Jacques Russell

Jacques Russell

Jacques Russell
Coloured pencil drawing, 280 x 290 mm, February, 2014.

There are trips where one boards an aeroplane and flies somewhere in real time.  Then there are trips of the mind where one meanders from one drawing to another and ends up far away from embarkation point.   After drawing a series of Australian birds in late 2013, now (mentally) I am back in Paris.   To quote from a “Talking Heads” song,  “You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?” (“Once in a Lifetime”)

In December I flew to London (physically).  While there I toured areas rich with street art.  When I came back to Australia, the London street art I’d viewed influenced my choice of subject matter.  Two pictures I drew post-London were “Low” and “White Noise“.  They were; however, drawn from photos of street art I had taken on an earlier voyage to New York.

Low
A drawing of New York street art from January, 2014.

White Noise
My second drawing of New York street art, also drawn in January 2014.

I thought that the elegant paste-up girl in both these drawings looked a little French.  My mind started to veer towards Paris.  So it is no surprise that I chose an example of Paris street art for my next study, which I called “Life is Beautiful“.

Life is Beautiful
A drawing of Paris street art, from January 2014.

I’ve gone (mentally) from New York to Paris; all started by ACTUALLY going to London. After “Life is Beautiful” I couldn’t leave Paris, now that I was back.  I remembered how good Paris felt.  So I followed up with “Tableau“.

Tableau
Coloured pencil drawing, 395 x 395 mm. Paris. February 2014.

I enjoyed drawing “Tableau” very much, (the photo originated from an October 2012 trip).  There was that lovely Paris light once again, glowing out from my piece of paper.  Working on the dog was fun.  It led me … (pourquoi pas?)… to another dog.  Which brings us to the current drawing “Jacques Russell”.

Jacques Russell
Coloured pencil drawing, 280 x 290 mm, February, 2014.

“Jacques Russell” was a dog I spotted as I wandered around Saint Germain des Prés in April 2012.  I had just arrived that very morning all the way from Australia.  I may have been sleep-deprived but I was so excited that I had to explore the streets immediately.  Sleep would wait.  The dog sat in the doorway of a stylish boutique.  I only stopped for a second, bent down and photographed him, then continued on my way.   It didn’t occur to me to draw him until the dog in “Tableau” paved the way for me to see this terrier’s artistic potential.  He’s stylish, aristocratic and French.  Matthew (husband) thought up the title “Jacques Russell”.  He said it was a throw away line but it seemed just right for this Parisian pampered pooch.

Now I have finished my little Jack Russell terrier, what will I draw next?  I don’t know however as I’m in Paris I’d like to hang out here a bit longer.  Sometimes I question whether I am captain or passenger on my voyage of discovery where each drawing is a port of call.

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Tableau

Tableau

Tableau
395 x 395 mm
Coloured pencil drawing completed in February 2014.
A moment captured one evening in Saint Germain des Prés.

“Tableau: a group of models or motionless figures representing a scene.” Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary.  What does this scene represent?  To me it speaks of domesticity; the never-ending care of others…especially if one is a woman.   It isn’t a complaint.  It’s just the way it is.

I found this tableau in Saint Germain des Prés on the first night I arrived in Paris in October 2012.  I had come from another part of Europe and was exhausted from long flight delays.  I’d already been away from Australia for a week and I still had another week left of my solo trip.  I felt lonely for my family and Paris seemed aggressive.  Outside my hotel window brakes-screeching buses honked their horns at cars and pedestrians.  Police cars and ambulances raced through traffic with ear-splitting sirens.  My hotel room was tiny and so close to Boulevard Saint Michel that the sirens wailed within my tiny ‘cell’ rather than without.  Good old Paris plumbing; the toilet made wierd gurgling noises every time somebody in another room flushed.  How would I sleep?  It had been a mistake to come back to this city.   Reality contradicted Romance.    But I was here to work so I picked up my camera and went outside.

