Baguettes et Chiens

As hard as it was to leave Barcelona, and the delicious beach town of Tossa de Mar, off we went to cross the border into the South of France, to Collioure. Flowers lined the highways, with trees that echoed the paintings of the Fauve masters and the spirit of Matisse, Derain, Braques and Picasso
were calling out to us as we drove into the country.
The palette changed, and the characters were quite different-
and there were dogs and baguettes everywhere!
I had my fun every morning.

I adored being in this quintessential French town. Everywhere one looked, there was a picture and as we enjoyed a trolley ride up the mountain, I made some quick notes.

We were so lucky to be there on market day. What a scene- more baguettes!

And then, time for a glass of wine and take in the beach scene. The rain did not deter anyone.

A little more coming for the way back to Barcelona. Stay tuned.

Un Cortado, Une Noisette

I've just returned from a FABULOUS trip to Barcelona, Costa Brav and the South of France. 

When I close my eyes, I am still feeling the Mediterranean sun and the sea breeze, see the glorious tiled roofs and the exquisite palette and of course, tasting my morning cortado and noisette.

First up was the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Barcelona. If you can imagine over 300 people, from over 20 countries!, just covering the city drawing on location. Pretty spectacular! 

Barcelona is Gaudi central and is really magical. 

With my apologies to my architect friends, I am posting my drawings of Sagrada Familia, 

and other Gaudi extravaganzas. Oh, my intentions were in the right place, trying to get the perspective right, the scale in place, all of the nooks and crannies clear, but alas, this aging rocker got so excited and singing Sagrada Familia, baby (in my mind) to the tune of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly, (most of you reading will not know who I am talking about!) my hand got ahead of me:

I could have stayed here all day looking up into this glimmering sky of mosaics, 

all at once celestial and expansive, awe-inspiring and in spite of the throngs of people weaving in and out of the columns, it did feel as if I was there all by myself.

And the treats kept coming...leaving Barcelona up the coast, we arrived to Tossa de Mar, 

a gorgeous beach town where the sea was steps away from our beautiful, Gaudi inspired, of course, hotel. Days on the beach, boat rides, paella and great cortado!

I'll leave you here for today, before we head to the South of France....

Channelling Picasso

In moments, I am off to Barcelona to... Channel Picasso! Yes! I will be teaching a workshop of the same name for the Urban Sketchers Symposium, a wild gathering of hundreds and hundreds of like-minded people covering the street of the city- drawing!
Though my workshop will be about drawing and experimenting with mark making, Mr. P's philosophy can apply to any discipline in the arts. Below, I am sharing some amazing quotes from the book Picasso, In His Words, edited by Hiro Clark.

“When I was a child, my mother said to me, ’If you become a soldier you’ll be a general. If you become a monk you’ll end up as the Pope.’ Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.”

“A picture is not thought out and settled beforehand. While it is being done it changes as one’s thoughts change. And when it is finished, it still goes on changing, according to the state of mind of whoever is looking at it. A picture lives a life like a living creature, undergoing the changes imposed on us by our life from day to day. This is natural enough, as the picture lives only through the man who is looking at it.”

“The important thing is to do, and nothing else; be what it may.”

“If you know exactly what you are going to do, what’s the good of doing it? There’s no interest in something you know already. It’s much better to do something else.”

“When there is anything to steal, I steal.”

“Drawing is no joke. There is something very serious and mysterious about the fact that once can represent a human being with line alone and create not only his likeness but, in addition, an image of how he really is. That’s the marvel!”

“I do not seek, I find.”

See you later- Gone Drawing!

Fore!

Does anyone really call that on the course? I'm afraid that my experience has been trying to get the ball through the windmill or gingerbread house on putt-putts all up and down the Eastern seaboard since childhood. Still, I was thrilled to be asked to document the FIT Golf Classic along with other MFA in Illustration peeps, Elena Mykolaitis, Bruno Nadalin, Stephen Gardner and Han Yuan Yu. It was a really fun day out in the fresh air, no lack for extreme twists and turns of those figures, looking for the eagle?

Another Woman's Life

Under the intense Indian sun, I sat, enamored of the sparkle of beads and baubles, as these beautiful women carefully stitched. We share glances, smiles, we cannot speak to each other, but it is about women being surrounded by women. For me, a moment in time, out of time, in a place far away. A chance to draw, to marvel at the detail, to bring home some trinkets. For them, the way the days go, day in, day out, hoping for those like me to appreciate and support what they do, enough to make their day profitable. In honor of Women's History Month.

Exit Dancing

The end of a chaotic semester and year has finally arrived. I was long awaiting a first trip to a conference in San Juan Puerto Rico when Hurricane Sandy hit. I thought that I would not be going, but everything went ahead as planned and off they sent me. I had survivor's guilt. In my neighborhood, the Upper West Side in Manhattan,it was life as usual-one could barely tell that there had been a devastating storm, and now, here I was in the glorious sunshine. I could not cope- and barely left my room until the sun went down- it was just too strange. So, no daytime drawings, but instead, a few made one night while dining to Flamenco- the fierce stomping of the dancer's feet and the extreme emotion in their faces brings to mind the passion with which we are moving forward through both of the Sandys of recent months. Nothing to do but exit dancing and take on the new year. Wishing you all a productive and peaceful year~ Melanie

Last Beach Day: NY

Looking out today at the grey skies makes me happy that I made the pilgrimage to the beach from NYC- Wall to wall people at Penn Station, coffee cups in hand, the air already smelling of sun screen. This was it- the last weekend of sunny beach days and even though it meant crowding into a train car and then, walking with thousands to the boardwalk, praying that there would be umbrellas left to rent, clamoring for our little bit of square ft of sand, it was worth it. I thought that everyone left town on Labor Day?!