Lunch on the rainy San Antonio Riverwalk

At the end of February, I was in San Antonio TX to meet with the Gabriel Prize jury and present my project watercolors.  The weather was sadly very cold and very wet (where was that Texas sun I needed?), so I sat inside and grabbed a quick lunch of beef brisket at The County Line on the Riverwalk.
I used a very muted painting palette of nickel azo yellow, cobalt blue and permanent alizarin crimson,
the same colors I've asked the Good Bones workshop participants to use.  It can be really good to use a simple triad color palette, as it ensures a harmonious painting.

Quick sketch at lunch on the San Antonio Riverwalk.

"Sketches of Paris" opens March 6

This Thursday is the opening for "Sketches of Paris", an exhibit of over 60 watercolor sketches from my 3 months in France on the Gabriel Prize architecture fellowship. Prints of the sketches will be available for sale...I'm working like crazy to get it all ready!  Hope to see you there~~

"Sketches of Paris"

MITHUN Threshold Gallery

March 6-April 25, 2014

Pier 56, Seattle WA

Opening Reception-- Thursday, March 6, 5-7pm

Still Inside the Galerie des Glaces

This was actually the first sketch I did. One naturally looks up to the ceiling, plus my views toward the windows on the left were blocked by the masses of tourists, so it became a vertical sketch.

The Hall of Mirrors, or Galerie des Glaces, was started in 1678 by Mansart, who filled in a terrace and took over a few interior rooms to create this space.  It is symmetrically on axis with the vast view of the vast gardens.  For me, though, it was difficult to see the view out from the space.  I had originally thought I could have drawn the axial view to the gardens for my Gabriel Prize project, but it was too hard to see with the windows/doors closed to the outside.

Mirrors were extremely expensive to produce during the 1600's as the technology of the time made it very difficult to produce large sheets of glass...but workers were brought from Italy and the glass was made.  Today we don't see them as particularly large panes of glass, but it was a major production triumph and a major expense for that time.  To the courtiers, it must have been quite spectacular then, as it is still pretty over-the-top spectacular now.  After so many dark rooms throughout the palace, it is a relief to get to this space which sparkles with light and gold.  And after all, Louis XIV was the Sun King.

Difficult to draw and full of people, the Galerie des Glaces still
shimmers.  It was great to get the special permssion
to draw inside the chateau--my thanks to the Versailles Museum
for the opportunity.

Paint Out

This week, I'm up on beautiful Samish Island for the Northwest Watercolor Society's painting retreat called PAINT OUT.  It's a great event, about 50 watercolorists all together in one large room painting up a storm.  We're fed great food, stay in rustic cabins, and enjoy the inspiration, the amazing setting, and camaraderie.

Also this week I became an official signature member of the NWWS!!!! It's a wonderful honor.

My time here is usually spent painting landscapes, but my goal for these precious days is to finish up and add final touches to my final Gabriel Prize paintings.

See the location and the progress painting below...

4 of the 5 sequence paintings of the gardens at Vaux le Vicomte, in progress...more to do!

A beautiful day, the view out the window toward the bay and Mt. Baker

Such a beautiful landscape here, this will likely become a future painting.  This was taken out the window on
the passenger side while the car was moving!

Learning from Le Nôtre

With my Gabriel Prize project, I spent quite a bit of time at Versailles and Vaux-le-Vicomte. The landscape architect Le Nôtre (and this year is the 400th anniversary of his birth, so exhibits and celebrations are happening at all the châteaux he worked on), the architect Le Vau, and the interior designer/painter Le Brun all collaborated with each other in the mid-1600's to create both châteaux and vast gardens... which had a big influence on centuries of design.

In particular, I spent quite a bit of time in the gardens.  They are HUGE, the scale at Versailles is truly overwhelming.  I think I walked the grounds for days, and I was always faced with a dilemma:  do I spend time walking around, seeing and learning things, or do I sit and spend the time sketching and seeing less?  I tried to strike a balance, but it was difficult.

This is one of the sketches from Versailles that was part of a sequence through the spaces of the main axis.  Tomorrow, I'll post the entire sequence.

