Umbrellas and Mosaics

Dear Sarah - Day 119 of our daily drawing exchange

Hi Sarah!
April 29, 2025

Several things made me tackle today’s drawing inspired by a photo by Atget called Marchand de parapluies (Umbrella man) taken in the 5th arr. in about 1899-1900. The location was Rue Mouffetard in front of the Saint Médard church. The book (Atget’s Paris) was published by Taschen and was one of Dad’s Paris books (he had several, though likely not as many as your father). The second thing was the conversation we had on the phone about your father’s Paris obsession (I seem to have one as well, though not as well developed as his). And, finally, the first books relating to our directed study (psychogeography and its roots in Paris) have started to arrive including a collection of poems by Baudelaire and Nadja by André Breton.

I’ve been thinking of continuing with the drawing theme during our Paris trip later this year (not exactly sure of details beyond that) and decided to start tackling some Parisienne subject matter… I took my time with this fellow and wound up not hating the outcome (as long as I don’t look too closely at that hand… no wonder AI has such trouble creating believable hands!)

I ran out of time before I could add any background, but decided to just let him stand on his own.

Cheers,
Nikki

Hi Nikki,

Well, it turns out that drawing something covered in mosaic tiles is sort of like doing one of those intentional doodle tutorials. One tiny square after another, after another. And it didn't seem right to leave it in black and white, since it is a very colourful object, but my coloured pencil supply is very limited. No red, no dark green, no dark blue. Just orange, light green. light blue and purple. Perhaps I need to invest in some coloured pencils??? The urge to buy more art supplies is constant.

XO S