Monthly Archives: May 2017

Sideshow Alley

“Sideshow Alley” drawn with coloured pencils and Sennelier oil pastels.
213 x 230 mm. May 2017

Boulevard de Clichy in Pigalle is a busy strip of peep shows, sex shops, clubs and bars.  In search of bright lights as well as photos of Moulin Rouge, I went there one evening last October.

I have always had a fascination for fairgrounds – the scariness of them.  Pigalle with its neon kaleidoscope and promises of thrills is just like a fairground – a tawdry extravaganza of colour, people and noise.  By day it is simply sad but at night it bursts into showy splendor.  (Day or night you need to watch your back.)

A few months back I did a drawing of Moulin Rouge which I called “Show Time” also from this particular visit.  The two drawings make a good pair.

“Show Time”
November 2016

“Sideshow Alley”
May 2017

“Sideshow Alley” is an overcoat of coloured pencils – worked into an undercoat of Sennelier oil pastels.

Evensong

“Evensong” is a drawing of rue de Rivoli in coloured pencils and Neopastels. 280 x 300 mm. May 2017.

Why would I give a prayer-like title to a drawing of a busy Paris street?  The answer is that when I walk and am deeply inspired by my surroundings, what could be more like prayer?  Or to think of a more modern term, ‘presence’ is what I feel when my senses give me pure joy – rapture at the gorgeousness as day transforms to evening on my rue de Rivoli stroll.