Ian Sidaway R.I.

Ian Sidaway's huge dirty paint box creates luminous watercolors.

I first met British watercolor artist Sidaway through a series of small food books by John Midgley - love at first sight. Later I found Ian's landscape watercolor book... We met enfin the flesh at a watercolor workshop in Poppi, Tuscany. Yesterday I visited his Richmond studio. Ian's a master of layering, color, values. He paints full across the page back to back...

Ian plots out his paintings in thumbnail sketches first.

Ian's done at least 90 painting books on all mediums.

Piles of watercolors fill his workshed.

Breath-taking no?

The garden looks to have escaped from his paintings...

An artists dream house.Surrounded by wonderful English antique trash. 

BONJOUR SID!

Le Pain Molskine

It's not just my Moleskine who likes to hang out at Le Pain Quotidien. I'm a fan of the 1131 Madison ave. branch near 84th street. The light is particularly good there for doodling, reading and taking table shots. Hey there's a café au lait bol hanging out!I love the long spacious common table. The condiment bottles sail across that broad expanse like ships - think of the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria..it's like a landscape to my eyes.You can pretty much pick out what you want to eat by looking at your neighbor's plate. Guess I'm "outer-directed" but it works for me. "Ah..I'll have what he's having please?" This is the Paris Jambon with 3 mustards plate. The food is delicious and plentyful. Though an overseas Le Pain fan said we're getting bigger portions in the US.Hmmm..that's not going to help the national waistline problem Le Pain :( Please give us those tiny postage stamp portions the French are famous for... OH heck nevermind. Just look at this lush plate - the Mediterranean Tartine - Ricotta, Prosciutto, Pesto, Olives + Tartines. What's a tartine you ask? It's a hunk of bread on which you can slather anything you like - an of open face sandwich that works for breakfast or lunch. Le Pain usually gives you 3 different types of bread, all very homey, all made from organic stone ground flour. Le Pain Quotidien is a Belgian company BTW started in 1990. Quotidien means everyday things and Le Pain's common table is full of them. I fell so hard for this little milk jug that I went on a quest to the Bowery's restaurant supply stores and bought 4 of them. I love the reflections and metal is always a challange to paint. The common table allows you to overhear conversations too. Often strangers start conversing across their tartines and by the end of they meal their exchanging email adresses. Where else can that happen in New York?I used to focus only on Le Pain's delightful desserts (the Belgian Brownie was a repeat performer.) I'd walk in, get my brownie and walk out. But then I discovered the the joys of sitting down at the big table and combining eating, sketching and shooting.There's always a delicious trio of Le Pain's homey brand of apricot preserve, REAL hazelnut nutella, and 4 red fruits preserve just waiting for you to help yourself on the table. And if you've got a bit of leftover crust from your tartine, and who hasn't left their crusts, since we're all watching our carbs like hawks... Well then you can end your meal with a sweet by dabbing on spoonful of jam or a glop of their outrageous hazelnut nutella. YUM!

Moleskine de Voyage #3

Like bubbles in a champagne glass, lovely old things keep surfacing from the closet I'm still cleaning out. Stacks of sketchbooks, old macaron wrappers and now my travel Moleskines. I never leave home without a Mole. It's my religion. It's my addiction. Is there even a choice in the matter?

I love the Moleskines with the graph paper. I'm always hoping/wishing those perpendicular lines will get my truly illegible handwriting/scrawl to straighten up. Man! even I can't read this. It's one thing when you scribble down an idea in the dark, but we're talking full daylight here!

I also love the way the thin graph paper takes watercolor too -- kind of cheesy but it works for me...

Is there a better friend to take with you to a museum ? Moleskines legitimize you while you sketch in front of a Renaissance masterpiece. I did these doodles at the La Nature Morta Italiano exhibit at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, 2003.

Someone brought in the catalog. He'd spent the entire summer in Tuscany. I freaked, ran out and got on a plane and got over there PDQ. And it was worth it. The most excessive, robust, rich still life painting you can imagine with Caravaggio as the highpoint.

Does anyone else cover their Moles with stickers? I've got "sticker madness". I can't stand a naked Moleskine. And I have a special passion for those French chocolatiers/pâtisserie stickers they paste down on anything you buy. They are complètement fou (nuts) with stickers too.

There's always an array of sizes and shapes. I wish I knew the French word for sticker. Merci Jennc informed me that the word is "Autocollants"

Malheuresment, these stickers do not have the same shelflife as the Moleskine Notebook. They have a habit of curling up and falling off eventually. I wonder if my affection for these stickers is the same as travelers who pasted stickers all over their trunks and luggage? My Mole is my "trunk" full of travel souvenirs...

Paris l'Indispensable

DO NOT GO TO Paris without the l'Indispensable BLACK cardigan. Thank you Coco for le cardigan noir. Tie it around yr neck like a scarf. Mine has hot pink cuffs, see above, so I'm a little worried. This is de rigeur (improper, wrong) :(Parisians are big on Neutrals -- note Carine here
Check out The Parisian Woman's Guide to StyleA nice neutral color like BLACK makes life easy for les New Yorkaises, since there isn't much else hanging in our closets.
I lost this little sugar cube painting, until I started packing for my Paris trip. Et voilà. I'll bring back fresher cubes and more paintings this trip. l'indespensible Paris by Arrondissements is the best pocket size map for getting around. Plus the indespensible, La Carte Orange - have a passport photo ready for your weekly Metro card. It seems you can only buy it on Mondays (lundi). 15,70 euros for 2 zones should do fine. Almost French is one of those books that get you dreaming of all the possibilities...
A digital camera will make a HUGE difference this trip. The orange tablets - Oddibil 250 are just charcoal, good for when you've had too much l'escargot. I buy them there. Of course I'm bringing my paintbox and a Molskine or two, for quickie doodles in the café.
The 2 little guides on chocolate and cafés I got from www.amazon.fr Nice and light. The rough drawing and key is a map of where I'll be staying. A friend, M. has kindly offered me her son's pied-a-terre in the 6th. YAHOO! So I'm all set to go off this afternoon for more café adventures. I may not post for a while so be patient with me while I'm having a ball!
Toute a l'heur :)