Tag: pink

Toulouse Part 8: Marielle’s Pink Morning

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TLS Workshop Marielle Durand 071726 sm

After a long Thursday I slept pretty well, and took my time eating breakfast in the morning. It was overcast and looking like it would not be as hot which was a good sign. By the time I got to the Symposium Hub, I saw the long security line and knew the morning talks would already be mostly over, so I missed that and gathered for the morning Workshop. I had signed up for one workshop only and it was a good one, “Lights and Delights in the Pink City!” with French artist Marielle Durand. I have been a fan of Marielle’s work for years and especially her drawings in blue ink wash, which is really expressive and she has a book I’d like to read called ‘Bleu d’Auvergne’. It’s a very different from the sort of linework drawings I do, but really inspires me and is a style I really want to learn to play with. When I saw a few months before that Marielle’s workshop was available I quickly switched from the first one I had signed up for, and I’m so glad I did, as this really was very different for me and a lot of fun to play with. We were given some special pink acrylic ink to use (I did order some before, just in case), Rohrer and Klingner (from Leipzig) in Magenta, which is a very bright colour indeed. Toulouse was all about the pink. We were in the courtyard at the Hôtel d’Assézat, a 16th century building which now houses the Fondation Bemberg art collection. Marielle showed us a variety of techniques and had a really helpful handout. It was outside my comfort zone, seeing a scene in a different way, approaching it with layers, making my brain work a bit differently. We started with some simple exercises, I found it hard to get used to the ink at first.

TLS Workshop Sketchers 071726 sm

TLS Workshop Marielle 071726 sm

I think I actually enjoyed sketching people in this style more than the architecture, which daunted me, like the opposite of my usual situation. I liked looking at things more simply though, in terms of basic shape blocks, how things related to each other, and starting with the lightest tones. We did some test sketches to see how this all worked.

Preliminary sketch from Marielle Durand's workshop at USk Toulouse 2026

TLS Workshop Exercise B 071726 sm

I enjoyed talking to some of the other sketchers at this workshop, it was a really friendly group. Our final exercise was a larger drawing using the previous processes and trying to show more depth and light. I definitely found it tricky, just wanting to go more into some kind of line drawing, but it was a really fun thing to play with. I want to do more, in different colours (I went and bought some blue ink after that which I’ve yet to use; I did try some green ink sketching in London briefly) but playing in this bright pink was so much fun. Merci Marielle for a fun workshop! After it was done we had a group photo, and I went to an art shop nearby because there are never enough art materials to have. France has some really good stuff we can’t get in the US, but I held back, I already have so much. The sun wasn’t yet coming out, in fact it even started to rain a little, but it was still feeling sweaty so I walked back towards the hotel for a rest.

TLS Workshop Final Exercise 071726 sm

ickle bit of pink

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UC Davis arboretum

The Redbuds are out. This is in the Arboretum at UC Davis, the section closest to where I work is the Warren G. Roberts Redbud Collection, which blasts into life at this time of year. Here’s a little bit of info about it: https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/warren-g-roberts-redbud-collection. The Redbud is a native Californian plant, which grows in the foothills. I sketched quickly. A lot of people in the Arboretum that day, seemed to see many people I know, or who knew me without me knowing (or recognizing) them. I do sometimes get a “hello!” from people who I’ve obviously met before but don’t recognize (either due to the masks, my legendarily bad eyesight, or just that I never recognize anyone), so I always just say “y’alright, how ya doin’?” back, and let my slow mind catch up with who it might have been afterwards. This happened just last night on the way out to the soccer practice field, I got a “hey Pete, been a while!” from someone but for the life of me I don’t know who it was, I just waved a “yeah man, good to see you!” although I couldn’t actually see them. My phenomenal lack of being able to recognize people goes back a long way. Back in the 90s, I was up in Yorkshire visiting a friend who happened to work in a nightclub, so after arriving on the late bus from London I went by there to wait for them to finish and I spotted one of their friends, who I had met the previous time I’d been up there, Bertie I think he was called, drinking with a couple of other lads. So I went up and started chatting, “how’s it going, good to see you, yeah I had a long journey up here, six and a half hours on the bus, not very comfy, bit cream-crackered now,” the music was loud so it wasn’t easy to hear each other, I anyway after about ten minutes he says to me, “who are you though? I don’t actually know you.” Because it wasn’t Bertie, he had no idea who Bertie was, or who I was, or why I was talking to him about the state of the seats on the National Express. I just went, “oh, you’re not Bertie, sorry!” and went off to hide forever. I might have done that thing where I take off my glasses and rubbed my eyes like in a cartoon. To be honest I probably wouldn’t have known Bertie if he’d jumped out of a big cake. I don’t even remember if he was really called Bertie, he was probably called Bobby or Barry. Anyway, I’m not great at recognizing faces, so if you do see me and I look a bit nonplussed and give the random “hey, how’s it goin” response, that’s just my terrible eyesight and memory, nothing to worry about. I’m too busy focusing on the pink trees anyway.

UC Davis arboretum