My Bordeaux 2

I had to find a way to sink my teeth into Bordeaux's Neoclassical architecture, or rather my ✏️ ..so I could meet the Bordeaux challenge and paint these for Sherry-Lehmann's catalog. I'd take the "grape picker's" bus up la Route du Médoc, stopping at all the vineyards to Margaux. I got out and sat by the side of the road on a folding stool, gazing up at these monster chateaux. The road is lined with chateaux on both sides. Daunting doesn't begin to describe the challenge I'd set for myself.Downing glasses of red and the occasional Sauternes, hoping and praying was not going to help. I decided to go the figurative route. If I could conquer the details of these elaborate structures, the cornices, the sculpted reliefs, etc., then I could stick these details onto a basic geometric form and back into painting them. I plunged into drawing all the bits. Another route I thought would help was to learn how to pen the Copperplate or English Round Hand calligraphy on many Bordeaux wine labels. The French call it "Anglaise." I thought taking a calligraphy class making those fluid curvilinear marks would help to get the feeling of the architecture. That's Bordeaux's famous Pont De Pierre in the sketch, that crosses the river Garonne and was commissioned by Napoleon. It's one of the most beautiful bridges in the world. Sketches of cornices and relief details. Chateau Margaux is a perfect example of Neoclassical archtecture built by Victor Louis between 1773-1780, as was Le Grand Theâtre, Bordeaux's opera house.Sometimes I draw in books...I stayed in an 18th century Château - everyone's dream. Wrong. I was toute seule, alone with a billion Bourdeaux bugs in the extreme heat of August. They had me for dinner. Petit Déjeuner was served in the morning, sent up from the gate house. Otherwise I was alone with medieval turrets & bugs 🐜 No TV, no radio, no distraction. Too creepy for me. I fled to a center city hotel after 2 nights. If you want a closer look at chateaux, visit Berry Bros website, London's fine wine shop. Click on the name of the chateau on the map that you'd like to visit and take the tour. You'll get to see some of these daunting structures I was painting. You'll also see how flat as a pancake 🥞 the landscape can be - not lots of foliage to hide one's lack of expertise with architectural drawing. More to come.