Learning from Le Nôtre

I learned so very much from doing these drawings, it was if I was peering directly into the mind of Le Nôtre as I discovered his use of perspective in the design. I never would have understood these things by simply snapping a photo. This learning through hand drawing and direct observation of architecture is the very premise of the Gabriel Prize award!

For example, note that the water in the distance appears to be tilting up!
Of course, the giant canal can't tilt, it's the plane in front that in fact ramps down...and look at that clever Le Nôtre...he places a sculpture/fountain right at the vanishing point for that sloping plane.  In fact, the head of Apollo IS the vanishing point, and the shape of the sculpture is a low, flat triangle that virtually completes the apex of the triangular grass area.

The walkways feel busy and populated--and they are, with carved topiary and white marble statues that punctuate the walk and contribute to the sense of perspective.

Watercolor Study for Gabriel Prize Final

Part of what I will draw and paint is a sequence of serial images that lead you through the garden at Vaux, revealing Le Nôtre's design in perpsective.  This is a photo of the watercolor study for view 5 of the sequence...

Vaux Sequence View 5 .  June 22, 2013 .  SBower
click on the image to get a better view

Studying perspective at Vaux-le-Vicomte

People had told me the Château Vaux-le-Vicomte is a special place, and they were right.

It's now been about 2 weeks, but June 15 and 16 I had the amazing opportunity to do a series of study sketches at the Château Vaux-le-Vicomte south of Paris.  I had intended to stay only the day and sketch, but in the afternoon I had the incredible opportunity to meet with M. Alexandre De Vogüé whose family still owns, lives at, and operates the château.  Very down-to-earth and welcoming, he kindly invited me to stay that Saturday night, even providing a new toothbrush and toothpaste (doesn't get any more gracious than that), so that I could witness two amazing events at the château.

I spent most of that day sketching, starting with conquering my fear of heights by standing on the windblown small balcony atop the château's dome.  It provided a great view of the gardens and I had been challenged by my Gabriel Prize advisor to sketch from up there, so I did!  I then sketched a series of drawings walking through the gardens (which would become the studies for one of my final Gabriel Prize pieces), peeking into the design mind of Le Nôtre himself and discovering firsthand the use of perspective and visual tricks in his designs.

Vaux is lovely. It is the first place the trio of Le Nôtre, Le Brun, and Le Vau all worked together in the 1600's (Louis XIV apparently liked the place so much, he imprisoned owner Nicolas Fouquet and whisked the 3 designers away to work on Versailles.) 

Saturday evening, the entire garden and château are lined with candles at dusk, followed by a show of fireworks, much as the garden was viewed during Louis XIV's day. It was really amazingly elegant and spectacular. 

The next day was an annual event, the Journée Grand Siecle, a much anticipated day where people arrive in period clothing (many carrying elaborate picnics), on horses and carriages. No detail was left out--make up, hair, shoes--the works! A squad of Musketeers dueled each other while music events and theatrical plays were sprinkled throughout the grounds.  And it was THE hot and sunny day I had waited 4 weeks for!

I must say, the people in period clothing actually did fit in better than the rest of us in our jeans.  It was an amazing insight, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience the château in these ways.

Vaux from atop the Château

Vaux gardens from the Château platform

View from the Miroir Carré

View of the Grand Canal is revealed

View looking back to the Château in the distance

Château Vaux-le-Vicomte, May 27, and a little sun

About 8 days ago, I headed south of Paris to stay with a dear friend of my dear friend Beanne.  Helen is the mayor of small village called Nanteau-sur-Essonne, and she lives in a beautiful home in the country.  Still plagued with jet-lag headaches, it was wonderful to stay here and finally adjust to the time change.

It's still raining and even pouring pretty much every day, and everyone says this is very unusual for May.  However, the day I drove to see the elegant château Vaux-le-Vicomte, there was a little sun.  I toured the building, then marched out to the Le Nôtre gardens, to begin the research for my Gabriel Prize project.

OK, this is going to be hard--the gardens are immense, and for the most part, pretty flat--which makes sketching the landscape extremely challenging.  This is my sketch of the château from pretty far into the gardens, but I'm interested in the approach to the building.  

Overworked the water...I'll blame it on the lingering jetlag!  At least the many french school kids who looked over my shoulder gave it a thumbs up!

Vaux-le-Vicomte from Le Nôtre's gardens. May27