Moutarde

Driving across France last week I stopped half-way in Dijon . I got up early the next day for a stroll around the historic city centre. There were a million things to draw but it was too freakin' cold hence the wobbly nature of these sketches.

Place François Rude-great name, lots of chimneys.

The town is famous for its half-timber buildings similar to the Tudor style architecture that I drew in Chester, England . The French call this style 'maison normande'.


Dotted around the town were ancient carvings of chouette or owls which the locals touch for good luck. With my fingers numb from the cold I touched the owl before heading back to the hotel to warm up. I'd love to return to Dijon in the summer & draw more of the architecture.


A grand total of 12 hours driving took me from the bottom of France to the top. I caught the ferry to the UK from Calais. Calais is not as nice as Dijon.

La Toscana

A couple weekends ago I made a whirlwind tour of Tuscany over 5 days. The weather was damp but mild enough to get a decent amount of al fresco sketching done. There were relatively few tourists in the cities & on the roads so it was easy to get around & visit museums.

First stop San Gimignano. I warmed up with a sketch of two of the (14) famous towers seen from the main street into the town.


I found a good vantage point at an outdoor café & sketched the main piazza with its much photographed cisterna.





On the way out I found a spot where I could sketch the town with all its towers. Then it was onto Siena (with a brief stop at the fortress of Monteriggioni)


The Piazza del Campo is the most well known spot in the city but rather difficult to squeeze into a sketchbook. In the sketch above I captured one quarter of the piazza where the palio horse-race is held every summer. A wide format Moleskine was perfect to draw the extreme proportions of the Torre del Mangia. I was eager to climb this sucker but it was closed due to the rain!



Here's the view from my hotel window. The stripy tower in the background is the Duomo.


Inside the Duomo I found the lavish Cappella della Madonna del Voto



Next day I had to hot-foot it back north to Florence. I've visited the city twice before but never drawn the Ponte Vecchio-now was my chance!



I wanted to get a drawing on the bridge too to capture the tourists gazing at the jewellry displays & posing for phtos. I sheltered amongst the stalls selling Pinocchio dolls & tried to keep the rain drops from hitting my page. Florentine policemen look very chic with their white leather handbags & pith helmets!



I only had one hour before the Uffizi museum closed. I dashed around it to find Leonardo's Adoration of the Magi, Botticelli's Birth of Venus & Carvaggio's Medusa shield. However the last day I had a whole morning to take in the Accademia where I wanted to sketch Michelangelo's original David.

It's really well displayed at the end of a 'corridor' of Michelangelo's unfinished slaves. The portly American tourists were a fine contrast to the perfect forms sculpted by Michelangelo!


The male & female forms above are a detail from Giambologna's 'Rape of the Sabines' which is said to be perfect from every angle.

After the Accademia I had to leave promptly accounting for time lost in Florence's labyrinthine one way system. Leonardo da Vinci himself couldn't figure out the urban planning of that place!

More of my Tuscany sketches can be seen at the Urban Sketchers blog.

Desperaux

In early summer 2006 The Tale of Desperaux was in pre-production in London's Soho. I had read the book & while not so taken by the plot I was fascinated by some of the characters individual stories-particularly Gregory the gaoler. I thought him & his dungeon environment very cinematic & wanted to be involved with the project in some capacity.

I contacted the production office & showed them this painting I had made of Gregory. Apparently there were no more positions in Story so they agreed to give me a try-out in the art dept. I thought I could contribute to character design but the style of the film was very realistic & my more flat style was inappropriate.

Nevertheless I did enjoy researching the Flemish masters & trying to incorporate some of their forms & style into my drawing.





The Production Design dept. was looking for layout artists to design this Brueghel-like world. I brain-stormed a bunch of sketches suggesting what common kitchen items might the mice have appropriated to build their town. However, realistic, correct-perspective drawings were sought but I really wanted to work on the characters -they were much more fun to draw!

In the end Production appreciated my efforts to help but there wasn't a position suitable for me (or vice versa). I went to France instead . . .

Happy New Year!

I'd like to kick off 2009 with the final few pages from my first Moleskine sketchbook. Over the holidays I reacquainted myself with British architecture.
Christmas shopping amongst the Tudor style buildings of Chester is always magical.

After two & a half years in France the churches of England & Wales look all the more unique to my eyes.

The cosy dining room of the Hotel du Vin & Brasserie, Bristol.

Joyeux Noel!

Or 'S Rozhdestvom!' as they say in Russia. I thought this sketch of the exquisite Russian Church in Nice would be appropriate for the season. Merry Christmas to you all, see you in 2009!

Moleskinerie

I live close to the chateau Henry Clewes at La Napoule. Orta is a smaller lake close to Lago Maggiore, Northern Italy.


La Turbie is a Roman ruin on top of the cliffs high above Monaco, it has terrific views of the Italian riviera.

The gothic fountain is next door to the musée Maillol, Paris


Lac St. Cassien, recommended to me by the all wise Limbolo.

Coral concerto

This was a fun pitch I did recently for Uli Meyer Studios. It was a childrens' educational film warning them of the consequences of polluting the ocean. Ironically it was commissioned by an oil company!


I developed the look of the Saudi family that would feature in the film & a talking fish who would educate the boy. Early on there was a piece of paper character who got upset at not being recycled!






Midway through working on the characters however the client changed the brief. They asked for a design for an under-water concert hall where all the marine creatures of the reef are playing instruments! At that point I had to kiss goodbye to my weekend . . .


Rough thumbnails of the scene & the working drawing.


Final colour, a tad gaudy & somewhat rushed but cheerful enough to inspire the children of the middle east to keep their beaches clean right? Wrong, the job never came off!

Zoo 3

Earlier in the year I went sketching at the zoo in Cap Ferrat. It's small & overpriced & the lions gave me dirty looks! I found a much better safari park in Fréjus, further inland towards Provence. It's a lot bigger & one can drive around at leisure. This time of year it's free of squawking parents & their monkey- like children who so often behave like the real zoo animals in these places.
At Fréjus zoo animal & artist alike remain un-hassled, bliss!

All these drawings were made over two visits in October.

















See more of my zoo sketches here & here.