Everyday places

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I've been sketching with my daughter this afternoon under a wonderful sun. This is the ancient customs office between Switzerland and France, in Mategnin. My husband passes by this little stony road in his way to work everyday, and suggested the place. When we got there, we chose to sat in the Swiss part because the French one was in the shadow. A tiny pedestrian road which still got the name of a big one, probably from when not that many cars circulated around. Now, this road, the abandoned little building, and the fields around, are there to remind us how small was the world just a few decades ago.

And my daughter's sketch, she's 11 and she's really catching me up! :)

An unexpected sketch

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I clearly wasn't expecting to be able to go out to sketch this afternoon, but, as it happened, I had a moment, and I just took it. So today December 24th it seems it's going to be a full day. Mountain in the morning, sketching in the afternoon, cooking in the evening, dinner and opening presents at night. Let's get to the cooking now!

A quiet afternoon in Pregnin... 

Merry Christmas! 

Home sweet home

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Cold, foggy, small children in holidays, my husband still working... not ideal to find places to draw outside. Still, I find little moments to draw at home. 

19/12/16

This is a view of my living room from what we could call my sofa spot. I use to sit in this corner of the sofa because I have the bookcase next to me, and I can easily put there my mug, my computer, my books... So as it happens, I have drawn this view more than once already... and also in these three last days!

20/12/16

Yesterday I engaged one of my sons to sketch objects while the other was taking his nap. It was so fun, and he was eager to use the water brush. So I just used it a bit, then I had to do with markers or no color ;)

Later in the night, just sketching the chaos in my room... The sketch is clean and it makes it look better than it actually is.

21/12/16

Late in the morning my sons have watched a bit of TV. Even like this, peace lasts only a bit... they don't stop moving. Ever.

In fact, after few minutes the youngest was already climbing over my back while I was trying to sketch the dog, Ludo, who was napping next to me. This has of course made Ludo move before I had finished... so only the silhouette.

And the last one of today, already tonight, again from my sofa spot, but this time trying to just draw lines, and also getting to that really busy corner at the right, which is really really chaotic, and my father tells me I leave out on purpose. But, as I told him, I had already drawn it once... 

Drawing by the fire

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Things that start well go well and end well. Sometimes at least. Like this weekend. I really feel like I couldn't ask for more. Nothing extraordinary happened, and maybe that's the most extraordinary of all, just enjoy the ordinary. Isn't it?

December baking

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This is a busy month for everyone. Exams, deadlines, school parties, Christmas and holiday preparations... the list can go on and on. December is, also for me, a particularly challenging month. Because to the above list I still add a couple of birthdays of my own children. And, as every mother will know, besides the parties themselves, each child may need a cake for the family party, a cake to bring to school, a cake for his birthday party with friends at home... 

Today, while baking the fourth cake in a week, and seeing a fifth one coming for this weekend, I just felt this was the right thing to do!

La Campagne

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This illustration actually came up while thinking on the landscape and atmosphere for a book I am working on with a friend. Then it was put away in a folder for some time, while other more immediate things kept coming up. And yesterday, after a wonderful walk in the mountains, I finally found the time and the mood to finish it. And yes, this landscape is in a way so similar to the fields around my house, where I always walk my dog, and where I never get to stop and sketch.

Avouzon, for a friend's 40th birthday

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Yesterday people was telling me how lucky I was, because I could always offer my drawings as birthday presents, while they often struggle finding them. And I told them that not really, that I don't offer illustrations as a normal thing, since, as everything in life, not everyone may be excited about getting such a present. And drawings have a very special value. 

But, this week a friend has turned 40, and yes, for him it was an easy decision. And it was an enormous pleasure to see him so happy and touched when he saw it was a drawing already when he sensed the package's shape and weight, and later when he realised it was his house in which he has been working now for a long time. And, it is thanks to his party that today is going to be a long long day!

The Place de la Fontaine in Avouzon, Crozet.