Though I started out feeling low, my senses were alert and on the look-out in the fascinating Saint Germain des Prés surroundings.  Without realising it, Paris was working its magic on me.  Ever so slowly I began to have fun.  One of the photos I took that evening became this drawing.  When I got back to my room I wrote in my journal “I went out tonight in the worst mood, feeling so hostile towards the crowds and the noise.  Despite all that I did feel some of the charm.  Much of the time I felt that my affair with Paris was over!  It probably isn’t.  Despite my misery at the ‘shock of the new’ ie being back in Paris on a thoroughly swarming-with-crowds Saturday night, and my thinking I don’t like it any more, I still have taken some lovely photos”.

This drawing could have been called “Art Meets Life”, “Life Imitates Art”, or “Strange Days” (the latter from a “Doors” album).  In the end I chose “Tableau”.  It doesn’t matter that only one of the figures is a living human.  The motionless dog waits expectantly for his human.  The paste-up smiling housewife eternally mops while the woman sees to the dog’s needs.  The paste-up head of Sid Vicious has an A (for ‘anarchy’) coming out of his mouth.  I couldn’t have thought this up.  It happened in front of me.  Extraordinary ordinary life.  And … I still hold a candle for Paris.

From my drawing “Aberration” you can see that the chain from the bucket is shackled to the paste-up lady. Whereas in “Tableau” it looks like it might be attached to the dog.

Early next morning the streets were silent.  That is when I got the photo for the drawing which became “Quiet“.   I still like Paris best first thing in the morning and yet I appreciate that sometimes one needs people (and dogs) about to get a source photo such as the one for “Tableau”.

Quiet
A drawing of rue de l’Echaudé in Saint Germain des Prés pre-dawn.

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Saphie’s Last Post

Saphie’s Last Post

Our cat, Saphie, breathed her last breath this morning just after midnight.  Here is a photographic tribute to her.  The images are nearly all taken from scanned photographs out of my album so their quality is a bit rough.  However, we are starting from 1998, long before I started to use digital photography.

Early 1998. Saphie was around five months old when we chose her from Perth’s cat shelter. We had only had her for a day or two when I took this photo of her with Emily.

Lucy and Saphie watched a lot of tv together. Lucy was just four at this time.

1998 or 1999, Saphie and Alicia.

Lucy always got hayfever from our cat but this fact never stopped them from sitting together.

2000. Lucy wearing my old Polish costume from 1970. Saphie often turned up for photo sessions.

2001. Emily studying her music – with cat.

Saphie enjoyed sitting in odd places and on odd things.

Lucy’s toybox full of what we called ‘the soft toys’. Can you spot the breathing soft toy?

Now it is 2003. Lucy loves Gameboy; Pokemon and Puss.

Meanwhile, Matthew doesn’t like cats. He used to say NONE CATS NONE DOGS when the girls asked for a pet. But somehow, Saphie got round him!

Honestly, the places she turned up! In the towels – tut, tut!

We decided to put her very own towel in this container. She approved.

Whether reading a newspaper, working at the computer or doing a puzzle, Saphie would plonk herself right in the middle.

Christmas 2009. Naughty cat!!!

This was Saphie’s spot right next to my computer.

2013. Once again, Saphie shows how she likes to be the centre of any game and the centre of attention.

Saphie would sit on top of my coloured pencils. Once or twice she knocked the whole lot onto the floor. You should have heard me!!

Saphie always wanted to sit on a knee – especially if it was cold. I would get uncomfortable trying to balance her while I drew but for some reason I always let her stay.

Saphie enjoyed a long life of being continually ‘smushed’ (spoiled) by all of us.  In the last few months she began to fade.  Last night she had a crisis so we rushed her off to the emergency vet.  We held her and stroked her while the vet administered the barbituate which put her to sleep.  Saphie purred right to the very end.  It was the most peaceful and perfect death one could ever imagine.  As we always said “What a clever cat!”

ps we bought Saphie from Cat Haven in Shenton Park, Perth.   It is a shelter for unwanted cats and kittens and is a wonderful place to choose a cat from.

