Thursday 30 September 2010

FROM THE LOIRE RIVER SIDE

Hi,

  A few days ago, I went to draw and paint near the Loire river, in Blois.
It's funny  how many people I met during this afternoon. Most of them were fishermans, turning around me, curious to see what I was doing ( But I guess I was occupying a good spot for fishing).
During 30 minutes I also had an history lesson, mainly about the bridge.

Built in 1724, the bridge has been damage a few times during wars (in 1793 to stop progression marche from the "vendéens", in 1870 during the war against Prussians, in 1940 during the WWII)
In 1717, they decided to build a new bridge upstream the previous one (a medieval bridge wich had collapsed in the river).
So, they had to enlarge a little street (called "rue de la poissonnerie", now "rue denis Papin") to connect it with the bridge. The main street (now rue du commerce) wasn't in the axe of the bridge.

After a quick investigation, I discovered the exact location of the medieval bridge. You can still see the pillars in the water when you look at it with "google earth".




Turning west, I made this second sketch about the last built bridge in Blois (in 1994), the bridge "Francois Mitterrand". In the background you see how beautiful is the nature along the Loire river.









Both sketches are done with watercolor on a moleskine watercolor sketchbook.

Guillaume.


5 comments:

Helen Ström said...

Merci, d'avoir fait un saut sur mon blog. Je me rends compte que j'avais déjà remarqué vos dessins si sensibles sur U.sketchers avant de voir vos aquarelles et sans savoir que l'auteur était vous seul. Comme je disait, vos travaux sont sensibles et expressifs. Bravo!

Jean Marie Drouet said...

Beaux croquis, j'aime beaucoup aussi, mais ça je crois que je l'ai déjà dit sur un post précédent (au moment de vos croquis sur Nantes il me semble). et puis le monde de l'animation nourrit bien les croquis, à moins que ce ne soit l'inverse...

James O'Shea said...

I love these sketches!

Bouss said...

magnifique série de croquis (je parle de tous les posts précédents sur lesquels je suis resté muet), le décors du port est vraiment très chouette également.

Gracia said...

you definitely should illustrate a guide of Blois, France or somewhere!! brilliant bridge watercolours! and even with the historic info, great!! bss