Back soon!

I'm off to London for a week. Rain permitting I hope to have photos and drawings to post when I get back!

Sketches

I missed the 'Sunday sketch' last week but I'd like to make this a habit so I made a determined effort this weekend, no computer until I had done some sketching. I'm so glad I did. I took my little sketching stool out into the garden and drew the variegated leaves of the hibiscus, the French lavender, a lily and something else I don't know the name of but it has super shaped seeds. I'm pleased with the how the leaves turned out - I've always wanted to do little watercolour sketches from nature - but the lily wasn't so great. No doubt it's my lack of skill but also I was painting on very smooth paper and I don't like how the paint handles on that. The morning was so bright and still and I found that birds and insects don't see see you if you don't move so they fly around very close. There is an atmosphere in the early mornings that is quite unlike the rest of the day, if only I wasn't so lazy, I'd be out there more often.

The still life and the lemons are copied from a watercolour book that shows how to paint step by step. It's quite useful but I don't really like to copy other paintings. They came out OK but not so OK that I want to scan them and let anyone scrutinize them! I've also been trying to paint my bag. I showed it to the teacher last week and she was impressed but I find it frustrating when I know in my head what I want to achieve but the water, paint, paper and brush won't co-operate and oblige! I can't yet look at a subject and know which techniques I will need or how many washes in what sort of concentration of pigment. It's still all trial and error.





















The sketching in public is coming along though. Yesterday, I collected Alex from the school after a school trip but the coach was half an hour late. I spent the time sketching one of the smaller buildings as it had lovely old shutters and a wisteria growing up the walls. Loads of people passed me but only one seemed to notice! I've been so worried about it but I find it amusing to think that if I was an attention seeker, I'd be very disappointed. Most people don't really notice what's going on around them..






















I drew these a while ago when the builders were here extending our patio but forgot to post them. They finished only a week over time and were very pleasant and efficient. One, or sometimes two, of them would turn up at 7.38am every morning, stop at 12 exactly for an hour and leave a few minutes after 5pm. Sounds like Swiss efficiency but they were Albanian. It was just that they were arriving and going by bus and the buses run like clockwork here! I've no idea what they used to talk about but the two that were usually here seemed to be very good friends, always laughing and having animated conversations. The top drawing is of them deep in conversation, having finished at 5pm but with a few minutes to wait before they needed to go for the 5.08 bus! (The stop is right outside the house.) Somehow, I doubt this behaviour is not usual in the building trade! I'm glad to get my garden back, but it was no hassle at all having them here.

Life drawing

I loved this pose. Mostly the poses seem to be lying down which I have come to realise I don't like but this looked lovely and natural. The model turned up late and then this pose turned out to be too difficult to keep so all in all it wasn't one of the easiest sessions. It was bad enough that she had to change her legs but she seemed not to consider it necessary to keep her hands in the same position throughout either. I stuck with the original pose but there wasn't enough time for me to feel satisfied with the drawing. I would have liked to have more shading done, especially on the knees and legs which I really enjoyed doing. B pencil

Life drawing

I was hoping to concentrate on hands and feet today but that wasn't easy with this pose! Oh well. I was determined however to do two or more drawings today so at least I achieved that goal. I got a little more caught up in the shading than I wanted to, trying to make that twist in the back work, so I set a time limit and stopped myself.











A quick sketch. I quite enjoyed the first drawing and my concentration went a bit off with this one. Initially I drew the face but it was so strange (from gravity and being squashed) that I rubbed it out again. I didn't have time to improve on this or I would have tried making those feet look better. B pencil.

It's a dog's life

I was swanning around the lake today, in Cologny to be exact. I've mentioned it many times, it's the area that you'd have to have more than a couple of million to be able to live there. They say it's good to be prepared, so when I win the lottery, I think I'll buy this place! Actually I think it's an art gallery but no doubt it was a private house at some time.




















This is typical of the houses in Cologny - well hidden, stunning views and nestling in lots of greenery. There is a lot of agricultural land between it and the city so in only a matter of minutes you can escape the traffic and be in the countryside.




















