Lockdown #2 : Project 1h 1km 1 drawing / English

[ par Marielle Durand ] ENGLISH VERSION

Rather than repeating the pattern I previously followed to describe life outside looking through my windows on the first lockdown, I have this time decided to go out and draw quick sketches of places nearby while respecting the one-hour and one-kilometer rule. 

The drawings are limited in time, space and colors : 1 hour, 1 kilometer around (paris sanitary rules) and about 3-4 colors only : orange, ocre, grey and some blue. They are mainly made of watercolor, ink and a bit of black pencil on a 220g Lana Paper Sketchbook (about 150 x 210mm) that i’ve been given just before the lockdown.

I am usually doing longer sketches and travelling in very far away places. Because of the covid and the lockdown, I there use the limits that are the same for everybody to have a new look on my neighborhood and tell short stories on the people who lives and work in this area.

It is very important to me to show how life is still going on and how to keep some links between people through my work and day-to-daydrawings.

03/11/2020

Drawing a sketch within the 1-kilometer limit. Lockdown nr 2, day 4.

That morning I had decided to go out. But before that I had to send a few things, phone somebody, call somebody else, well, I found all kinds of reasons not to leave home…
It does often happen with me that, without really meaning to, I put off a sketch, a decision, a project…or a conclusion till later !

This is why I was attracted by the idea of accepting that constraint limiting my time and space, using it as an ally and a strength. I usually can stand to draw for hours in the cold some complex subjects in all their infinite detail, but this time what I am looking for is simplicity and proximity. I have always wanted to do a project on my neighborhood and I already had the title : 13 years in Paris 13. Well, I have lived here for 14 years already and until recently I only had made a handful of sketches of places nearby. Having second thoughts when the 2nd lockdown was imposed, I decided to try to find subjects in my immediate surroundings instead of looking for them far away from home.

This view of « Butte aux cailles » is very familiar to me, with the grocer’s shop, the newspaper stand and the Lorette bakery where many teens from the nearby Saint-Vincent School come and buy their snacks and treats.

Every day, a man or a woman waits here begging. Because this man was again there that afternoon, I suppose I felt the need to do a sketch around him. Sitting on the wet floor, bearing no mask and holding out his empty coffee cup, ha attracted all the attention.

04/11/2020
Drawing a sketch within the 1-kilometer limit. Lockdown nr 2, day 6.

I was so happy to go out this morning under a bright sunshine and to reach “Brassai square”, a small garden which I am very fond of. Located between the “5 diamonds” street and a series of high buildings along the Vincent Auriol boulevard, Brassai is an almost hidden green spot planted with some pine, birch trees and rosebushes and equipped with a tennis table and a soft floor playground for stunt-friendly kids. A barrier prevents going on the grass, probably because of the return of the pandemic ? At the end of September you could still lie on the lawn, eat a picnic or contemplate the sky with half-open eyes.

A bit disappointed, I look for a sunny spot. And for my subject. I quickly find it, with the pine needles, the reddish birch trees, the 1930 red-brick building where Camille used to live, a lady sitting on a bench, some children playing between a slide and a sandpit, and some rosebushes in the foreground.

There it is high life. Shouts of victory and shouts of defeat follow each other as quickly as carnival rides. Children tell formidable stories about laser beams saving the intergalactic vessel from the bad guys, ride a wooden galloping horse, start an endless descent on the long slide…”My descent” dates back from yesterday. Strangely enough, as in previous incidents, I fell while I was climbing up. The incident was not too serious this time, but enough to remind me to be more cautious next time.

A man and a woman are playing table tennis nearby. They sound as if they have met in a club recently. The lady talks a lot, asks many questions and plays rather aggressively, although she does not seem to be aware of this. Several times I felt the wind of the ball flying near me. Just when I was about to say that table tennis can be a dangerous sport, the ball hit me!!!

07/11/2020

Drawing a sketch within the 1-kilometer limit. Lockdown nr 2, day 9.

Yesterday it took me some time to find the right subject. I first walked through the same familiar streets, then rediscovered less well known or even almost forgotten places such as “Passage Bolton”, where I admired a fresco by Philippe Baudelocque and noticed some pretty hidden houses. Then I came back to a spot nearby in the “Moulin des Prés” street and stood in front of “Misso”, the small take away shop of my dear Korean cook, Lee Young Kyung.

