'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.

Thursday, 13 December 2012

Hunting Shooting Fishing

For my first post on the Urban Sketchers France blog since being invited as a correspondent, I drew one of Quillan's traditional shops on the Place de la République. 


Yesterday afternoon, with my daughter at her usual two-hour dance class in Quillan, I found a much coveted parking space with a good view of the quirky aqua green shop front of the hunting, shooting and fishing supplier's. This side of the square was in shadow and the buildings opposite were mirrored clearly in the shop's windows. With its murals of leaping salmon and unsuspecting ducks flying over a pond thick with bulrushes, this place is a blast from the past.

Mon premier poste en tant que correspondant du blog Urban Sketchers France…
Hier après-midi, quand je me suis garée devant le magasin « Aux Loisirs de la Haute Vallée » pour dessiner, ce côté-là de la place était à l’ombre et les bâtiments d’en face se reflétaient dans la vitrine comme dans un miroir. Avec ses peintures murales de poissons et de canards survolant une mare avec des joncs, c’est une vraie relique du passé.

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