I remember this strange statue from last year, when Mark and I were being shown around the area by the relocation man. He must have somehow mistaken us for multi-millionaires! Well, I'm not sure how to describe this thing except it looks like part man, part machine and part bird (it has a beak) and it might be about to fall off it's rollerskates!

















You should know that the Genevois loves their dogs (as status symbols) as much as the French. So I shouldn't have been surprised to find a shop in Cologny catering to every doggie need! Isn't that yellow jacket the business?!




















Then I spotted the dog collars, and I have to say they were amazing!





















It's a shame the shop was closed and I could only take photos through the window because I would have loved to go in and take a photo of the rows of collars. I've enhanced this, you might just be able to see, but they had so many different designs! They had lovely leads, toys, pictures, bowls of all shapes and descriptions and many more things I couldn't quite get a good look at.


















And no connection with dogs (I hope!) here I am again at the hairdressers, having popped in on the way home. I don't think I've ever looked so ridiculous in my life! It took well over half an hour to ask her to 'do the same but just slightly lighter here'. She flicked through magazines and it seemed like highlights were a thing of the past. This isn't the first time I've felt like I'm speaking to a brick wall when talking with hairdressers and the language barrier is not the reason. I realised early on that lack of intelligence is a greater barrier. Part of the problem is that unlike the UK where training seems fairly consistent, here they employ all sorts of strange techniques for hacking away at the hair. In the UK (and everywhere else I've been, come to think of it) they section the hair and work around it, then they make sure the sections are matching and check the two sides of the head to see that it's symmetrical, blow dry, then check again and adjust if necessary. Here they have no routine at all and a couple of times left part of the hair uncut until I asked them to do it! I felt like a very difficult customer today but I'm quite fed up of wearing their incompetence on my head! I look really miserable in this sketch but it was nothing to how I felt! I told the hairdresser I'd never seen this technique before - that's cotton wool on my head - and she said proudly, 'oh yes, it comes from Paris'!

Electricity boxes

I've no idea if these things are called electricity boxes but I'm sure something electrical is going on in there! I noticed this one, decorated to look like a radio, yesterday in Plan Palais. I've noticed that all over Geneva these boxes are all decorated differently and have been meaning to take photos.




















Close to me in Chene Bourg. I'd have to stand in the road to take the other side which has a cafe scene.


















Place Favre





















Next to it is this one, which always catches my eye because the light area with the waterfalls looks to me like a profile of a man with a helmet or military hat on.




















The other side with an image of Louis Favre.

Plan Palais market

I passed through the market at Plan Palais today. It seems to operate seven days a week and although I've seen it from the tram I never stopped for a closer look. I saw these very unusual mushrooms. They looked quite lovely in the dappled sunlight.















At the next stall I saw some more that I've never seen before. These ones were labeled 'Grifoli' so I Googled them and thought it fortunate I wasn't tempted to buy them as they should be eaten with caution.





















I had to take a photo of these as the colours were so beautiful!





















Shame I got the focus wrong here because these tiny strawberries had lovely subtle shading. Plan Palais is a large diamond shaped area on the map of Geneva where we went to see the Cirque de Soleil last year. I expected it to be a lovely park but the reality is it's a huge, empty, open area surrounded on all sides by buildings - perhaps like Central Park but without the grass and trees! I find it quite unattractive and a bit strange but it's always buzzing with activity.

Sunday sketch

A quick pencil sketch sitting on the front patio. It could qualify as drawing in public except it's not overlooked! I added a touch of white pastel pencil as an afterthought to see if it would show on this paper (it's lighter than it appears here) and it did. It was a bit rough since I wasn't looking at the plant but I think it will be worth exploring.

This week...

...was a little strange. Little things that didn't really warrent blogging about on their own. The small bird in Paul's bedroom was probably the first.

Walking back from the watercolour class on Wednesday, I pulled a bike off a rider trapped underneath it.




















In fact now I think of it, it was on the road right behind this tree that I've already blogged about! It's just by a small roundabout and a car came around it, not very fast, and skidded to a halt quite suddenly. The road narrows here so sometimes cars have to stop to let buses and lorries past. Unfortunately the poor guy behind couldn't stop so quickly and the bike slid sideways and as he fell off it landed on top off him, trapping his leg. Since I was right beside him I went over to pull it off. He let out a horrible cry and his foot was trapped at an unnatural angle but he got up and hopefully it was nothing worse than a sprain. That bike was pretty heavy though!

