Many years ago I discovered an old sketch by the artist, Ronald Searle. It was probably done in the 1950s. It showed a tiny street in Paris where the Eiffel Tower loomed large above the neighborhood rooftops. The image has never left my brain. On my recent trip to Paris, I was determined to do a drawing like it. I figured there were many of these types streets near the tower. Turns out there is only one. It’s called Rue St. Dominique. I included a photo taken of me in action by my pal, Jean-Christophe. The sidewalk is very narrow, only enough room for one person at a time to get by me. Also it was 100 degrees out. I also included Mr. Searle’s sketch too. As I did my drawing I came to realize that Ronald Searle did his by having to move to three different parts of the street to complete it the way he wanted it to look. The cafe and awning in the foreground is one spot. You can’t see the street in real life from that angle, so he had to move to a new place just to draw the street. Where he drew the street from, you wouldn’t be able to see the Eiffel Tower. So he moved to a third spot to draw the tower, except from that angle, the tower would be over to the right more. So he just moved it to the middle of the street for his final piece. I’m all up in his head now.
