Europe09: Paris Days 03-04 - Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower and Musee de Quai Branly

December 14, 2009 | Leave your thoughts

         
Plan for today – sketch as much as possible (whats new- that was our plan every day) and not work quite as far.

I often find drawing maps a real chore…but now I just go for it – even if that means making a big blunder like I did here with the position of the Champs-Élysées!


As the text says… I just had to draw my breakfast now that I had paint!!!

I suddenly decided that I really enjoy drawing people at the base of my buildings – not only does it solve the problem of trying to draw what you can’t actually see, but by doing quick outlines like these it records the reality of too many tourists in a more subtle way than they are in real life.

A tourist photo!


From one famous monument to another – we were totally looking into the sun here as you can tell from the woman on the right holding up a map to block the sun out of here husbands camera lens. I love the colour of the Eiffel tower – a real shock on my first trip to Paris. I think all Sydney-siders expect ever famous steel monument to be painted harbour bridge grey!


Now for sometime a bit more contemporary and different – a new museum by Jean Nouvel – we sat on the floor to sketch this and the guards didn’t seem to mind – didn’t risk using my paints though.


While Eza finished her sketch I went in search of… guess what!?! So predictable I know…. I think this page is rather cute and it always jumps out at me when I flick through my book – maybe because it is simple with lots of white space…or maybe it is because it contains teapots.

Next it was time to search for lunch and actually use a teapot.

 A rare example of collage in my book…


I really felt uneasy sketching on a bridge – fear of losing my pen or paint tin or sketchbook – even when we positioned ourselves in a safer part over grass below I still didn’t like it. So I finished my sketch as quickly as possible and started something else…


Ah – totally in my comfort zone sketching the subject on the left… this just came out so quickly and easily….


What a busy day we had had… and to finish off, we just had to sketch at dinner! I think this ended up being our most productive day… pretty special!


Day 4 was Sunday – The Lord’s Day so no sketching for me.


Here are the four pages of notes I did from my reading and an online church service.

Leave a Reply