Linda Denis

I continue to sketch daily in my Venezia Sketchbook. The construction workers in La Peñita are exceptional models: very reliable, quick to change a pose or disappear. They do not care who is watching, photographing or sketching them. You cannot ask for more. Lagom är bäst.

Linda Denis, Worker finishing tile window ledge, watercolour

Linda Denis, Finishing touches to cement ledge, watercolour

Linda Denis, Workers applying their skills, watercolour

Linda Denis, Another day with a shady spot to work, watercolour

This Swedish proverb means the right amount is best – no more, no less. In Viking times, this is how the proverb was applied.

How much mead one should drink from a horn as it is passed around in order for everyone to receive a fair share?

Still it applies in modern days for how much is needed when less will do. Oddly, I am applying this thought to my watercolour sketching. How much water to mix with the pigment? How damp or dry is my paper? How many figures, building, trees or sky is needed? How light might the sky be or dark ?

As an artist,  I look towards a master watercolourist for answers. Swedish watercolour artist, Lars Lerin shows the way. Dawn Treadler’s blog covers three of his exhibitions with her photographs. Another site worth visiting to see Lerin’s paintings is Art Investment RU.

Lars Lerin, watercolour, via www.forum.artinvestment.ru

Lars Lerin , watercolour, via www.tradera.com

Lars Lerin, Light in the East, watercolour,102×142 cm, 2002-2012

So, I continue sketching daily in my Venezia sketchbook, with my newly acquired Holbein 500 palette, the Escoda brushes recommended by Joseph Zbukvic and plently of water.

I visit the Guayabitos beach daily to sketch figures and eat. I particular enjoy sketching the area where several vendors cluster to sell their ready to eat food and drinks from Friday to Sunday. Brochetas Cora Costend, Luisa, Kande offer white fish or shrimp. A refreshment of Agua Fresca and Tejuino will finish the snack and costs 10 pesos. A brochette of white fish and shrimp cooked over coals is 25 to 30 pesos. Great value, nutritious and good.

Time to rest

Pineapples, Mangoes to go and Fish Brochettes

Sunday Brunch on Guayabitos Beach

Construction work in La Pentia

In Mexico, Febuary 2nd is a festive holiday. It is a mixture of past pre-Hispanic and present Catholic beliefs. One of twelve festive holidays, it falls forty days after Christmas. The action for this celebration starts on January 6th, King’s Day. A sweet bread, Rosca de Reyes is filled with small figurines of baby Jesus. If you bite into one of these figurines, you must share in the preparation of tamales and atole for Dia da la Candelaria. In Pre-Hispanic tradition, villagers brought corn to the church to receive the blessing for the corn seed planted and the hope of a plentiful harvest. Here in this village, Guayabitos, we attend mass and picnic on the beach. Others are more attentive putting a figurine of baby Jesus in a special niche after taking him to mass. If you chose to keep the baby Jesus at your house be prepared for visitors and to share your food. This commitment is for a year.

Pagans celebrate this day as a midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox. We celebrate it as Groundhog day. This morning the groundhog cast his shadows: three out of five times seeing its shadow. So we will have 6 more weeks of winter in Canada. Anything new there?

Back to sketching in my Venezia by Fabrino.

Passage via Jacqueline Hotel

Water fountain, town square

Waiting for a sale

Each year since 1967 Stewart Hall Rental in Pointe-Claire,Qc  offers artists a chance to submit their works to be juried into their annual rental and sales. This year the collection is open to view from October 25- November 23, 2014. Vernissage is Sunday October 26 from 2pm until 5pm. Stewart Hall is located at 176 chemin du Bord-du-Lac, Pointe Claire, Qc, H9S 4J7. Monday through Sunday 1pm to 5pm and Wednesday 1pm to 9pm. All welcome, free admission. I have been fortunate to be part of this collection for several years. In the past my landscapes have been chosen but this year my water fountain buddha. Please visit and enjoy the variety of works.

Buddha, acrylic, 30×30

After the Zbukvic workshop, I have Saturday and Sunday mornings free before I leave for Montréal. Chi Mai has offered to show me a part of Paris I have not seen in previous trips. We start by buying the best croissant in Paris at  Les Gateaux et du Pain. The plan for the day is to walk from Gare Montparnasse to La Seine. La touche Française continues, it is the weekend of the  Journées Européenes du Patrimoine  en Île-de-France with free entrance to cultural events and museums.

First, we stop for a quick sketch in the square Saint-Germain-des- Prés. We sit on a bench in front of Bernard Palissy statue; I sketch in ink with my Lamy pen. Palissy was famous for his unique ceramic pottery. In 1563 he received the title of King’s Inventor of Rustic Ceramics and following this award Catherine de Medici commanded him to decorate one of her palace in 1567.

Within 20 minutes we are off, making a brief stop to view the Wallace Fountain on Saint-Germain-des-Prés. This is one of many public water fountains designed by Charles Auguste Lebourg and financed by the Englishman Richard Wallace. A recognized world symbol of Paris. Most of the fountains still provide potable water from March 15-November 15.

Place Furstenberg photo by Chi Mai

A quick turn here and there, we arrive at Place de Furstenberg to hear voices rehearsing for a free concert under the trees. Another sketch in pencil in my Venezia sketchbook. Just to our left the studio home and now museum of Eugène Delacroix awaits us with no line up. The last residence of Delacroix from 1857 until his death in 1863.There is a quiet serene garden adjoining the home, a great place to sketch but not today.

Niki de Saint Phalle photo by Chi Mai

Onward, I catch a glimpse of a sculpture by Niki de Saint Phalle ( 1930-2002) in a gallery window. A French-American model, sculptor, painter, filmmaker and perfumer. I recalled the images of earth mother referred to as “nanas” with big bodies and small head. I remember the quote a mother figure is both a creator and destroyer which was shared by her contemporary Louise Bourgeois. Her love of making these sculptures would cause fatal emphysema from toxic polyester fumes in 2002.

We see the  Beaux-art de Paris l’ecole nationale supérieure 14, rue Bonaparte is open to the public. No line up here and in we walk to architecture, sculptures, library, paintings, busts and anything related to the beauty of art. Time for a rest before the rainstorm hits. We sit next to the Seine and sketch. Big dark clouds are threatening thunder and rain. Time to be quick and take the metro.

Sunday morning, free lectures at the La Coupole at 11am by Thomas Dufresne, art historian and member of  the historical society of the 14 arrondissement where the brasserie is located since 1927. The art decor interior is exceptional and little has changed since it’s beginnings. The patrons during these years are household names like Jean-Paul Sarte, Simone de Beauvoir, Hemingway, Picasso, Coco Chanel and many more with their black and white photos adorning the walls.

Campaign to save the kiosques in Paris