fugure drawing: 1st study of a nude model.

Dear Readers,

I've taken a huge step into the art world. And I'm really excited about having practically doubled my portfolio in just one day.
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Now please don't be too scandalised, but last weekend... I drew a nude model. yup, this lady was totally naked... (gasp, i know shocking, eh.) seriously though, it was so amazing. I'll admit I was kinda nervous about attending the class; I didn't know if it would be awkward or if the model would be in weird poses or what. But is was so cool. I learned so much in just one class and I could see improvements in my sketches from the first few I did to the last few.

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The atmosphere in the little studio was so good. they were playing Gregorian chant and early polyphony in the background. the model was very comfortable and tasteful with her poses and movements. we had to do really quick sketches at the beginning and end of class as the model slowly moved around in diferent positions, doing this contemporary dance-thing, and for a little more than a third of the class time she did 10 and 15 minute still poses which allowed the artists to study the figure and do more detailed drawings or paintings. Some of the other artists' paintings were so beautiful.

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Attending this class was a very good experience. Everyone in the room was very professional and peaceful. they were all so focused and happily hard at work in this amazing little space of creativity and learning.
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While my sketches paled in comparison to those of the more experienced artists(all the other artists had at least 20 years on me), i thought it would be nice to share a few of my sketches and drawings with you.

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WARNING!!! these photos may contain a naked woman. But don't worry guys, I'm only posting the ones where you can't really see anything (and in the 2nd last one, i blurred out the "bad parts" with photoshop.)

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Progress???

I don't know if it shows at all, but here's todays work which consisted of a lot of erasing and redrawing... unfortunately erasing pencil from a primed canvas doesn't work so well. it'll smudge and darken about 10 times before it actually starts comming off... ugh! it's slow going. but i want it to be good. And actually now that i look at this picture of it, I'm noticing that i made her forhead too narrow (among other flaws.)... how'd i do that? oh well, I will fix it later. I think the fabric draping is going to be the hardest part of this piece to draw/paint. Voila.
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As it's late, I can't stay and chat about how good my coffee was this morning or how odd lunch was. or how crazy the kids were after school (today was a bit of an off day for them) :( ...Still though, they're awesome kids. Oh and I met a really awesome group of people yesterday! new contacts, new social circle, new friends. yay! I'll have to talk about that in my next post.
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UdP In Corde Jesu,
-Sandieness

Only the beginning

Today i'm bravely posting a first sketch that is very ugly of what will hopefully be a pretty painting when completed. It's a copy of the face of Our Lady as seen in Michaelangelo's Pieta. This amazing artisit is one of my biggest inspirations, but very difficult to copy. I'm only doing one small part of his impressive Pieta. The entire piece is so amazing. I've studies so many pics of it, and now I'm finally trying to paint Mary's portrait. here goes. So here's my first day's work.

Other than that, I'm just trying to kill this cold. spent all my free time indoors today. resting, sketching, and listening to music. ended up listening to Yoyo Ma playing some Bach by the end of the evening. He's playing in Ottawa this month at the NAC, eh. Maybe it's already over? Not sure.

"Happy Tuesday everyone" -quote from Julie's facebook page. lol.

lots of Love,

Sandieness.

Hand.

Today's sketch... my skinny little left hand. complete with short bitten-finger nails and everything ;)

It's not great, but it's something. voila.

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I just got off the phone with my family. It was really nice to talk to them all. even little Tony! Aw. miss them! They're all at home having Turkey dinner tonight with my aunts and uncles, and cousins, and Grandparents.

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Clearly my mind is a little bit more in Canada... in the kitchen, probably eating, than it is here.

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So what's new,

I was teaching english this evening and just can't understand why "heat"and "eat" are so difficult to pronounce for these kids... or one i love to torture them with; "I hear with my ear." they get it wrong every time!!! LOL.

But other than that, all my pupils are doing well, I have 7 so far, all at different times, so it's more like one on one tutoring; I really enjoy it.

