back from the travelbook fair in clermont-ferrand

one week ago, I was at the travelbook fair "le rendez-vous du carnet de voyage" of clermont-ferrand, and as last year, I spent a huge but exhausting week end, presenting my last sketchbooks and editions, including my past book "barcelona m'inspira" and the upcoming book "oldies but goldies"!

I did the ride from barcelona with my spanish buddies miguel herranz, swasky, santi and luis ruiz, and as last year, it was a pleasure to meet again some old friends, as damien roudeau, david lopez, guillaume reynard, bastien dubois, elsie or véronique groseil (…)

on friday, the "school day", no way to escape to portraits kids and teenagers (david describe it so well here), this is one of the few I manage to sketch on my sketchbook… I was also teaching a workshop titled "de la tête aux pieds" about portrait, and had a talk in front of 5 classes about the value of sketching everyday life in spite of exotic places.

and we were working until very late, here in a bar next to sebastian loerscher, who amaized me with his illustrations of haïti, or there sketching with inkpen and wine on the table cloth:

or here with aleksi cavaillez.

and I couldn't left the fair without sketching évariste, one of the figure of the festival.
we continue the party with the urban sketchers france, thanks to tazab, who invite us to a "mique-party" (a traditional dish from corrèze, that was nearly as good as the one of my grandma, merci jean-pierre) and finished the day sketching a renault dauphine at 2am with emily, cat, fabien, luis, santi, swasky, gérard michel and tazab:

and if I did not tell you all these before, it's that I get lost in the many books I bring back from there!!

thanks to the association ifav for the organisation of the festival, and to all the sketchers and visitors, and I hope to meet you again next year!!

miquelrius contest

don't miss this contest by miquelrius to win this original moto drawing!
you have until the 18th of november to participate.

"rendez-vous du carnet de voyage 2013"

from friday to sunday, I will be in clermont-ferrand for the "rendez-vous du carnet de voyage", the biggest sketchbook and travelbook fair that is celebrating it 14th edition.
I will present there my book "barcelona m'inspira" and a preview about my upcoming book "oldies but goldies".
see you there!

make the book "oldies but goldies" real!

everybody knows my passion about old, vintage cars.
I can't pass by an old car without drawing it. I love imagining about their owners, highways they have crossed,memories they have witnessed and the stories behind their dust, scratches and broken parts.

 through my drawings I like to share their glamourous stories to remind their golden times. therefore I gathered all my car drawings and created a beautiful compilation called "oldies but goldies".
but this new sketchbook needs your support to be published !
so here is the video of my project and the "verkami: crowdfunding" link!


if you feel the same way about those old, vintage cars, help me and be part of this project, sharing it, and making it real!
"oldies but goldies" is a great way not to let those legendary cars be forgotten on a narrow street and let them become immortal on pages.

breakfast with "maison artist"

thanks "maison artist" for the featuring on your blog!
we had a delicious breakfast at mandarosso pastís.

back from berlin

I meet the urban sketchers berlin last week end at umboldt box. thanks omar for organising this sketchcrawl for jenny's visit, and great to meet all of you, rolf, elói, conor, katrin, olga…

"little dudes" exhibition in berlin - update

I'm on the way to berlin for the inauguration tonight of the collective exhibition "little dudes" at the  urban spree galerie.
my little dude arrived too late for the family pictures, but just on time for the party, next to 90 more little dudes!
if you're in berlin, see you tonight!

rumba para bebo

I had an emergency call yesterday afternoon, to replace at night sagar during his workshop "drawing on location" at "barts", a concert organise in homage to bebo valdés during the "45 voll-damm festival internacional de jazz de barcelona". sagar must have been very hill to miss this opportunity to sketch with such a huge selection of jazz players…
here are a few sketches made during the workshop, while attending to draw guided by the rhythm, and catching the movement in some extreme condition (no light and no space) but listening to the best cuban jazz music:

gabi campanario

gabi campanario, my friend and founder of the amazing urban sketchers community was in barcelona last week.
it was good to see you gabi, see you soon!

"little dudes" exhibition in berlin

I will participate to the collective exhibition "little dudes" in berlin at the  urban spree galerie.
the opening is the 1st of november, if you're around, have a look, toys get customized by a 100 artists all over the world, and auction will go to charities.

41st sketchcrawl in barcelona

in "los corts" district.

aboca museum

during the past workshop in sansepolcro, toscana, we visited the  wonderful "aboca museum", about the history of herbs in alchemy and medicine over the centuries.
here a snapshot of their great collection:




the poison room door:

"sketch & drugs & rock'n'roll" exhibition in paris

if you're in paris on friday, don't miss the sketchbook exhibition "sketch & drugs & rock'n'roll" by illustration faculty & friends.
 
vernissage next friday 18th of october, 6pm to 9pm.
Paris College of Art
15 Rue Fénelon, 75010 Paris.

some of my sketches will be part of the show, 
next to marielle durand, placid, rocco, lionel richerand, olivia sautreuil, loïc sécheresse, singeon waters & carole xénard.

oh yeah!

(merci m. sécheresse pour l'invit'!)

fiat 500

hung to the wall, "galeria de paris", porto.

made in italy

workshop in sansepolcro, toscana

I'm back from toscana, where gérard michel and I taught an urban sketching workshop "sketching in the footsteps of piero della francesca" about curvilinear perspective.
it takes place in sansepolcro, the hometown of piero della francesca, where he defined the first rules of modern perspective, using one vanishing point, in the XVth century.
gérard told us about opening our point of view, while sketching some cylindrical and spherical perspective, using 4 to 6 vanishing points (in an orthogonal space), in order to represent the all space around us.
but the main point of our class was to enjoy sketching perspective, and it seems that our small group of 14 sketchers did enjoy a lot the 3 days…

sorry marcello, francesco and maurizio, you were not back from lunch when we did this picture… and thanks to all of you who shared this unforgettable week end.

sansepolcro is a very inspiring place, in the east of toscana (with incredible food).
we enjoy the great architecture there and in anghiari to apply both cylindrical and spherical perspective:

on sunday, we spent the morning in the main place "piazza torre di berta", and I plan to give back to the city the missing tower "berta" that was destroyed during the 2nd world war (do not miss the testimony "l'ultima ombra" about it), and the top of the other towers of the medieval centre, that were cut centuries ago…

and we had lot's of fun while sketching each other at night, on the tablecloth!!
thanks fabio for organising it, and see you soon buddies!

rua de 31 de janeiro

"art nouveau" stores in porto.

portrait without mercy

my participation to the mercyless new blog: "portrait without mercy":

I just mind that I've got plenty of merciless portraits while fishing for my first entry there, but I especially like that one of our host cesar "eclecticbox".

thanks eclecticbox for the invitation to the party, and beware to all of you next time we'll meet!