For several years I have been a regular customer enjoying the fresh dishes which Lee prepares on order: Bibimbap, Bulgogi, Jeyuk Deopbap, Kimchi and many other strange sounding names. And Lee’s smile and generosity always come as a bonus. Every time I visit her, we talk about art creation, sculpture (her former passion), or about walking and working. And after each visit I bring back home much more than a small sweet and sour dish !

So, yesterday I decided to stop in front of Lee’s shop. She gave me one of her small stools and brought me some tee with puffed rice to warm me up while it was getting dark. On that night I was tired and a bit slow, sketching was painstaking. Working in the dark made it even more difficult but I felt happy to draw Lee’s place at last.

A few people came and started a conversation. Among them, a man and two ladies. The first woman works in a hospital. She frightens me with her conspiracy stories…I prefer discussing with her about shades of blue or the color of her daughter’s eyes. The other lady, an older artist, works in a studio nearby. She proudly declares: “I didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t travel, but I managed to get an art studio”. Well, I didn’t smoke either, but I have travelled quite a lot and I wouldn’t mind sharing a drink, especially in this time !

If you fancy discovering Lee’s dishes, including the one highlighted in the “Parasite” movie (which by the way is delicious, but only available on order), please go to Misso, which is usually open every day from 5 pm till 9.30 pm (checking on @missocoree_paris is recommended) except on Sundays.

(Re)confinement : Projet 1h 1km 1 dessin

[ par Marielle Durand ]

Plutôt que de repartir sur le motif du 1er confinement avec mes fenêtres dessinées depuis chez moi, je joue depuis le 30 octobre de la contrainte imposée par les règles sanitaires et capte chaque jour de mon heure et kilomètre autorisés des représentations de mon environnement proche du 13e arrondissement : la butte aux cailles, le quartier des peupliers, pour parler des lieux et personnes qui y vivent et travaillent.

Ma palette est volontairement limitée également, sur des tonalités d’automne qui éclairent cette période sombre : orange, rouge et gris, avec une touche de bleu.

03/11/2020

Ce matin déjà je voulais sortir. Et puis il y a eu des choses à envoyer, un coup de fil à passer, puis deux, une excuse puis une autre et encore une autre...

Cela m’arrive souvent, et sans le vouloir, de repousser à plus tard un dessin, une décision, un projet... et même souvent une fin !

D’où cette idée de jouer de cette contrainte limitant mon espace et mon temps et d’en faire un allié et une force. Moi qui suis capable de rester des heures debout dans le froid à dessiner des sujets parfois foisonnants détails, je me permets ici d’aller vers une certaine forme de simplicité, de proximité. J’ai toujours voulu faire un travail de mon lieu de vie. Il avait déjà un titre : 13 ans dans le 13e. J’en suis déjà à ma 14e année et j’ai encore assez peu de représentations de mon voisinage. Il aura fallu attendre un 2e confinement et un certain état d’esprit pour que je m’autorise à ne pas aller chercher ailleurs ce qui est juste là, sous mes pieds.

Cette vue de la butte aux cailles, je la connais par cœur, avec l’épicier, le point presse et la boulangerie Lorette où la moitié des enfants du collège Saint-Vincent de Paul qu’on aperçoit derrière, viennent acheter leur goûter. Devant l’entrée, chaque jour, un homme ou une femme font la manche.

C’est presque lui cet après-midi qui a décidé de mon dessin.

Seul sur ce sol humide, sans masque et tendant son petit gobelet de café vide, c’était vers lui que tout convergeait.

 

