Holidays homework in Normandy #1 - Bic, pilot fountain pen and tubes watercolours

Two hours at Paris station between two trains...

I was afraid to get bored, my mistake, the French trains company has set pianos for passengers to play. "Your turn to play", they call it. We're lucky, today's passenger is a great musician, and nothing can stop him ! The other passengers do stop by, as hypnotized, so do I...

My turn to play. First one following the music, straight away with the calligraphic fountain pen. Only one line, to be able to catch an eye on the pianist movements and the other eye on my little suitcases. Standing up, what an organisation to draw, anyway, it's worth it ! 

This guy is such a magician, makes everybody's day ! I can see at least 30 people of all ages around him, stuck with admiration. Even an old chap tiptapping his fingers on his trousers following Adèle : incredible !

At last a young guy puts slowly his arm around the lady next to him, not just a friend anymore : might want to thank the train company for once in his life !  

A bit of Bic classic 4 colours, mixing without mixing, keep it clear, big program !  

Wow, nearly lost my train !

Draw the passengers on the quiet, their reflection appears upside down in the luggage cristal shelf above us... Give a try to shiny black hair and glasses with black tint blocks, only one line...

Catch up with the summer tradition of sunset picnics, which is always a poker bluffing party in Normandy. If the weather is nice, we can even see the Jules Verne green ray. I only saw it once this year.  

Open up the Sennelier tubes. Veronese green is just perfect for the sea. Shari Blaukopf triad colours are great for the sky : aureolin yellow, alizarin crimson, ultramarin blue.

On the hill, cardons so-called "witch brushes" in spanish ! Great cosmetic and therapeutic tool for the old times doctor-ladies. Off the shore, oil tankers wait quietly for traders to lower the prices before they join the Havre harbour.

Music + Atmosphere = Funny drawing technique

What's going on?

That's because of music ! Hang on, I'll tell you how it begun... 

Well it's been a while, you know, I've always had neighbors who sing, some rockers, some sopranos, even an actress from Gran Via (Broadway in Madrid, Spain). Their voices influence us, even their singing exercises at the beginning "aaaaAAAAAaaaa" (such as the Castafiore or Michael Jackson)

But in all a sudden, no more singers! 

Now my neighbor is a musician. The singing exercice is now a violin creaking, but it's still the same : it means let the concert begin, awesome ! I take my pencil and prick my ears up. Switch off the radio, babe, 'cause angels are our guests today ! And now you'll see how it all influences our drawings, some in a sad way, some in an atomic way...

It's such a gift. When I come back from Spain, my neighbor plays  Carmen with his clarinet. Ma qué it's tremendous... I don't even notice I draw the building as white as the houses in the south of Spain! (ho, ho, this building is usually pink...) 

Sometimes I don't feel like switching off my music. This makes the weirdest musical sandwich. For instance :

Formidable de Stromaé (the clip is not bad!) 

+ Mendelssohn by Anne Sophie Mutter (my neighbor, but without orchestra...)

= I remember of Sagar telling us to make a twilight sandwich in our drawings.

Look at that, another neighbor has put fluorescent sheets to dry outside, let's try a Stromaé Mendelssohn Sagar !

All right.

Now another try at bar. There's a guy, he's from Réunion island, he sings, he pulls people's legs outside the bar... I hide myself but no way "OH HELLO A'TIST!"... 

Singing Réunion accent

+ Singing colors on his shirt

= Interpretation of a summer bar (And don't forget, really important in France, a fresh one or a pastaga)

Another modern recipe :

Video-clip of Discovery Daft Punk 

+ graphic tablet

= What an exotic flat I get ! (and an exotic reflection on the lamp !)

I think I would have enjoyed learning how to play the music when I was a child !

Ok let's do it again, take your pencil !

Summertime...