My image galleries crashed on 12 August. I am taking the opportunity to rebuild portions of my website.
I hope to have most of it up and running by this weekend. Oh joy.
Tag: coffee
Good morning coffee!
It’s a coffee sunrise
New Work: Sketches from Paris
They are online! Yeah! All of the drawings were completed on location. They are my usual travel size, 12x17cm (5×7″).
Some of them took a couple of visits, like the Cafe scene on Rue Lombarde, which always seemed to entail more beer and wine with each visit. I had to finish the view of the Seine more quickly than intended. Either that or toss the homeless guy who decided to sit next to me into the the river. He endlessly played the same 5 notes on his accordian. I decided to spare him and I moved along.
My view of Notre Dame was from near Shakespeare and Company Bookstore. Someone had placed one of the store’s chairs quite far from the store. However, the chair was almost perfectly placed for my drawing. I only had to move it “slightly” – – I did put it back. Pont Alexandre III epitomizes Paris. Unfortunately there isn’t any place to sit and enjoy it’s splendor. It’s surrounded by busy roads and is a fair walk from most tourist sites. Pont Neuf is my sentimental favorite. It was painted many times by Albert Marquet, an impressionist era painter whose work I like. My sketch is an homage to him. As near as I can figure, he either lived in, or knew someone, on the second floor of the building along Quai des Orfèvres that overlooks this span. The Left Bank is on the far side.
Enjoy.
How to look cool in public in 3 easy steps
1. Download this image to your ipad and open it like you open a photo.
2. Sit in a public place that has people walking by.
3. Pretend like you are drawing the picture.
It works for me. At least a lot of people look at me when I draw in public.
Lots of people walked by as I was drawing this view of St. Martin’s Square this afternoon. I looked cool didn’t I? Darn, I knew I should have put on the shoes that matched my outfit. I don’t know about looking cool, but I have sure met many people this way. I like it when a brave soul walks up and says hello.
Today was chilly and sunny, a nice Fall day. The place in the drawing is St. Martin’s Square (Platz in German). Here is what the city says about it on their website: “The pretty “Martinsplatz” is the gateway to the old city. It is one of the loveliest open spaces in the City of Kaiserslautern.” I won’t disagree. A few cafes ring the square, and one of the buildings is the former Hotel Zum Donnersberg, where Napoleon once ate breakfast. Hey, the United States has George Washington, Western Europe has Napolean. The reddish block building in the center is St. Martin’s Catholic Church. St. Martin Cafe is the blue blue building on the left. Trees are chestnuts.
Coffee Cafe + iPad =
What everybody ought to know about the creation, sunflowers, and green eggs
What do the creation, sunflowers, and green eggs have in common?
They are all subjects of some well-known March-born artists: Michelangelo (March 6, 1475), Vincent van Gogh (March 30, 1853), and Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss, March 2, 1904). I wonder what getting together with these guys for morning coffee would be like?
Many prominent women artists also share March birthdays. Among them is notable French artist Rosa Bonheur. Do you know Rosa? Now she sounds like someone I’d like to have coffee with.
Rosa was born on March 16th, 1822. She is one of the premier animal painters in history and has received many international honors. She’s dead now, but she was tremendously famous, infamous, and artistically successful in her lifetime. On top of all that, she was financially successful, too; no starving, crazed artist here. Her painting, The Horse Fair, became one of the most honored works of the 19th century (Myers, 2008) and one of the Metropolitan Museum’s best known works of art (Rosa Bonheur, 2008). Rosa accomplished all of this at a time when women were not allowed to enroll in academic art study in either public or private institutions.
For more information about Rosa Bonheur, visit these sites:
- Rosa Bonheur: The Horse Fair (87.25). (December 2008). In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/87.25
- Myers, Nicole. (September 2008). Women Artists in Nineteenth-Century France. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/19wa/hd_19wa.htm
- Esaak, Shelley. (nd). Artists in 60 Seconds: Rosa Bonheur. Retrieved from http://arthistory.about.com/cs/namesbb/p/bonheur.htm
In honor of Women’s History Month 2011, I will feature four American artists with March birthdays. Who are they? Hint: You might be unknowingly famous if you are in one of her photos.
Juneau Coffee
Got out earlier today and went to Paradise Bakery and Cafe for coffee and pastry. All homemade here. My recommendation: Try everything. (paradisecafeyeehaw.com)
The drawing below is a view out the window next to my table. I drew the sketch while having my coffee and multi-berry scone, but I did not have any water on me, and I didn’t want to bother with a glass from the cafe, so I took a photo for the colors, and applied the watercolor later when I got back to my cabin on the ship.
