Saturday 25 February 2012

Sketch in the city

Place St Pierre, AvignonSquare Agricol Perdiguier, AvignonLast Saturday a small but keen group of amateur sketchers met in Avignon for a new session of what I'd like to call "sketch in the city", a local initiative inspired by Sketch Crawl. We decided we'd meet once a month. Our locations this time included the Agricol Perdiguier gardens in the morning and place St Pierre in the afternoon - where we came across the bunch of church chairs being discarded which I talked about in this post. I picked one and what do you think I did with it? I used it as a comfy seat for the rest of the afternoon. However I didn't want to take it home (I knew I'd never have the energy to treat it for woodworms and it really needed it) so when I was done with it I decided to leave it in town in a place useful to others. In the end I chose to leave it in a corner of Place Pie where homeless people often hang out. I was pleased to see that soon enough the chair was used by a couple of them. Unfortunately two days later the chair was no longer there. I wonder if it was removed by city council cleaners or taken home by someone ? I guess I'll never know.
Samedi dernier un petit groupe de dessinateurs amateurs s'est réuni pour ce que j'aimerais bien nommer "sketch in the city" une initiative locale inspirée du Sketch crawl. Nous avons décidé de nous retrouver une fois par mois pour croquer ensemble sur le vif des scènes de rue à Avignon. Cette fois-ci nous avons travaillé dans le square Agricol Perdiguier le matin et sur la place St Pierre l'après-midi... et c'est là que nous sommes tombés sur le lot de chaises d'église partant au feu dont j'ai parlé ici. J'en ai récupéré une et qu'en ai-je fait ? Je m'en suis servie tout l'après-midi pour dessiner confortablement. Mais je ne voulais pas la rapporter chez moi (je savais que je n'aurais jamais le courage de la traiter contre les vers), j'ai donc décidé de la laisser en ville à un endroit utile. Finalement je l'ai posée sur la place Pie au coin du conservatoire où je vois souvent des SDF et en effet j'ai eu le plaisir de voir très peu de temps après l'un d'entre eux s'y reposer. Malheureusement deux jours plus tard la chaise avait disparu. Enlevée par les services de nettoyage municipal ou récupérée par quelqu'un ? Je ne saurai sans doute jamais...
The four works above as well as the top one with the dog are by fellow sketcher Fabienne. Isn't she wonderfully talented?

Les quatre oeuvres ci-dessus ainsi que celle du haut sont de Fabienne - quel talent, hein ?

Avis
: le prochain "sketch in the city" sera le samedi 17 mars. Contactez-moi si vous souhaitez vous joindre à nous.

25 comments:

Stefan Jansson said...

Always fun to see artists at work.

La Mode Operandi said...

What a lovely gathering! My sketching is very rusty but i would definitely love to get into something like that again! What beautiful creations!

Bob Crowe said...

You are mufti-talented. I have never been able to draw. The images I make require no more hand dexterity than a small motion of the right index finger. In any event, the first picture is wonderful but the dog with a tennis ball make it exceptional.

Jack said...

As always, your photos capture nicely and crisply the essence of what is happening here. I see a familiar face among the artists . . .

Fardoise said...

Joli, effectivement j'étais partie et je regrette bien, vivement le prochain...

Michel Benoit said...

J'ai souvent entendu dire qu'il fallait croquer la vie. Voilà donc un bel exemple !

Richard Schatz said...

Great shot of the Jack Russell waiting with his ball. That's what they live for.

Anonymous said...

I found the whole idea of a sketch party fascinating. I was also interested in your choice of "sketching" tools. It looks like some are a kind of brush with water in the barrel and bristles on the end. All you needed was a pan of watercolors. Not sure if that is what it was or not.

I like to sketch but seldom do it for some reason. I suppose that is where the camera took over and if that is true then that is also sad.

jeandler said...

Et personne n'a croqué cette chaise et son occupante occupée à croquer ?

Owen said...

Hope your chair found a good home, or at least helped keep someone warm for a while if it was broken up for kindling wood...

The dog with a ball reminded me of some other dog photos, very original, just seen here :

http://www.littlefriendsphoto.com/index2.php#/gallery1/1/

Best wishes from the far north...

Gerald (SK14) said...

the dog appears not to be an art lover and wants to play - maybe the chair just distintegrated due to too much wood worm.

AL said...

Once again I am in awe of your talents Nathalie. I would love to be able to sketch...even badly would suit me just fine! Using one of those chairs was a great idea and hopefully someone else has been able to get some use out of it.

Kate said...

The sketches are lovely, and it is a lovely idea to enjoy community while being creative. The dog is respectful but hopeful, too. Engaging little canine!

arabesque said...

such a nice sketch and a tres mignon chien. ^0^
we also have a get together urban sketch here, would love to join but haven't got the time.

Thérèse said...

Quelqu'un a t'il finit par croquer le chien ou la pomme?? :-)

Nathalie said...

Al - all 4 bottom sketches as well as the top one with the dog are by fellow sketcher Fabienne. Isn't she wonderfully talented?

PeterParis said...

Some good sketchers around... and I know that you are one of them! Wonderful idea and I would like to join, but have to work on my talent first ... for a while!

FotoMarg said...

The dog looks really cute-in the drawing as well as in the photo. Sketch in the City seems such a good idea.

Jilly said...

This is such a great idea - we all need to be creative and goodness, there is some talent here - doubtless you too. Love the photos.

Grenoble in Photos said...

J'adore celle du haut avec le chien

Gunn said...

Great artistic talents, and I love your images filled with atmosphere and joy!

Harriet said...

I am also curious about the pencil/brush with the water reservoir...could you tell us more about it?

Harriet said...

PS - Do you know the recommended weight of the paper for the watercolor painting using this particular tool?

Nathalie said...

Harriet - the paint brush with the water reservoir seems to be a great tool to have when doing watercolours on the go. Two members of our group had one of those and it seems brilliant but I've never used one.

I've looked it up and its seems quite cheap (4.90 euro on this website http://pinceaudor.com/1188-pinceau-avec-reservoir-eau-aquarelle.html) - I might try and get one so I can experiment with it.

Nathalie said...

I have no info regarding the paper weight needed to use this particular tool. I assume it would be no different to any other watercolour project however you might get away with a thinner paper since you can only use this brush for smaller surfaces, not for large skies where you really water your paper down.

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