This is the Alexis Julien street just round the corner from the English Book Centre where I sell some of my sketches.

When I was standing there, I saw a little lady popping her head out of the window, she was wearing a lovely pink hat which, from my point of view, was a colourful dot on the imposing facade of a big house. Just what I needed for a more lively picture !

In winter, Valbonne is very quiet and peaceful. Normally that passage leading to the major square is usually very busy.  Just a few passers-by and the winter sun casts long shadows onto the cobbled street.

This charming  little fellow was watching me taking pictures in the village so I decided to take a close up of it. Too cute to be ignored !

When I am at the airport,  I usually carry in my handbag a couple of pen and pencils and some paper just to do a bit of drawing while waiting. The other day, I was intrigued by a picture of a musician which was in one of those magazine lying around at the airport. The result is this drawing “back to front “.

D’une vieille famille antiboise, Marie-Jeanne Fontaine a vécu toute sa vie rue du Bas-Castelet. Citoyenne d’honneur de la ville, elle souhaita que cette villa, au-dessus de la placette Kazantzakis, soit léguée à la ville pour y accueillir des artistes. Décédée sans testament, cette dernière volonté fut respectée par sa famille au début des années 90.

This house was given by its owner to Antibes town so that it could be used by artists.

Now on a regular basis, artists in residence stay there for short period of time.

In Paris you can either take the metro or take a bike and return it wherever you like. Vélib is a self-service bike system available 24 hours a day, all year round.

My painting”the lion tamer” was voted by the public the winner of  the best watercolour for the “Quel cirque exhibition” in Valbonne !

I am very grateful to have been part of such a successful exhibition with over 800 visitors and my thanks go particularly to Marina Kulik, watercolour teacher at the Hangar(http://www.hangarart.org/), whose endless energy and commitment allowed all that to happen !

We hope that by now, you have all been to our wonderful ‘Quel Cirque’ exhibition in Valbonne next to the church, open every day from 10.30am – 6pm until and including Sunday 14th February!

If you go, don’t forget to cast your vote on your favourite artwork, as we are going to announce officially the public price winner on Sunday 14th February around 4 pm, during the “Finissage” – for which you are cordially invited!

From around 2.30 pm we will have drinks and nibbles – and maybe a Valentine-discount here and there- to celebrate a very successful Exhibition…

Lovely winter day in Cannes full of light.

Normally the “boulistes”(bowls players) play the famous game “la pétanque” just in front of this chapel, but the other day the place was deserted. So I took the opportunity to grab a chair which happened to be conveniently placed there, and started sketching. What appealed to me were the very strong shadows onto the chapel façade, cast by the plane trees, with their amazing gnarled shapes .