Tag Archives: France

A couple of quick sketches, and sunny days in Lyon.

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I found little time while travelling up the Rhine to actually sit and sketch, though I did manage a few times. I have shown you the windmill sketch already, just outside Amsterdam. But here I show one sketched from my cabin as we moved closer to Basel and the finish of our cruise.

Beside the Rhine.

For this sketch I used fine pen, 6B pencil, and aquarelle pencil. I sketched swiftly across the two pages, getting this down in a matter of minutes, as dinner was ready to be served. I like using a darker pencil on a smooth paper (as this was), as I love rubbing the lead with a fingertip hinting at shadow or contour. I popped in blue and green to remind me of where I could lay a watercolour wash through at a later date. I never did the wash, but quite liked the immediacy of the sketch.

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Ah, Avignon

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Avignon jug, watercolour and pencil

One action always precipitates another, and in this case offered me the subject of my next post. My husband was straightening a long bowed shelf in the pantry and began lifting down the vases and other crockery which often get thrust into those seldom-used spaces. He set down a large yellow jug on the bench, which I quickly scooped up and popped in my studio. I would sketch this jug and tell the story of it crossing the globe in my back-pack, following my first visit to Europe, oh, so long a go. Even before the days of cellphones and the internet!

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