Art

Studio 365: Day 320

Day 320 ii

The Luxembourg Gardens, Paris, 31st August, 1962

One more page of drawings from my summer in Paris in 1962. I somewhat foolishly imagined myself as a young Toulouse Lautrec as I sketched the cast of characters in the gardens and around the fountain that day: the young boys sailing their model boats, the loving couple out for an evening stroll, the guitarist filling the air with his music and the lady sleeping soundly on the bench. The drawings may be primitive when looked at today but they capture a peaceful precious moment in time in a city that continues to be very much in my heart and thoughts today.

Studio 365: Day 319

Day 319

I wrote, on Studio 365: Day 11 after the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, how I fell in love with Paris on my first visit there as a young boy in August 1962. I posted a drawing I had made sitting in the Tuileries Garden on a beautiful summer’s Day. Now, here I am on Day 319 once again expressing solidarity and sympathy through the best way I know how with all those mourning today in Paris, in France and around the world. The drawing from that same never-to-be-forgotten visit in 1962 is of one of bridges over the Seine, when one of the most beautiful cities in the world inspired a young boy who has felt that inspiration ever since.  Je suis Paris.

Studio 365: Day 316

Day 316 i

Westminster Bridge I 12.11.15

Day316

Palette 12.11.15

Studio 365: Day 315

Day 314

We Remember 11.11.15

91st Remembrance Day Service, Cenotaph, Victory Square, Vancouver, November 11, 2015

Studio 365: Day 314

ornate v

Illumination 10.11.15

“Now for something completely different” with this somewhat ornate illuminated initial and a particularly ornate roccoco frame. The initial, which measures 10″x8″, is a copy I made today from an illuminated manuscript that resides in the British Museum, and the frame measuring 45″x39″ – well that resides in the studio and I have yet to find use for it. However, with the magic of Photoshop Elements this seems to work I think, don’t you?

ornate vii

Studio 365: Day 310

Day 310 i

Lascaux I 6.11.15 ongoing

One of the highlights of our recent holiday in the Dordogne in southwestern France was visiting a replica of the cave of Lascaux in the Vézère Valley. The decorations by prehistoric man in the Magdalenian Period over 17000 years ago, with its primitive pictures of oxen, horses, bison and stags and many unknown symbols, are simply breathtaking. The cave was discovered in September 1940 but closed in 1963. An exact replica of one-third of the cave, Lascaux II, was opened 200 metres from the original cave in 1983. It was a memorable day indeed.

Day 310 ii           Day 310 iii