Before the snow melts down

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This little field with the small red house and the few sheep is just some steps down from home, and like all things I have close by, I feel like I have all the time in the world to sketch it. But today, with the snow melting down, drawing this got kind of urgent. Urgent, and also ideal for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Frozen watercolors

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Today I somehow forgot how cold it is, and thought, oh, I'll go and sketch a bit before my daughter comes back from ski. So off I went. And yes, today, not only my feet were frozen, but at -5C, you can well imagine that also the water of my watercolors was quickly becoming ice in my sketch! I didn't have to decide when the drawing was done, that was the moment when my pencil was totally frozen!!

This is the small crêperie at the foot of the télécabine in Crozet, where all children line up to get their hot chocolate crêpes after a good afternoon skiing. Next time I'll bring the owner a copy, and maybe he will offer me a hot drink in exchange, since today I'd forgotten my wallet!

And this is where I wait...

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This is the hall of the gym where my daughter goes dancing, and this is where I waited last Thursday when I sketched myself sketching, and also where I waited today. Now thinking if I will sketch next Thursday, or if I will instead bring work to do...

Waiting... 

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When you pass almost every afternoon driving your daughter around to her various activities, and have to wait for her to finish because driving back home and then again to pick her up is not a possibility... well, you do what you can to make time go faster!

Hotel Bellevue

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This afternoon, while my daughter was in her theatre class, I didn't have to go to the groceries, nor I had anything urgent from work to do, nor I had any important obligation... so I just went and had an infusion in the Hotel Bellevue, in Gex, and sketched until I had to pick her up. Yes, you can say it, what a life! :)

Snow!

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I was so eager to draw today. And I still hope I get to do another one, but this time indoors. Yesterday I'd been to the forest while it was snowing and it was so calm and beautiful. But I hardly could draw there, as I was with my dog who does not enjoy waiting for me while I draw, it was cold and humid, and I was in the mood of going as far as possible in the time I had. Today it was tight too, but I managed to steal 20 minutes in my way to school. Aaah it feels so good! But yet too short!

This is a view to the snowy mountain in Crozet, with its wonderful forests and challenging slopes, some houses of the village, the rightmost one being the Cafe du Commerce, one of the historical places in Crozet.

The first entry of 2017

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It seems an obvious name for this entry but it really suits it. Because we just started the year and we put the counter to zero and suddenly everything we usually do becomes "the first time". So yes, this is the first time I write in the blog in 2017. The first time I post a drawing. The first time I went back to bring my daughter to her dance class. Also the first time I stayed because I have no time to go back home, do something useful, and come back. For all of these, the first time, but in 2017. Now a real first time: the first time I drew someone in her class!

Today I had a lot of envy to draw. And I passed the day in the mountain and brought my stuff with me. But it was so cold and windy that stopping even for few minutes seemed impossible (I even had my sandwich walking!). So when I brought my daughter to her class and had to wait there, well, it was obvious what to do. I usually don't draw there because my subjects are too far away... but then, this was the first of first so no excuses!

My daughter takes African Dance lessons. And this is one of the drummers playing in her class, so cool! 

Happy New Year to you all!