On this trip I took two sketchbooks to France, one small, one large.
I brought out the small sketchbook for when I felt like I had just a few moments to draw or I had limited room, like on the airplane. Here are the drawings from that sketchbook with any photos I took of the scene I was drawing.
Small Sketchbook
We flew into Paris but immediately took a train down to the Loire Valley to meet Linda’s sister and brother-in-law. While we waited for our dinner reservations I drew this scene at a nearby café.
I know this is a pretty pathetic drawing of a peacock but you try drawing a moving bird!
Each morning I tried to get in either a run or a drawing. Our hotels weren’t in urban areas until we were in Paris so I didn’t find little cafes to go and sit at. But each hotel had a breakfast (petit-dejeuner) area so I settled in and drew there.
We got tickets to go to a concert in Notre Dame the first evening we were in Paris. It was a selection of sacred music, mostly about Mary, the mother of Jesus. Before it started I drew the scene, including the very large head of a man right in front of me.
I had a whole day to myself while in Paris. I went to the Pantheon (see the ‘large drawings’ for a drawing I did there) and then to the Delacroix Museum. It is a very small museum located in an apartment he lived in at one point. I thought I was exiting when I discovered I was being led to a beautiful courtyard garden. While I was in the courtyard I noticed a young woman reading. I decided to draw her and luckily she stayed for quite a long time. When I was done I showed the drawing to her and she was very happy about it. It turns out that her name is Constance, which is also the name of one of my daughters. We had a nice conversation about art, books and Paris before I left.
As much as Paris is fantastic one thing my wife found was that the tea left something to be desired. So that meant she was very excited to see a Starbucks and went in to get her favorite Matcha tea. I stayed outside and drew this woman who was beside me. She seemed to also be waiting for someone.
Going to the Louvre is always an adventure. So many people, so many ways to get lost in the crowd. I was waiting for my compatriots to come back from the bathrooms and saw this young woman sitting all by herself, deep into her phone with her hair obscuring almost all of her face. I knew I would have to work fast so I did a minimalist portrait that I think captures her perfectly.
While up early drinking coffee downstair in the hotel I met a couple from Iowa. They were both dressed as runners so I struck up a conversation with them as they were ready to head out for their first run in Paris. I saw them the next morning as well but both mornings I either didn’t run or ran earlier. It would have been fun to run with them. I drew the woman of the couple as she sat drinking her coffee before the run.
We met this woman, Julie, and her family as we were headed home. We had a change over in London and met them at the British Air desk before we checked in. They went on their way and we thought we were about to do the same but there was a hiccup. My ticket had me as ‘Marty’ but my passport had me as ‘Martin’. They would not allow me to board with that egregious infraction, even though I had already made it to Europe, so I had to spend and hour and a half with reps from BA and American Airlines to hassle it out. It took quite a while but it was resolved and we ended up just one seat back from Julie and her family. I drew her as she watched a movie.
Our second leg of the trip home had me in a middle seat. A young woman, Ana, with a healthy bit of sun on her cheeks sat down next to me. We talked for quite a while about her student trip to Greece and our vacation. Because she was right next to me I wasn’t thinking I would draw her but when she nested with a blanket, ear buds, a neck pillow AND a sleep mask I felt like I could safely draw her without bothering anyone.
I only did two drawings in color. Both were started by referencing photos I took and were not drawn live.
This drawing started from a photograph I took in the souvenir shop at Versailles. I happen to catch this woman in passing and liked the splash of red on her lips. Later that night in my hotel room I drew and colored her. It was the only time I brought out my markers on the trip. Next time I would leave them at home.
This was another started from a photo. This person I photographed on purpose because of how quintessentially Parisian she looked while browsing in the Louvre bookstore. She had something in her hand that I could not discern so I turned it into an umbrella. The angle of it made me think about her protecting her purchase so that’s the direction I went.
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