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EDM art 8: Handles.

I first considered sketching my seductive love handles in a mirror and I even started, but in fear of having my grotesque image become viral on internet, I thought the better of it. So I stuck to an ordinary door handle. On the stable door. Our 2 year old filly loves this handle and discovered that it is a great scratching tool for her nozzle and head and everything which can reach so far. She also discovered that she can open it. She fits her nose right under the latch and with a quick swift she lifts and pushes at the same time, making the door swing backwards. And then of course she just casually steps out as if this is normal everyday routine and hits the road. Fortunately the door has swollen now from all the rain and gets stuck at the bottom. She couldn’t yet figure that one out. To her utter dismay, I might add.

..Dumêla and the stable door handle..

watercolour and nib pen and J. Herbin inks in Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook, 22.9×15.2 cm

Dumela and the stable door handle

à demain avec “something with an interesting label”.

Ronelle

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EDM-art 4: Spice bottles.

I struggled with this theme today. Not because I don’t like spices, au contraire, it is a delicious theme and I love it. But the ideas didn’t show up today.I couldn’t fix my pen on a cool composition and the brush didn’t work for me either. My wrist  was stiff and unforgiving in sketching these bottles. Instead of having a free hand and sketching with some wonk, which is my usual style, my sketches become overworked and controlled. Not me. Not me at all. In this process of struggle today, I paged back through the last few sketches and artwork I did…and there I saw it; Stiffness and control. Slowly but surely during the last few sketches I moved towards controlling the pen and colour, while they should actually have more of a will of their own. That is how I raised my daughters and that is how I like my art.

Sketch 1: a himalayan salt and black pepper mill, totally overworked and in good ole French…“n’importe quoi!”

watercolour and pen in Daler Rowney sketchbook,21X29.7 cm

epices 2

Sketch 2:  without interest, overworked, not funk or peps, actually a bit boring.

watercolour and pilot prera pen in Stillman & birn sketchbook, 22.9X15.2 cm

epices 3

Sketch 3: this ws my last sketch and almost there, but not quite yet. I think I got tired at this stage, but there is a bit more interest in the dynamics, a bit more wonk and interpretation.But still sloppy. (a loose, free style doesn’t mean sloppy.)

epices 4Sketch 4: This was the second last one and I was a bit angry here, trying and trying and not getting what I want (almost went into tantrum mode…). This sketch is downright sloppy.

watercolour and pilot prera pen in Stillman & Birn sketchbook,14X21.6 cm

epices 1See you tomorrow with sketch(es) on the theme…something hot!

Ronelle

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EDM art 3: – Curtains.

Urgh, curtains. Those lovely, but awful things we hang in our homes to dress our windows. Beautiful to look at, awful to maintain. They gather dust, their hooks and ties break, they get stuck after after many openings and closings, they fade like I do with age, they have to be taken down to be cleaned, they knock over every thing in a home like mine where a closed window doesn’t exist…need I go on? But nonetheless, me too, I have some curtains. While we live in the barn , restoring our home here at Coin Perdu, I have curtains serving as little closets under the wash basin, hiding those pipes and other uglies.  Old kitchen towels bought at the brocantes serve as little curtains everywhere. They can be washed and rehung in a jiff, they are pretty, cost next to nothing and serve as playground for the cats. They suit me just fine, these miniature versions of a curtain. I’ll probably just move them over to the house later….along with the make-do bathroom sink which is concocted from an old wooden ladder lying around when we moved in. Our lives get simpler and simpler.

..curtain..

watercolor and dip pen with nib in Daler Rowney sketchbook, 21X29.7 cm

curtain-001

until tomorrow

Ronelle

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Every day in May – (1)a favorite food and (2)a tree.

“A favorite food,” says the list of the art group EDM for this month of May.. Only one favorite food? That is a huge punishment! I can draw a favorite food for a whole month and even beyond. How then to choose between all my wonderful favorite fruits, the colourful vegetables, the meat…(yes, you Greenies, I love my meat!) And then there are fish and shellfish and how about a slice of cake? Or a cookie. And dessert. I never skip dessert. I won’t even mention chocolate and that first cup of coffee in the morning. Only one favorite food?

However, I can sometimes play by the rules and this time seems appropriate enough to do so. So one favorite food it is. I confess my weakness for macarons. Those beautiful, sensual, romantic and utterly delicious delicacies our patisserie in Beaulieu so shamelessly flaunts in the display window.  By just looking in my eyes, they know I am there for a box of macarons. Yellows and purples and pinks and reds which vary between red fruits and blueberry and strawberry and lemon and vanilla, chocolate, coffee, caramel and my big favorite, that green one, the pistache. I love them all. I leave the patisserie on an euphoric cloud and with my precious macarons gently tucked next to each other in a quaint box and artfully tied with a pink ribbon.  All that is left now, is to nail this sketch, so I can retire with my box of macarons to my favorite chair in my favorite corner…..sigh. I rest my case.

..macarons..

watercolor and dip pen with Sennelier indigo ink in S&B alpha sketchbook, 22.9×15.2cm

macarons0003

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I can totally understand why there are nutcases walking around hugging each tree they come across. sometimes I am one of them. Cause a tree is not just a tree. It is a friend, it stirs our emotion, it  is a refuge, that safe place under/or in its branches where we hide from all that scorches us..the sun, the world. The olive tree is all of that for me. I do hug my olive trees and talk to them, touch them, stroke them, care for them, love them. They make me think of sunshine and heat. They makes me hear the cigales. They bring me the scent of lavender and wild herbs in the fields and I see colourful vegetables drizzled with the golden oil from its olives, glistening with crystals of fleur de sel. That is my olive tree.

..olive tree..

watercolor and Prera pilot fountain pen in S&B epsilon sketchbook, 14×21.6 cm

olivier0001

à demain

Ronelle

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Sketching at the Dordogne.

Today was a burst of sunshine and blue skies. I decided on a much needed break and took off with my sketch tools to la Dordogne in Beaulieu sur Dordogne. It was beautiful by die river, under the trees, with only a jogger here and there. Sat on the edge, I sketched the opposite side with its quint homes on the river. Hunger drove me to Café Douceur for lunch, before I could get in another sketch. The empty table next to me became a second sketch.

..la Dordogne..

watercolor and TWSBI-mini pen in Daler & Rowney sketchbook, 14,9X21,0 cm

la dordogneI tried a new pen today after reading about on a blog and I am highly disappointed. The TWSB-mini struggles to write over dried aquarelle and it scratches. When it does draw, it is thick and unforgiving, even though it is a fine point. Back to my preferred pilot prera.

..table and chair at Café Douceur..

watercolor wash and TWSBI-mini pen in Daler & Rowney sketchbook, 14,9X21,0 cm

table et chaise

à l bientôt

Ronelle

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Sketching a streetscene in Beaulieu sur dordogne.

I sat on the terrace of Café Douceur this afternoon and while sipping my coffee, I sketched the street. My pen ran dry on my halfway through the sketch, which resulted in some thin, scratchy lines. I hope the colourful splashes watercolor make up for it..

..street in Beulieu sur dordogne – close up 1..

Pen and watercolor in Stillman & Birn, alpha series sketchbook, 22.9X15.2 cm

street beaulieu &

..street in Beulieu sur dordogne – close up 2..

street beaulieu 2

..street in Beaulieu sur dordogne..

Streetscene from Cafe douceur

And lastly some people sketching..done on Fabriano artistico watercolor block, 27X18cm

two men

à la prochaine.

Ronelle