A Fog over London

A Fog over London

While I am in the midst of scorching summer heat, I can cool my thoughts by reflecting back on a wintry morning in London.  On December 11th I decided to explore London Bridge Borough.  I secured a seat upstairs at the front of the 141 bus from Stoke Newington to London Bridge but all I could see from this excellent vantage point was condensation inside and fog outside!

View from the upstairs front window of the bus on the way to London Bridge.

When I alighted at Monument it occurred to me that London fog wasn’t just a thing of the past.  While not of the order of a Dickensian pea-souper, it was still impressively dense.

On London Bridge on the morning of 11th December.

I came across a macabre setting for a bus stop in front of the London Dungeon.

For Whom the Bell Tolls…or…waiting for the bus near London Bridge Station.

I hadn’t heard of the Shard until I went to London in December.  The Shard is one of London’s newest buildings.  It is currently the tallest building in Europe at 309 metres (72 floors).  Renzo Piano is the architect.  (He is also one of the two architects who designed the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris.)   The tall ‘shard of glass’ looked quite beautiful on that foggy morning.

The Shard through the mists.

I strolled by the Thames waiting (and hoping) for the fog to clear.  Very gradually it began to dissipate, revealing mysterious forms of famous bridges.  I wrote down two quotes which I saw underneath Tower Bridge.  “Most people would like to be delivered from temptation (eventually) but would like it to keep in touch.” Robert Orban.  And…

Very slowly Tower Bridge reveals itself.

…”Those who search the most are the ones who find the most.”  Anon.

…a little more definition – but not much….

A glorious combination of winter sun and dissolving mist.

HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge

Mysterious light conditions make for a rather futuristic scene on the Thames Path.

I had no intention of going up the Shard.  I had read that it cost £29 to access the viewing levels!  However I suddenly and spontaneously thought “I HAVE to go up there”.  I persuaded myself that 1.  I love views;  2. I may never get another chance;  3.  London through the low cloud was bound to be awesome; and 4. ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’.  So…up I went.

Apocalypse now….or…low cloud over the city.

It was worth the admission price!  Photos only hint at how fantastic it was to actually be up there.  It was magical, glorious and spellbinding.   It was an explosion for the visual senses!   I stayed up there for a long time taking in as much as I could plus having a nice conversation with one of the attendants.  To compensate for the admission price, I resisted the gaudy souvenirs in the sky-high gift shop.

The clouds drift away towards Greenwich.

Tower Bridge from  72 floors up.

After I descended and was walking away I turned around to look back at the building.  My eyes zoomed in on two window cleaners.  I took two photos; a close-up and a distant shot to try to show how much glass there was to clean.  You will need to click on the second photo (to enlarge it) to pick out the two little black dots who are the cleaners.

Window cleaning The Shard – a job for life.

Spot the window cleaners.

What a fantastic area London Bridge Borough is!  A short walk from the Shard and in the shadow of stately Southwark Cathedral is Borough Market.  This market had the most scrumptious food stalls I’d ever seen.  My eyes were popping out of my head at the wonder of it all; sights, smells, sounds and tastes.  Borough Market was all happening right under Victorian railway viaducts with trains constantly rumbling overhead.

Southwark Cathedral reflected in a plate glass window.

The Beadles’ notice, 1908.

Inside Borough Market the Salvation Army played traditional Christmas carols.  Those familiar tunes were transformed into melancholy hymns in such a setting.  I must admit that I wept while I watched; so overwhelmed was I by a sense of history, heritage and by standing in this beating heart of London.  After my weeping, I gave them a big donation and then walked away.  My cup runneth over…

The Salvation Army band played mournful Christmas carols in Borough Market.

ps:  To give you a taste of the atmospheric and historic Borough Market area, below are three photos taken a few days later when I returned with Matthew (husband) and Alicia (middle daughter).

Alicia and Matthew study, sample and buy European cheeses.

Looking towards the market from a cafe – where we were warm inside, drinking hot chocolates.

Southwark Cathedral and surrounds at dusk.  This road is on one side of the market.

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