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I was mostly just watching kids today. which doesn't always give a lot of blogging substance. The baby (well 13 moth old) who I watch most mornings is just starting to walk and is adorable.

Then I had lunch with these two kids that I don't really like. lol. I guess they're always tired and therefore cranky around lunch time on Mondays, and it's only the one time a week that i see them. but whatever. it's a free meal and 16 euro. so i'll put up with them. Maybe i'll figure out how to get them to like me.

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This afternoon i was watching "my kids" the ones of the family i'm staying with. They always make me feel very much at peace and "chez moi." They're my anchor kids. They are sweet and polite and kind, and very affectionate. The littlest one made my day today at the park. They were all playing in the sandbox building a "chateau" when suddenly the littlest one jumped up and ran up to me to whisper in my ear, "Sandie, je t'aime!" gave me a kiss and a smile that would melt your heart; what a little sweetie. oh and later he was telling me how he has two "loves" at school. they're both blonds. he "adores" pretty blond hair! teehee. cute! He's five and a half and told me once that he "adores pigeons" too.

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Well, with that, I bid you all goodnight. (it's 11:15 here, and i'm trying to get over a cold)

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Lots of Love from Paris,

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In Corde Jesu,

Sandieness
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Short Sweet Sunday Post.

So the Blogging Elders have informed me that, in order to be a truly virtuous blogger, daily blogs are absolutely required... geeze!!! It's a strict society i've entered. Even the Catholic Church only requires weekly attendance at Mass.

So Here is my Sunday Post.

I went to Versaille for Mass this morning, and guess who I saw.....

Abbé DeBoisse! Si! C'est vrai! :)

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And He showed me that he still had the goodbye card (with spiritual bouquet) from the school that we had given him way back when he left Ottawa. I had made the card with "God Bless you" on the cover in fancy lettering. lol. I couldn't believe he still had it! aw.

Well that's all the news I have for now.

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Also here's a sketch i did the other day. It's not based on a model. I just drew a standard skull and attempted to build up some realistic features on it. keeping in mind the direction of the light, and rules of proportions, etc... More sketches and paintings to come. I have a lot of unfinished stuff on the go... I seem to have artistic ADD because I can't seem to stick to one project.

Happy THANKSGIVING to all of my Canadian friends and family. miss you all. and am incredibly jealous of the turkey feasts you'll be having.

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God bless!!! Love and Prayers,

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In Corde Jesu,

Sandieness

Weekend Trip Fail.

And the Failure of the Year Award goes toooo...... (insert drum-roll here).... Miss Sandra Sauvé!!!!!!!!!!!!! for missing the bus to Mont. St-Michel.
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Yup, that's right. I'm presently* typing out this post rather than meeting new people and experiencing the magnificent beauty of that oh so glorious Mont. St-Michel. (insert Sandie's sad face here) "What?!?!" Why?!!? What happened?" are among the questions you may ask me. Well, now how can i say this without sounding like a total dufus... oh yeah, I can't. So here is the truth: Now picture this dumbness, Sandie sleeps peacefully in her fluffy loft bed. with her cell phone (i.e. alarm clock) by her head. Said cell phone, rudely awakens her at 4:55am. (the bus was leaving EARLY for Mont. St-Michel and she didn't want to miss it) About one third of Sandie's brain awakens to the sound of the annoying french cell phone jingle. However the two thirds of Sandie's brain that wished to remain asleep and kill all French cell phones, decided to play a mean joke on Sandie by turning off said cell phone alarm rather than hitting snooze. Sandie goes back to sleep and doesn't wake up again 'till after the bus had left. It was all a simple matter of wake vs. snooze, of one third strong vs. two thirds weak. And the weaker sleepier, Dumber side prevailed.