04/11/2020

Grande joie cette matinée de pouvoir sortir sous ce franc soleil et d’atterrir au petit jardin Brassaï que j’affectionne tout particulièrement. Caché entre la rue des 5 diamants et une large barre d’immeubles du boulevard Vincent Auriol, c’est un coin de verdure un peu secret, avec quelques pins, des bouleaux, des rosiers, une table de Ping Pong et un terrain de jeux moelleux pour les enfants en mal de cascades. La pelouse est grillagée. Sans doute depuis le retour de la pandémie ?! Fin septembre on pouvait encore s’y étendre, pique-niquer et contempler le ciel à moitié éveillé. Un peu déçue, je cherche un coin ensoleillé. Et mon cadre. Rapidement je le vois, avec ces aiguilles de pin, les bouleaux rougeoyants, l’immeuble années 30 en briques où habitait Camille, une femme sur un banc, les enfants entre le toboggan et le bac à sable, les buissons de roses devant. La vie est là. Des cris de victoire et de déceptions se succèdent aussi vite qu’un tour de manège. Des histoires formidables et sérieuses de rayons lasers qui vont bientôt arriver pour sauver le vaisseau intergalactique des malveillants poursuivants, le cheval en bois qui s’agite, la descente infinie du toboggan.. Moi ma chute date d’hier. Et étrangement comme mes autres accidents, c’est en montant que je suis tombée. Pas gravement cette fois mais juste assez pour me dire de faire attention.

À côté de moi, un homme et une femme jouent au Ping pong. Ils semblent s’être rencontrés dans un club très récemment. La femme est loquace, pose beaucoup de questions à l’homme et envoie des balles assez agressives visiblement sans s’en rendre compte. Plusieurs fois elles manquent de m’arriver dessus. Jusqu’au moment où , en annonçant qu’on ignore trop souvent que le ping pong est un sport dangereux, la balle m’atteint !!! 

 

07/11/2020

Hier j’ai mis un peu de temps à chercher mon point de vue, à arpenter les mêmes rues connues, à reprendre celles moins empruntées, voire oubliées comme le passage Boiton où j’ai redécouvert une fresque de Philippe Baudelocque et des jolies maisons cachées. Avant de revenir tout près, rue du moulin des prés, devant la petite échoppe de ma chère cuisinière coréenne Lee Young Kyung : Misso.

Cela fait plusieurs années que je viens déguster ou emporter ses petits plats frais faits sur demande. Bibimbap, Bulgogi, Jeyuk Deopbap, kimchi et autres noms qui m’échappent tant leurs sonorités sont lointaines. Mais c’est aussi un sourire et une générosité qui nous y attend. A chacune de mes visites, nous discutons ensemble de création, de sculpture que Lee faisait avant, de marche, de travail.. Et je repars toujours avec bien plus qu’un petit plat aigre-doux ! Alors hier j’ai arrêté mes recherches devant sa devanture. Lee m’a proposé un de ses petits tabourets et m’a ramené un thé au riz soufflé pour ne pas prendre froid avec la nuit qui arrivait. Ce week-end j’étais fatiguée et plus lente, c’était laborieux. Le manque de lumière ne m’a pas aidé mais j’étais heureuse d’enfin dessiner ce lieu. Quelques personnes m’ont parlé encore. Parmi eux, un homme et deux femmes. La première travaille dans le milieu hospitalier. Elle me fait presque peur avec ses histoires de complots.. Je préfère quand on parle de bleus et des yeux de sa fille. L’autre, une artiste assez âgée, a son atelier juste à côté. Elle me dit fièrement “J’ai pas fumé, j’ai pas bu, J’ai pas voyagé mais j’ai un atelier ! » Bon, J’ai pas fumé non plus mais j’ai voyagé et je renoncerai pas à partager un bon verre, surtout ces jours-ci !

Sinon pour les petits plats et celui que vous voyez dans le film “Parasite” (qui est délicieux mais sur réservation) c’est donc chez @missocoree_paris ouvert de 17h à 21h30 (horaires à vérifier parfois) sauf le dimanche.

Je publie presque chaque jour ces dessins. Il y en a aujourd’hui près d’une cinquantaine.

Adhérez pour 2021! l'adhésion devient annuelle et une surprise pour les premiers...

 [Par Urban Sketchers Paris ]

Urban Sketchers Paris réunit des personnes pour partager des activités artistiques autour du dessin in Situ (Urban Sketching) à Paris et dans le Grand Paris.

Nous promouvons la création, la diffusion et la recherche autour du dessin in Situ sous toutes formes et pratiques dans l’esprit des mouvements nationaux et internationaux « Urban Sketchers ».
Nous transmettre et créons des liens sociaux et pédagogiques autour de l’Urban Sketching.

