cows.

The rain came down by the buckets today. Beautiful of course, the rain, but not when you are on a roll and want to be in plein air, sketching or painting. I drank a cafe at out local café, waited for the rain to stop. Went home, waited for the skies to clear; Had another coffee. Starred out my back door, my only door…and looked into the  old worn porcherie, or old pighouse if you will. It will be fixed up one day, but for the moment its dilapidated charm will be immortalized on paper. Not the best sketch ever, but the goal wasn’t a great sketch today, it was all about the paper..so there we have it. Just half of a  porcherie. And three cows.

..Stillman and Birn Alpha series, vellum surface, 22.9×15.2cm..

porcherie stillman & B- Alpha 5225x3533

..Close-up of the watercolor on the paper..

porcherie stillman & B- Alpha1 2679x2143

I went for the Alpha Stillman & birn sketchbook today, a real charmer! Much happier than yesterday with the Epsilon. It has a Vellum texture which is satiny an beautiful to work with in watercolors…like the HP of Arches and Fabriano. I like the color and yes…beautiful granulation…see the blue sky in the close-up above. (Even though it was a grey rainy day, I wanted to see what the paper does with cerulean blue which is known for having lovely granulation..on the right paper). The book opens nice and flat and I am surprised at how much water it can actually take, because I worked with even more water today than usual, really giving this little book a challenge. The buckling is present, but as already said, buckling in a sketchbook doesn’t bother me. All in all, a nice book for watercolor sketches and saying that only after one try, says a lot for me. I am an Arches and Fabriano HP fan and it takes a lot to convince me of something else better…or as good! Snob!!

Porcherie aquarelle in Stillman 4559x3161..à demain..

Ronelle