The first thing you notice when you arrive in Rouen is the gorgeous train station. It really sets the tone for the rest of the town. The perfect place to meet people, especially if you are a bunch of artists sitting all in a row on camping stools under a shady spot facing the facade. Curious onlookers just have to see what the hell is going on. We had to take breaks from sketching every 10 minutes to chat with the endlessly gathering folks.
Abbey
There was a heatwave when I was in Rouen. When we drew at lunch, we had to be under the shade of an awning. This day the steeple of Saint-Ouen was peeking above the restaurant roofs. I did the best I could under the adverse conditions. The intense heat sapped our energy but we just had to power through. I had to show the hunderds of other artists drawing on the streets that I could share their pain. Plus there’s no air conditioning in France which goes to prove we don’t actually need it. Monet and Picasso didn’t need no stinking air con.
Rouen
We spent a week in Rouen, France. It was the site of this year’s French Urban Sketchers gathering. I’ve come to know many of the artists well, seeing as this was my third year attending. Rouen is a compact little city strewn with many eye-popping gothic churches. It’s also the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. I don’t think most people in France have been there. I am working my way to every corner of the country, so this was a must see for me. Wherever I chose to draw, I found myself surrounded by some of Europe’s most talented illustrators.
MONH
Museum of Natural History.
Oriental Club
On a recent trip to London we stayed in a friend’s club instead of a hotel. It was like being in a Time Machine. Creaky old wooden staircases, marble busts everywhere, and lots of paintings of Earls and Lords hanging about. I sketched a lot of its history over a few days when I had free time.
Butt
My wife and I stayed with one of my cousin’s outside of Cork, Ireland. He has two small kids. A girl 6 and his son is 3. They asked to see one of my sketchbooks. I was flipping through when I arrived at this page. The little boy started laughing like crazy and yelling, “look, it’s a butt.” He said it over and over. When I was done he wanted to go back to the butt page. He laughed so hard, he nearly fell off the kitchen table. One of the strongest reactions to my artwork ever.
Constantine
his is a drawing of a marble portrait of the emperor Constantine the Great that lives in The Met. It’s quite a large head. It seems to be the spot where a lot of tour groups stop. I became part of the museum landscape to be ogled at. Several photographer type tourists came by with large cameras. They began filming me like crazy which made me seem important for no reason whatsoever.
Rock Center
Before we went on our European adventure, I did an illustration of one of New York’s main tourist attractions. Rockefeller Center. People from around the world chatted me up as I urban sketched. Now I have to scan and clean up my new European drawings to prep them for posting.
Red Fish
A typical, carp over dying botanical garden flowers drawing.
&
This is a tossed drawing salad.
Food Cart
Last summer I went to The Met with the artists, Lapin and Veronica Lawlor. At one point, I noticed Veronica staring at an ancient print. I joined her and saw it was a painting of London rooftops and the chimneys had vegetables coming out instead of smoke. I turned to Veronica and said, “I’m going to steal that.” She laughed because she knew I wasn’t kidding. I finally found a use for the idea I procured. Little did I know it would end up on top of a food cart on Houston street.
Bethesda Fountain
My friend, Nishant Jain is giving a drawing class at Bethesda fountain in New York for the Urbansketchers. It’s sold out. I went to check the fountain out for myself. I’m big on drawing groovy tourist sites lately. I ended up needing two trips there to finish my own drawing because it was more elaborate than I anticipated.
St. Pat's
I showed up on the street to draw St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 5th Avenue. It was a blustery cold day. The streets were filled with high school and grammer school aged catholic school kids all in uniforms. I hadn’t seen this many since the 1960s when I myself was in catholic school. Not a single kid cared or looked at what I was drawing. They all passed me by.