L'adhésion à l'association est désormais annuelle, donc adhérez pour 2021!
Cette adhésion vous permettra : 
- de participer à l’assemblée générale et de voter pour les membres du bureaux 
- de participer aux sessions virtuelles Zoom Drink & Draw 
- de recevoir des goodies Urban Sketchers Paris
- de postuler pour être correspondant du blog Urban Sketchers Paris 
- de postuler pour participer à nos ateliers bénévoles avec le Secours Populaire
- de postuler pour participer aux futures expositions
- de postuler pour participer aux futures éditions
- d’avoir une inscription plus tôt (Early Bird) et une réduction de 10% sur les Workshops
- d’être informé en premier des projets à venir et de pouvoir y postuler
- de proposer des projets et actions intéressants pour l’association
Pour adhérer c’est 12€ , c’est facile, c'est sur Hello Asso!

Vous pouvez aussi être plus généreux, si vous en avez l’envie et les moyens!

Une surprise, concoctée avec le Secours Populaire, arrivera dans les boîtes aux lettres des 80 premiers adhérents, alors ne tardez pas!

Un grand merci de participer à l’évolution du groupe Urban Sketchers Paris, à la diffusion du dessin sur le vif et aux projets pédagogique dans le champ social. 


Les rencontres organisées par différents dessinateurs 3 à 4 fois par mois (hors périodes de confinement) sont gratuites et ouvertes à tous (sans adhésion obligatoire) 
Nous proposons tous nos rendez-vous sur le groupe Urban Sketchers Paris sur Flickr 
Chacun est libre d’organiser et de proposer un rendez-vous. Il suffit de choisir un jour, un horaire, un lieu de rendez-vous précis pour le début et un café pour la fin. 

Nous les relayons quelques jours avant sur : 
Facebook : Urban Sketchers Paris
Instagram : @uskparis 

A bientôt pour dessiner ensemble et prenez soin de vous !

Usk Talks avec Marielle Durand, 1HOUR 1KM, c'est dimanche 17 janvier à 16h!

 [ par Urban Sketchers Paris ]

Nous vous donnons rendez-vous pour l'épisode 3 de Usk Talks avec Marielle Durand, "1HOUR 1KM", dimanche 17 janvier à 16h.

Ne la manquez pas, il y aura aussi Thierry Chehab de Usk Lebanon. Ils seront interviewés par le formidable Rob Sketcherman. C'est sur You Tube, abonnez-vous à Urban Sketchers!

A dimanche!

USkTalks S2E1: USk Paris - Together Through Lockdowns and Beyond / PART 2

 [ par Urban Sketchers Paris ]

During the exhibition of drawings by children from Secours Populaire at the Panthéon, a curator from the Conciergerie in charge of the event "Nos prisons imaginaires" for the Centre des monuments nationaux suggested that we participate in this event which takes place during the drawing art fair « Drawing Now ». The idea was to install surfaces to be painted the size of a prisoner's cell, i.e. nine square meters, and that three artists representing the average number of prisoners per cell create a work on the theme "Our imaginary prisons". First of all, as Urban sketchers, we decided to build a work based on our observation on location to reflect a reality. To do this, we had to be able to go into a prison and organize drawing workshops with prisoners. With Marion we met the director of the one and only prison in the heart of Paris called, La Santé. Bruno Clément Pétremann, who was very much in favour of the project, gave us permission to organize sketching workshops in the morning with inmates from an open part of the prison. And in the afternoon to go and draw the different areas of the prison: the walking yards, the cells, the corridors...
Considering that the opportunity was extraordinary, we formed an expanded team of talented, solid and motivated Parisian Urban Sketchers: Claire Archenault, Mat Let, Marielle Durand, Tula Moraes, Marion and myself. We also invited a photographer Carole Charbonnier and a video artist David Rivolier who accompanied us to keep track of the unique context in which the drawings were made.

Before starting our workshops, we all received special training to adjust our behavior to our intervention in detention. There are codes and conventions to be respected. We asked Canson and Faber Castell France to give us drawing supplies. Each instructor had to prepare a specific workshop for each session: perspective, moving characters, self-portrait, portrait... 
Then we installed all these drawings, those of the inmates and ours, on a reconstructed plan of the prison and the streets surrounding it during a performance that took place over 5 days at the Conciergerie in Paris, taking turns to fix the drawings and paint around them building ans skyes. This work was exhibited to the public for 15 days at the Conciergerie where the Museum of the French Revolution is located. 

