'Aller au fil de l'eau' means to go with the flow. It is also, appropriately, the name of the café in the small French village where I live. On the terrace, the atmosphere is relaxed, life seems to mosey along no faster than the river that slips lazily by. In spring and early summer, conversations are often accompanied by a chorus of croaking frogs. Creating this blog is some kind of commitment to take brush or pen or pencil in hand every day and make art. As Julia Cameron says: "...creativity is not a marathon event that we must gird ourselves for, whacking off great swaths of life as we know it to make room for it. Creativity is not aberrant, not dramatic, not dangerous. If anything, it is the pent-up energy of not using our creativity that feels that way". Not making art is like trying to stop the flow of the river. I surrender to the flow and watch where it takes me.

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Open All Hours


I wanted to sketch this old-fashioned greengrocer's shopfront with the clementines shining bright orange in the lights. The only place I could find to park my car was behind a huge plane tree so I could only glimpse part of the fruit display. In the end I decided it made for quite an interesting composition!
J'avais envie de croquer la devanture de cette vieille épicerie avec ses clémentines orange tape-à-l'oeil. Le seul endroit où j'ai pu garer ma voiture était derrière un énorme platane qui cachait la moitié de la vue. Je me suis rendue compte finalement que cela rendait la composition assez intéressante !    

5 comments:

  1. Super, beaux contrastes, belle profondeur, belle composition j'adore le platane (?) au premier plan.
    Traduction de la description en français ????????

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  2. Merci djé pour ce gentil commentaire. Oui, c'est un platane. OK, je vais essayer de traduire mes descriptions en français en commençant par celle-ci !

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  3. Great picture! And whilst not knowing about such things -I also think great composition. The dark night sky's juxta position against the lit shop front is nicely balanced by the shadow on the tree.A great piece from a difficult spot.

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  4. Thanks Alistair, I'm sure you do know about such things. Your drawings are fantastic.

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