Le Cafe des Chats, Little Book of Thumbnail Class

 

This must be a breakfast shot at Le Café des Chats with so many alert, perky cats (awaiting for their petit déjeuner peut-etre?)

Yesterday by 6:30 pm 

This was one sleepy bunch of cats 🐈 

Except for one lone black 🐈‍⬛ cat roaming around 

I thought I’d be doing a lot of cat drawing ✏️…Hmmm

Finally I got a shot of Salem 

Gingerly avoiding my cat tea party letter.

To keep you amused, while waiting for a cat to pay you some attention, there are detailed cat ‘menus’ (with English on the other side).

Meanwhile other guests were sufficiently laid-back and relaxed, with few expectations. The guy in the orange shirt must be a regular. He brought his own piece of string to tempt a cat 🐈 Not a bad idea if the cafe provided string or cat toys don’t you think?

The staff are also on the sleepy side. After 30 minutes of waiting for my guacamole (coming in from Mexique I guess..) I high-tailed it out of there. For those not suffering from Immediate Gratification or ADHD, you’ll find the cafe in the 11eme at 6, rue Sudaine.

Big News: I’m taking another Summer online course after Liz’ teacup ☕️ class.

I’ve always loved ❤️ doing thumbnail ✏️ sketches. It’s a great preparatory way to solve composition problems before diving 🏊into painting.

Vincent van Gogh did them usually post-painting & embedded in letters to his brother Theo.

Edward Hopper too kept illustrated records of all his finished paintings in account notebooks.

My favorite thumbnail king 👑 is Wayne Thiebaud. 

He said, Georgio Morandi made 1,000s of little thumbnail drawings. He could make 100 little 3” x 2” or 4”x5” thumbnail drawings of placements for a particular piece. 

Where the lines would intersect. 

How much space in one area as opposed to another. 

The old art directors always had you make lots of tiny little compositions before you made a large one.

But Tansy Hargen’s Little Book of Thumbnail class is something different. Not about making preparatory drawings as developing repeated patterns over a series of small squares. I found her on Instagram at @Palimpsestparade and was intrigued.

Our 1st assignment on Monday was start our little book 📕 

Do 2 pages of geometric colored squares emphasizing contrast with colored pencils & markers. As usual I went my own way using watercolor but 🙏Tansy didn’t mind. We have a Facebook group to show our efforts. I sign up for way too many online classes & never show up (including 2 Tansy classes from last Summer). Sharing the classes here helps me stay on track dear PBers ☺️  Fortunately we have lifetime access to her class👍 

Today I was suppose to do thumbnails of something outdoors. I’m late😟 Class starts in 10 minutes! Yes, those are Bastille Days planes ✈️ doing test runs. More thumbnails to come 🤸‍♂️ !

It hit 90 degrees yesterday in Paris. Today is much milder merci dieu 🙏

     🎁 Do stop in my Etsy Shop for the perfect Paris gift 🎁

       *Buy 3 PARIS letters 💌 & they will be mailed out FLAT & unfolded.

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                       🐈‍⬛ ❤️💋 Bonne Mercredi PBers ❤️💋🐈‍⬛