Yesterday was our one year anniverary of moving into our house. The first time we looked at it, we were standing on the balcony looking over the back garden when a cat sitting in the middle of next doors garden gave us a really strange startled look and jumped up on the wall and up onto the balcony to greet us. It felt like an omen at the time. And yesterday as I opened the shutters, there was a cat on the balcony!














In fact, it was this little puddy tat that I blogged about before! I've only seen him a couple of times since we moved in, he's quite nervous and every so slightly mad!

Also yesterday waitng at the bus stop to nip up to the supermarket I stood next to a lady with a little dog, one of those 'all hair and eyeballs' terriers. It was pouring with rain and she was wearing light coloured trousers. The little dog moved closer to her and she told it off, yanking it's lead and brushing her trousers. Poor little thing was looking from her face to her trousers but obviously had no idea what she was ranting about. Made me wonder what it's like to be an animal and stuck with a stupid owner like her.

Shortly after, I walked to the bus stop on the way back (I have that timetable sussed!) and they were there again. She was still looking grumpy but the dog had other things in mind and sniffed the hedge. Then it turned around with it's back to the hedge and peed into the hedge doing a handstand, on it's two front legs! Cute trick but after seeing how the owner reacted when it only brushed against her trousers, I wonder was she so uptight she actually taught it to do that?

Finally, not very strange but interesting to me, I've discovered an alcoholic drink I like! I always say I don't drink, but I do often try a sip of Mark's if he's opened a bottle of wine. I can't really see the point of alcohol though and more especially since I get migraines. The last drink I enjoyed was a rum punch in Madagascar in 1998 and before that was a red wine I tried at a wine testing held at the office in the same year. It was the last one, the rich fruity one they saved until the end so it probably appealed to my sweet tooth! Haven't tasted a red I like as much since then. But last night Mark cracked open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate. (It was a Christmas present we had saved for a suitable occasion - which I had hoped would be winning a triple rollover!) So now if anyone asks me 'what's yours?' I can say with confidence, 'thanks, I'll have a glass of Veuve Clicqout!' Better make it a pint, lest anyone thinks I'm cheap!

EDM # 23 Draw your foot

Perhaps this drawing should come with a warning - some people are strange about feet and mine are not pretty!

When you post your drawing, EDM asks that you journal your feelings on the subject and thinking about it I have quite a lot to say about feet! I don't think I've ever had a compliment about mine, plenty of jokes about how big or long or knobbly my toes are but of all the things about myself I would like to change and worry about, surprisingly my feet are not one of them. They are what they are and if I did hate them, what could I do anyway? And besides, they have some great shapes and shadows to draw! If there is any foot I'd like to draw more, it's my brother's - his are like mine but even more exaggerated. So far he has declined but I see that Alex's feet are getting interesting!

If there is one subject that bores and angers me quicker than people telling me how busy they are, it's women who want to tell me how 'awful' it is to have small feet. Not the ones who have genuine trouble finding shoes but the ones who simply want to draw attention to their feet. Funny that they are usually the same women who like to complain about their boobs! They may as well just come out and say how much they love their 'tiny' (they are always 'tiny' aren't they?) feet and big boobs because it's obvious that's what they mean. I would be just as impressed to hear them go on about their pointy elbows or floppy earlobes!

My feet have been about a size 5 since I was a teenager. When I was working I wore court shoes all the time until I got married and moved to Norway to join Mark. For the first time I started wearing trainers and after a year I noticed my feet had spread! So now they are slightly wider I have trouble finding comfortable shoes which is literally a pain. Coming to Geneva, they have gone through another change. After going everywhere by car in Kuwait, I thought all the walking here would be good exercise. But now I have tendinitis in the inside of my left foot. I read that this can be brought on by suddenly taking up exercise - that's not common knowledge until it's too late!

Well, I think I've wasted enough of your time about my feet. The drawing represents a good use of my time though since I picked it up whenever I sat in front of the TV! HB and B pencil.