From some of my tiny pocket sketchbooks

I began this week by pulling sketchbooks from my book case at random.

Each time I opened a book, I was immediately taken back to a moment in time and the story behind that moment…..

I made this little sketch on the Brittany Ferry – from Roscoff to Pymouth – 1995

I had been in Brittany for about six weeks, having had an exhibition at the Centre Auguste Brizeux.

A friend had asked if her sixteen year old daughter could travel back with me to the UK, where she would be met by an English family in Plymouth.     This lovely young girl had never been to England and was to spend the summer with a family to brush up on her English, etc.

It was a beautiful day and so for the entire six hour ferry trip, we sat on deck, where I made many rapid sketch/notes.       One that has survived is this little boy looking out to sea.     

When we arrived in Plymouth….the family as described was there to meet her…and so we kissed and said our goodbyes….and parted company.       The amusing part of this story is that it turned out to be the wrong family!       Imagine how apologetic I was to the girl’s parents…However all’s well that ends well.

This is fun.

I was sitting on the Eurostar on my way to Paris to see my daughter who was studying there at the time….and spotted this quintessentially English couple across the aisle from me.

These rapid notes are all about capturing the essence of a moment in time.  ball point pen on a scrap of paper. 

I am not one to usually visit McDonalds…..however, on this occasion, it was brutally hot in Paris, and I needed a quick cold drink…..Across from me was this wonderful old man, proving the point that we never know when a good sketch opportunity will present itself.

Moving to San Francisco….this is a very special sketch to me.   It is of one of my students – Tom McGrady.     

Tom had arrived at my studio in West Chester Pennsylvania, a few years before this sketch was made….He wanted to study with me, but didn’t have any money, and asked if he could do odd jobs in return.    After seeing his work, which was most impressive even at that tender age, of course, I said Yes.

Tom became a good friend to me and my family and did some fantastic work around the studio, but much more important was his move to California where he went on to become  a working artist and fine cabinet maker.

I keep in touch with people, but one sadness is my loss of contact with Tom…..one day.

I hope everyone enjoys a lovely weekend.

A Bientôt