Vide Grenier 2018

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This is one of the nicest days of the year in Crozet, the Vide Grenier. And it has become a tradition for me to draw it! 4th year already, three of them sunny. I've been lucky!
Great ambience, lots of known people, drawing, chatting... I just love it.

Luxembourg Rooftops

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This weekend has been quite intense, different, and fun. We've driven to Luxembourg to see my father in law on Saturday morning, spent there until Sunday noon, then back at home at 7pm. We've been to parks, to a restaurant, with the kids, the dog... and I've had the time for a quick run and for a quick sketch. How incredible is that?

Snowy morning

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... and watching it from the window :)

Around Villeneuve

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Today I had a beautiful and comfortable amount of time to draw, like an hour and a half which almost never happens. But as it turns out, I've spent a lot of it just turning around different villages in my car, trying to find THE place. I've been in Villeneuve, in Sergy, in Thoiry... And after a while I've just returned to the first place I'd been. In this little road in Villeneuve there are so many things to draw!

Despite all my indecision, I've had enough time to finish my sketch, and to be at school like 15 minutes in advance. Today, with this drawing, I've finished a sketch book. Tomorrow I will start a new one :D

Winter in Crozet

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Winters in Crozet since many years I pass them waiting for my daughter here at the parking of the télécabine in Crozet. With all children from the ski clubs descending at the same time, it is a bit like a lottery: she can be early in the line and come in with the first bunch, or she can be at the end and you freeze to death for an hour until she arrives! In the mornings though, the parking is quite quiet... and the slopes too! ;)

Snowing in Sergy

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Let it snow, let it snow...

Drawing in the sun!

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These last days we haven't got much sun in Crozet. Only higher up in the mountain one could catch some rays. But today, finally, it has opened up a bit! Apparently it is not going to last, so I had to profit! This is in the Rue de Jura, in Crozet, a street where you can draw something at every step. Just lovely.

In my way to the collège

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In the way to my daughter's collège in Ferney, very close to the chateau de Voltaire, there is this old ruined farm. And you know, one can get lost drawing there. So many things, chaos, old houses with old windows and old doors, old roofs and broken walls... Well, paradise! 
Today I had to pick up my daughter and I managed to get twenty extra minutes to very quickly sketch a tiny part of this fantastic place. You know, places like these, here, they can vanish from one day to the other...

Day 24: Crozet

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I love Crozet, all of it. And how couldn't I having horses next to home.

Day 23: Some sun in Villeneuve

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Today it's been sunny after what it feels a while, so even if my day is quite full on Tuesdays, I had to go out and draw. An old house in Villeneuve.

Day 22: Carsketching ... a flooded river

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It rains and rains a lot and there's water everywhere. Today my husband told me he had to turn around with his bike in Pregnin, because the river Lion was flooded. He also told me, you have to go! And you know, it was a wonderful idea :) There were even a couple of cars trapped in to make the drawing more interesting! :D

Day 13: An original food container

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This one is close to where I was drawing two days ago. I pass quite often running or with my dog, and I always find it so funny. An old car recycled into a horses food container. 

And today, as bonus, a picture taken in situ:

Outdoors

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A little house which I don't know what it was for in the past, that I wanted to sketch a while ago. 

Outdoors

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These are days of lots of tension. Things happening around in Catalonia that make me be more attached to my computer than I usually like to. 
I am mostly an outdoors person, I am, most of my free time, as soon as I can, outdoors, in the forest, in the mountains, in the fields, with my dog, or otherwise sketching around. But these days, as soon as I am back, as soon as I finish the immediate work, there am I, again checking the newspaper, to see if something new has happened. Today I had some free time. And instead of loosing it checking the latest news, I just took my stuff and spend a good moment sketching that corner I had been waiting for the perfect light to come. The light wasn't perfect at all, but the moment I passed there it was :) A moment way from the world.

Jus de Pomme

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This morning we were selling apple juice with the Crozet Ski Club, to gather money to finance the children's activities. The juice was made by some of the parents, with apples from the region, and it was really good! Kids sold, adults talked, and I sketched. 

Ovejitas 

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After being the whole summer up in the mountains, sheep are back to the fields! It is now a week that they are around in Crozet, and we've seeing them every day in our way in and back from school. Today, finally, I had a quiet moment to sketch them. With the sound of their bells, the sun and the fields around, that was a perfect peace moment too.

Moments to sketch

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I sketch in my "dead" moments. Others read, look at their phones or stare through a window. During the school year, these come while having to wait somewhere while they do an activity. Today, while my daughter was in her dance class, I went to the bank, then I sketched one of the musicians playing drums!

This year's art exhibition

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Still ongoing, this weekend takes place the annual art and artisan exhibition in Crozet. This year I am exposing around 20 artworks, four of them illustrations, and the other sketches that I've done around in the Pays de Gex. So far the balance is very good, many people joined us yesterday for the vernissage, and this afternoon, although quieter than during the inauguration (of course!), the flow of people was constant and the room was never empty. And, at this point I've sold three of my works, all of them from Crozet!

This is a scene I sketched this afternoon during my shift. Maybe tomorrow I get to sketch some more... or not, one never knows!

Vide grenier 2017

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Another year, another vide grenier in Crozet! 
And, for the second year in a row, under a beautiful sun!

(If you don't remember what a vide grenier is, I invite you to check last year's entry, where I explain it in detail.)

This year, as usual, the night before I planned to get there very early, at first hour. And as usual, reality was way more relaxed and we only got there at around 10:30 in the morning. We walked around, got a little dinosaur for our youngest kid, and then I just looked for a spot to draw while my daughter had some fun with her old school friends and my husband and the two boys walked our dog back home. 

Drawing in the vide grenier is always funny, because there's lots of people who come by, comment, and give me nice conversation. The most eager talkers are children!

 After this first sketch we've grabbed some food at the buvette (the bar) for lunch. At the vide grenier, food is cooked by Crozet's grannies, and there are also hot dogs for the kids, so the choice to stay is easy! After lunch, I've stayed a bit longer for another quick sketch while my family went back home. 

Next week, La Foulée, and also the Arts Association in Crozet annual exhibition! :)

Back to reality

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Yesterday it was the first day of school, and today it has been the first drawing class of the school year. This has pushed me back to my real life, and yes, I am not on holidays anymore, not in Argentina anymore. I will keep explaining the trip and sharing the sketches, but I guess real life will interrupt me more often now! 

In this year classes I have few new children, the groups have been reshaped, and my little school has grown a bit more. It is a "contained growth", manageable and one which still allows me to do all the other things I like to do besides teaching. And as it turns out, I was ready for the first class: the studio clean, more organised, more space, activity ready. But already tonight I haven't slept well. I had a torticollis which tortured me during the whole night, because I was tense and nervous. Today as the time approached my stomach was hard as a stone... One would think these things pass with experience but apparently not in my case!

Despite all my nervousness and excitement, the class has been great, kids have been fantastic, we've had fun with a drawing game, and we're all ready for the coming classes. I am happy :) 

Then, as reality is hard, I've come back to driving my daughter around (yay!). This year however she has dropped some of the things she was doing so both her and I will be more relaxed (real yay!). Today, she has started with her new guitar class, and while I was waiting for her, outside the school, with the perfect temperature, I could only do one thing, sketch! 

This is a foldable bike at the door of the music school. I didn't ask them why they have it there because it gives the impression of just being decorative. A bike is always a nice subject to draw. And yes, reality is not that bad :) Keep bringing me days like this one please, it was perfect :)

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