European Sketchbook

Introduction

2009-11-12T19:02:00.000-08:00

On September 9th, I left for Italy with my aunt and cousin. After spending two weeks dashing around there, I headed to Paris by myself. Two weeks in Paris were followed by visits to Bruges, Ghent, and Brussels in Belgium, Amsterdam, and London and Bath England. I returned to the United States on November 9th with two completed sketchbooks. Sitting in the Heathrow airport waiting for my flight home, I took a good 45 minutes to look through the sketchbooks and was surprised by the growth evident over the course of the sketchbooks. The sketches are backdated to correspond with the day on which they were made; please take time to look around and feel free to leave comments.

London

2009-11-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

London Science Museum

London

2009-11-04T11:39:00.000-08:00

Natural History Museum. This museum is beautifully designed. Instead of gargoyles, there are pterodactyls and animals and carved monkeys climb ladders in the atrium.

Science Museum

Bath

2009-11-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

London

2009-10-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood

V&A Museum
British Museum
Tate Modern

London

2009-10-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

London

2009-10-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

On a free walking tour I learned that these lions are a little off. The artist did not have access to an entire taxidermic lion nor a live lion and so used a stuffed lion's head to model the head, and his dog as a model for the body.

Amsterdam, Holland

2009-10-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

Brussels, Belgium

2009-10-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

Ghent & Brussels, Belgium

2009-10-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

Left: Ghent. Right: Brussels.
Ghent

Brugge & Ghent, Belgium

2009-10-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

The one thing I'd like to say about Belgium: What is better than chocolates, Bosch, and Van Eyck in fairy-tale medieval wonderlands?

Right: Sketches from the Ghent Altarpiece finished by Jan Van Eyck (his brother began it). The reason I originally went to Belgium was to see this altarpiece.

Left: Brugge. Right: castle in Ghent.

Brugge, Belgium

2009-10-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

Brugge, Belgium

2009-10-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

Sketchbook number two!

Brugge, Belgium

2009-10-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

Paris

2009-10-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

Left: design for a ceramic pitcher.

Institut du Monde Arabe

Paris

2009-10-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

Selections from exhibits in the Institut de Monde Arabe.

Dali Museum

Photos from a graveyard in Paris

2009-10-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

Versailles, Paris

2009-10-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

Dali Museum displaying his sculptures, prints, and furniture, which is less common at major museums.

Quai Branley Museum.

Versailles view.

Louvre, Paris & Versailles

2009-10-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

Louvre, Paris

2009-10-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

Paris

2009-09-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with Jean Carries' work in the Petit Palais (little palace built for the World Expo, now a free museum). Seriously amazing creature ceramics.

From the Musee Jaquemart-Andre.

Wyeth tree by the Effiel Tower.

Paris & Giverny

2009-09-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

The three following sketches were done in Giverny in the gardens around Monet's house. It may be the most beautiful place in the world; the flowers were amazing even in October. When I was little I read the children's book Linnea in Monet's Garden and ended up recreating her trip without even intending it (Orangie Museum one day to see the water lily rooms, Giverny the next).

Paris, the Louvre.

Paris

2009-09-26T07:35:00.000-07:00

Medieval wing of the Louvre.

From the Cluny Museum of the Medieval Age. I love crazy medieval headwear.

Sketches from various pieces in the Centre Pompidou.

Camille Claudel, The Age of Maturity, second version 1899. Claudel has her own room at the Rodin Museum in Paris. It is my favorite room in the museum (I think her work is much more dynamic and emotional than Rodin's and if she had been male, she would be better known than him).