First of all, discovering a prison reality is a shock. An inmate spends an average of 22 hours out of 24 locked up with two fellow inmates in a 9 square meter cell. If the outside world does not come to them, they are in a dark and desperate world in which it is difficult not to go mad. The coming of our team with this drawing and exhibition project was very warmly welcomed by the prisoners. A little shy at the beginning with their notebooks and pencils, where they had the impression to fall into childhood, very quickly they realized the interest of the sketch to tell their world in drawing, their reality. Drawing gave them strength and, above all, fixed their daily life on paper and left them a testimony, as they were deprived of a camera and a telephone. 

In the perspective of the exhibition, the moment when they chose their artists' names and to sign their drawings was a high point. 

In a prestigious historical site, La Conciergerie, the oldest house of the kings of France, and prison where Queen Marie Antoinette was incarcerated, we were able to present to the public the drawings that depict the reality of prison confinement. It is a way to reweave the link between the forgotten of a dark world and society. A first step towards probation and reintegration. For our democracies, it is a question of not simply monitoring and punishing convicts, but also of awakening their conscience, revealing them to the best of their ability to reintegrate as well as possible. Artistic practice is a benefit in this sense. To better endure the sentence, but also to reveal oneself to oneself. 

The prospect of being exposed as artists in their own right made them feel a great sense of pride. When we showed them the work they had done, they were all happy to have done a work with us that was worthy of being shown in a museum. This gave them a form of self-esteem. A consideration. 
For the sketchers it was an extraordinary human and artistic adventure. That of entering a closed, secret and forbidden world. And that of forging links with people rejected by society and yet who have no choice. 
During the realization of the work on the ground, it is very physical to paint on 9 square meters. Without the meticulous preparation of Marion Rivolier who is a scenographer, our interventions on the ground would have been more chaotic and especially more acrobatic. Thanks to her and the whole team of sketchers involved psychologically and physically in the project from the start to the end. 
Our workshops have been so successful with both inmates and guards that the management asked us to think about new interventions after this summer. This great humanity adventure continues. And we are very proud. 
The huge art piece, "Voyage autour de ma cellule" (Journey around my cell), is now exhibited inside the prison so that inmates can see it in real life and not only a paper reproduction. Given its size, this is a holy project!

The most important for us is the sharing of practice beyond meetings with different audiences who do not have access to this practice, such as the most deprived, migrants, prisoners, the disabled ..... To draw could help them to go beyond their conditions and offer them a new perspective. For us, the exchanges are deeply rich from an artistic and human point of view. We give but we receive a lot!
Whatever the projects and proposals, we are always ready to learn from the solidarity experiences that are offered to us. As Urban Sketchers, our practice becomes a social commitment.

This only exists because we are a fantastic team, full of energy, supportive, reliable and responsive.

Thank you very Urban Sketchers, Rob & the Usk Talks team for this wonderful interview!

Watch the Usk Talk on You Tube (-;

#usktalks

#uskparis

USkTalks S2E1: USk Paris - Together Through Lockdowns and Beyond / PART 1

 [ par Urban Sketchers Paris ]

Our chapter is special because we are always aware to create events or to push new projects proposed by Usk. We have an energic team who wants to do things for the community of sketchers.

 

Urban Sketchers Paris was created eleven years ago by Kim Marhon. I (Marion) met the group in 2012 (two thousand twelve) during a sketchcrawl. Straight away, I actively participated in the group's activities, especially the meetings and the blog. Around 2014, I became the leader of the group, the “grand manitou” as Brigitte says! I organized events and exhibitions (musée Carnavalet, cité de l’archi where I met Brigitte, musée Rodin, Usk 10 years anniversary, etc) and 3 years ago, as an official Usk instructor, I organized the Usk 10x10 during two years.
Brigitte: On my side I joined the Usk Paris group in 2013 and proposed mainly meetings with sketchers in famous Parisian bookstores with events like exhibition, publication. In 2019, I decided to get involved in the social sphere and wanted to propose solidarity actions with USK Paris. This common desire with Marion matched with the Urban Sketchers Grant Program.

Two years ago, we started to work with the Secours Populaire, a non-profit association with the mission of acting against poverty and exclusion in France, to create a workshop program for children. I proposed several courses about “CAPTURE THE SPIRIT OF ARTWORK IN A MUSEUM SPACE”. We wanted to take the children (from 6 to 12 years old) to museums and make them discover works through drawing. We would like to create a meeting, a look, and a sharing between children and a cultural place.

