Beautiful Usk Dijon meeting, national event in France!

[by Marion Rivolier in Paris]

Each year, Urban Sketchers France, the group of French sketchers organizes a national meeting. This year, it was in Dijon, a beautiful and picturesque city in Burgundy.
On Saturday, I start painting the “scenographic” house, a large curving courtyard, offering a real theater to visitors. The blue door is surmounted by an asymmetrical curtain that gives dynamism to the order of architecture. Life-size lions watch over this mansion. This morning, the light is superb, I play with the cold and warm shadows to make vibrate this space.

Five minutes walk, I join the Museum of Fine Arts, opened shortly after a renovation. Yan Pei-Ming’s paintings and watercolors are exhibited in the historic halls and temporary exhibition halls. In the great room of the recumbent, three large portraits of the mother of the artist in black and white create in this place a special energy, both sad but powerful.

After lunch, I am not very interested in the realization of a catalog of houses, churches and mansions of Dijon, even if the architecture is amazing, with sculptures complex and refined … the other sketchers will do this very well. I’m looking for something different, some king of “scenography” in this city. The Darcy Garden and its central fountain is a very calm and nice place. The colors of the vegetation are very interesting to catch. I play on the repetition, the shadows and lights that draw the elements without describing them or enclosing them in a continuous line.

After this warm up, it’s time to tackle François Pompon’s famous white bear. Do not draw it, keep it in reserve, and especially try to capture its somewhat strange curves. It is the trees and shrubs, in colors and values ​​that allow me to make it appear. I am in the shade of foliage to shelter me from the heat and they carry shadow on my drawing, so not simple to manage…

I end the stay on the rue des Périerres, which offers a view of the railways with in the background the buildings and churches emblematic of Dijon whose silhouette stands out against the sky. It’s a challenge, but it’s worth it, this view is very beautiful!
A successful weekend, huge thanks to the organizing team, their kindness and their impeccable management of a group of 350 people!