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Once I realized what I had done, sadness naturally came, I still didn't have any friends in Paris, and I so wanted to go on this trip. "What the heck am I gonna do this weekend now.!?" I thought to myself (*cough cough* someone please throw a shoe at Sandie and remind her that she's in Paris!)
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I updated my facebook status (as I have taken to doing all too frequently), to seek the support of my friends back home. I was sent two huge blessings. A friend back home who couldn't sleep was an ear to my troubles and a long distance pat on the back who gave me a little news about current events at home. Then another friend who knows Paris, told me about this cool museum to visit, and about the surrounding area, namely a beautiful park and church which I must see.

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Things were looking up and the kettle was whistling. I bid my friends good night and good day. And put some freshly ground coffee into my french press to brew, while i dashed down to the bakery to buy some comfort breakfast. "Deux croissants au burre, s'il vous plait, madame."

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I rushed home, ate the flaky deliciousness of french baking, drank up the freshness of of the life boosting** coffee, threw some pencils and a sketch book into a backpack and headed for the metro station. Even the sun was shining; things indeed were looking up.

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I went to a free museum called "Musee Carnavalet" a mansion converted into a museum. It has some really beautiful paintings of various scenes in Paris as well as some awesome portraits, some cool old iron store signs, and rooms filled with 17th century Parisian furniture. I wandered around in there for a while taking in all the art and feeling quite humble as an artist, but also very inspired.

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Next was lunch, a slice of pizza and a tarte au citron from a nearby bakery, which I ate in the most beautiful park, called Place des Vosges.
Pictured here ->
(little side note: Victor Hugo - author of Les Miserables lived in one of the surrounding houses, cool, eh?) I started a sketch, but need to go back again to work on it some more. I kept making mistake with the perspective, and soon started feeling the chill of autumn in my feet, so I decided to give up on my drawing for a bit and make my way to my next destination, the church of St. Louis and St. Paul just a few blocks away.
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The Church was so pretty. I went in and said some prayers and then made like a tourist and proceded to admire every bit of the place. Completed in 1641, this awe inspiring house of God contained so much history I could feel it in the air. I love the smell of the stone in an old church. Oh and I just read that it's the oldest Jesuit church in Paris. I was especially impressed with the dome and the two side altars, one dedicated to the Sacred Heart, and the other to the Blessed Mother. I LOVED the statue of our lady, I decided to do a couple of sketches of here. So i set myself up and got started on a little sketch to get the basic look of the statue... I couldn't stop polishing my drawing and eventually ended up with this little piece (see image at the left). It's only about 3.5 inches high. and I plan to do another larger sketch of her face, which is really beautiful and is not portrayed well by my little sketch.
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Eventually I left this beautiful church and started exploring the nearby streets. I bought a little blue kettle for my little apartment and a canvas, but no shoes or scarves or pretty eclectic earrings. I stumbled upon this little vintage store, packed with young women trying on sweaters and coats. I squeezes my way in and noticed some odd looking dresses and very 80 looking sweaters, I kept rummaging through the racks and eventually found this beautiful coat for 15 euro!! AH! what a steal! I tried it on, and it was miles too big. why do I have to be so damn small all the time!!! LOL. I always forget my size and was sure it would fit. luckily I tried before I buyed.... and did not buy. I will however be revisiting this store in the future, I hope. Maybe I'll eventually get my hands on something in my size.
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On Sunday I went to Mass in Versaille in the morning, went home, took and nap, and spent from 4pm 'till 6pm checking out the beautiful art in Le Petit Palais.

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Here are two stolen-from-the-internet pictures of the bridge I took to get to the museum and the museum itself. very pretty and well worth another visit. The permanent collection is free and awesome!

Bridge.

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le Petit Palais
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So as it turns out, my weekend was not a total loss. I took in a lot of art, architecture, and beauty. And am so grateful to be living in this gorgeous city.

A bientot mes amies!!!

In Corde Jesu,

Sandieness

* I started typing up this post last Saturday.
** I was going to say "life giving coffee", but thought it might be a little blasphemous.