Au Revoir Aude

The trip to Arizona in February, mentioned in my last post, triggered a major life change... and we have exchanged the warm ochres and terracottas of southern France for the cool greens, dark stone and peaty earth tones of the Pennines in northwest England where I grew up. So this post is a farewell to my Aude sketching days. I'll be documenting this next phase of my artistic life with a new sketchblog in the next few weeks.

Le voyage en Arizona en février, evoqué dans mon dernier post, a provoqué un grand changement dans ma vie. En effet, nous avons échangé les couleurs chaudes, les ocres et terres cuites du sud de la France pour les verts frais et les tons sombres de pierre et de terre tourbeuse des landes des Pennines au nord-ouest de l'Angleterre où j'ai grandi. Alors dans ce poste je dis "au revoir" à mes carnets de l'Aude. Je vais documenter cette prochaine phase de ma vie artistique avec un nouveau sketchblog dans les prochaines semaines. 

The riverside houses in Quillan have been a favourite sketching subject over the past three years. On this day in February it was grey and rainy but the colour of the roof tiles always warms things up.

Les maisons riveraines à Quillan ont été un sujet de croquis préféré au cours des trois dernières années. En ce jour de février, il était gris et pluvieux, mais la couleur des tuiles réchauffe toujours la vue.

On my return from Arizona, I had a hankering for the red rocks of Sedona so I made another trip to Peyrolles on a bright day in early March.

A mon retour de l'Arizona, les roches rouges de Sedona me manquaient alors je suis retournée aux terres rouges de Peyrolles un jour ensoleillé au début de mars.

In late March, as the days were starting to lengthen, I did two evening sketches of the Aude riverside in Limoux while my daughter was having her piano lesson.

Fin mars, quand les jours commençaient à rallonger, j'ai fait deux croquis sur les berges de l'Aude à Limoux alors que ma fille avait son cours de piano.

And this was my last sketch of the Aude Valley, at least for now. Au revoir Aude!
Et voilà mon dernier croquis de la vallée de l'Aude, au moins pour l'instant. Au revoir à l'Aude !

Putting it in perspective

Two years ago almost to the day I did my first proper 'urban sketch' - of an old butcher's shop on a street corner in Quillan.

Though a bit wooden, it was at least a start. Yesterday, quite by chance, I found myself in the same spot and thought to myself: "Wow, wouldn't it be interesting to sketch the same scene and compare the results...?". So that's what I did.

This time I decided to include more in the sketch, a) because I had more time to spend and b) because experience has taught me not to feel daunted by complicated views. But, as I started to draw, all the problems I came up against last time came flooding back. The perspective is really tricky in this one. Feeling bold, I had opted to go straight to ink... bad decision. With hindsight, I realise I should have at least sketched in the perspective lines in pencil to give me the basic structure. Anyway, I got down the basic drawing on site, took a photo for reference and left to pick up my daughter from dance class.

Back in the studio, I compared my sketch with the photo and immediately saw how bad the perspective was. It's odd because I usually have quite a good eye for perspective and have never felt the need to use a frame or other device. Not wanting to give up on this sketch, I decided to use it as an exercise. So I printed out the photo and drew in the perspective lines, establishing that there was indeed a single vanishing point.

Then I used a ruler to check the lines on my drawing... Multiple vanishing points. Oh dear. Was it salvageable?

With the help of a tube of white gouache, I was able to improve the perspective, though the final drawing still has multiple vanishing points. Oh well, you can't win 'em all. Enough fiddling, on with the fun part, putting in the colour.

Despite the dodgy perspective, the finished sketch, while by no means one of my best, does perhaps have more atmosphere than the 2011 version. Probably because there is more in the picture and the colours are more resolved. What do you think?

  

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.

Nocturnal Shadows

The forecourt of this town house in Quillan has a slatted wooden framework over it and the stark white light from the street lamp casts dramatic shadows onto the walls and pillars.
Ink drawing on site, watercolour added at home.

L'avant-cour de cette maison de ville à Quillan est couvert d'une structure à lattes de bois et la lumière blanche du réverbère jette des ombres dramatiques sur les murs et les poteaux.
Dessin au feutre fin sur place, aquarellé à la maison.

Graveyard Cypresses

Quillan in the foothills of the Pyrenees is backed by a high ridge which is often swathed in a soft milky haze when the sun goes down behind it. The town's cemetery by the river Aude has many old cypress trees and I like the way their majestic forms are silhouetted against the mountain.
Derwent watercolour pencils on location.

Derrière la ville de Quillan s'élèvent les premiers contreforts des Pyrénées, souvent voilés d'une brume laiteuse au coucher du soleil. Le cimetière sur les bords de l'Aude a beaucoup de vieux cyprès et j'aime la façon dont leurs formes majestueuses se détachent sur la montagne.
Crayon d'aquarelle sur place.

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 !    

L'Alhumetur

Sketched from my car, parked across the square from this busy newsagents and tobacconists. At six thirty in the evening, there is a steady stream of customers, calling in for a pack of Gauloises or a copy of the local paper on their way home from work.

The lighting was a challenge. The front of the building is lit by the street lamps in the square and the two floodlights on the shopfront cast diagonal beams. The style of the lettering caught my eye. I wondered if "alhumetur" meant "match" in Occitan (the local dialect) but I haven't been able to verify that.

Riverside Houses

My regular Tuesday evening sketching hour this week found me down by the river Aude in Quillan. I sat on a bench and drew the houses on the opposite side of the river. It was probably the last opportunity I will get this year to sketch outside while my daughter is at dance class. It had been a glorious day but the sun had already sunk below the mountain by the time I started and there was a definite autumn nip in the air. On one of the balconies, a man sat sipping his aperitif and was briefly joined by his wife before they both withdrew into the warmly glowing interior of their home. A faint whiff of wood smoke from the first fires of the season hung on the air.        

Quillan rooftops

Found a great viewpoint for my sketching this evening: Quillan castle, high on the hill where you can look down on the red rooftops and the Aude river flowing through.