After weeks of organization, with six volunteers, we started the project in April 2019, without the grant, with four courses at the Panthéon, an historical place in Paris. It was a good training to learn about this new way of teaching children and we finished the year with an exhibition of children’s works inside the Panthéon: A huge pride for them and their parents!

From that, we went at Musée Guimet, an Asian arts museum, where we celebrated the Usk Grant program with two amazing workshops about Asian art. Early 2020 (two thousand twenty), we were at Cité de l’archi and Palais de Tokyo. We also participated in other events with Secours Pop: distribution of gifts or a day at the sea where we drew these moments spent together. Moreover, we are in the process of making a calendar with Le Secours Populaire which will be distributed to partners and volunteers.

Unfortunately due the pandemic crisis, we stopped this project, twice, in March and in October. To do something anyway, we designed printed newsletters that were distributed with food aid packages. So the children could draw a bit of their home if they wanted to.

We want now to warmly thank our incredible volunteers team : Mat Let, Claire Archenault, Sylvie Lehoux, Tula Moraes, Stéphanie Senez, Elise Robineau, Marta Fonfara, Sai Sai, and Marielle Durand. Carole Charbonnier for the beautiful pictures she made during the workshops.

We want to thank our partners :  Canson paper and Faber Castell France  have offered the drawing material for all the workshops since the beginning. And of course the cultural places who welcomed us.

Watch the Usk Talk on You Tube (-;

#usktalks

#uskparis

USK TALK EP1 - S2 / THE CHALLENGE : Paint your window view

 [ par Urban Sketchers Paris ]

Step 1
Sketch what you see at your window outside.
Direct watercolor is better to get a depth effect at the end.
Start very lightly with diluted colors like a clear juice.

Second Step
Bring details with deep colors very bright in the foreground
For the building windows payne grey is great and phtalo green also .
Bring values and Shadows.

Step 3
Draw the windows frames
With a small brush and a very dark color that you get mixing: brown, indigo and red. Even if your window is clear, against the light it looks dark.
Don’t forget all little details: cremonese, handles… to put light inside use the reserve paper.

Step 4

to finish your sketch and give the feeling you are behind the glass:
Create the reflect of the window, using a big brush (a real one not a reservoir brush, it is very important) and on a very dry sketch put a blue phatlo deluted brushstroke . As if you are washing tiles. Don’t be afraid, you must have a decided gesture. After drying the blue color will be very light. Reflect must not be too regular, some parts must stay clean.

Enjoy and share your drawing on Instagram with  @uskparis @blannaudlevy @marion_rivolier

#usktalks

#usktalkschallenge

#uskparischallenge

Watch the Usk Talk on You Tube (-;

USkTalks S2E1: USk Paris - Together Through Lockdowns and Beyond

[ par Urban Sketchers Paris ]

L'épisode 1 de la Saison 2 de Usk Talks est disponible sur la chaîne You Tube de Urban Sketchers.

Brigitte Lannaud Levy et Marion Rivolier y parle des projets avec Le Secours Populaire et le Centre Pénitentiaire Paris La Santé.

Merci à Urban Sketchers et à l'équipe incroyable des Usk Talks pour cette magnifique opportunité de présenter nos projets à la communauté.

Usk Talk c'est dimanche 3 janvier à 16h sur You Tube !

 [ par Urban Sketchers Paris ]

Une bonne nouvelle pour commencer l'année 2021 avec énergie, chaleur et partage:

Urban Sketchers Paris sera mis à l’honneur dans l’épisode 1 de la Saison 2 de Usk Talk conçue et animée par Urban Sketchers.
Marion Rivolier et Brigitte Lannaud Levy seront interviewées par le fabuleux Rob Sketcherman. Notre ami Dwa parlera aussi de l’accueil dont il a fait l’objet à Paris et de son expérience parisienne.

C’est dimanche 3 janvier à 16h en direct sur la chaîne YouTube de Urban Sketchers. Abonnez-vous avant le live et regardez-nous en direct !

Nous parlerons notamment des projets éducatifs avec le Secours Populaire et le centre pénitentiaire Paris La Santé.

A bientôt.