My Trip to Paris — Part One: The Drawings

I went to Paris for the first two weeks of May this year and my trip was entirely focused on studying art.  I went to the Louvre six times – not nearly enough.  I also visited the Orsay, Musee Bourdelle, Montmartre, saw Velasquez show at the Grand Palais, popped into the Musee Carnavalet and I know I missed a PILE of other great stuff.

I documented my trip in paintings and drawings.  Most of these drawings were made in the Louvre – where I actually was moved to tears a few times; putting this album together brings back a bit of the emotional experience.

SLC – waiting for my plane

SLC airport – my plane

Menade Sculpture – Louvre

Boy with Goose – Louvre

Seine Sculpture, French – Louvre

French Sculpture – Louvre

French Sculpture – Louvre

Sculpture – – Louvre and Drawing after Georges LaTour

Sketch after Paris Statue – Louvre

Cleopatra Sculpture Louvre Drawing by Sarah F Burns

Female Greek Sculpture – Louvre

After Dying Slave Sculpture – Michelangelo – Louvre

After Rubens – Louvre

Sketch After Rubens Marie di Medici arriving in Marseille – Louvre

Sketch after Velasquez – show at Grand Palais, Paris

Cincannatus in the Tuileries with the Orsay behind

Louvre Drawing from the Tuileries

Drawing After Ingres – Louvre

After Gericault, Raft of the Medusa – Louvre

Sketch After Egyptian Cats in the Louvre

Sketch after Fantin Latour – Louvre

Drawing of Phideas Sculpture – Louvre

Cupid and Psyche – Louvre

I Heart Kinesiology!

Back to School with Kinesiology at Ashland Institute of Massage!

My ongoing obsession with knowing specifically the origin, insertion, action and shape of muscles has led me to take a rather in-depth kinesiology class.  Over 100 class hours, plus out of class study time will keep me busy til April.  And, of course I’m translating a lot of this stuff from massage application to artist application.  I feel so fantastic when I’m in a class I love.

 

Kid Menus, Kids Menus, Kid’s Menus OR Menu for Kids

Eventually there will be a third one…..

Locals might be able to guess the farm and the farmer featured in the menus.

 

Portrait of Beth

My favorite working method is having the model come to your studio many days in a row (nine sessions, unless I lost count) – instead of the way I used to work, which was have the model come once a week for a number of weeks.  When you have the model in the room everyday, you don’t forget which pigments you were using, where things were set up and what your goals are.

Portrait of Beth
Oil on Panel
20″ x 18″

New Figurative Pieces

These two pieces are also featured in my Sept APU show.

Beth, graphite drawing by Sarah F Burns

Drew, Graphite Drawing by Sarah F Burns

Carnations and Green Acorns

Carnations and Green Acorns, oil painting by Sarah F Burns

This floral still life is featured in my show this month at the Ashland Painters Union.  The flowers come from Fry Family Farm – carnations and green zinnias.  The acorns and sticks from my neighborhood and you might recognize the painting in the back ground.

Back Poses

Inspirations

I just got back from a visit to San Francisco where I went to the De Young museum to see the  Girl with a Pearl Earring show, along with Etching from Rembrandt and his contemporaries.  I found it very inspiring, especially all the etchings, they are so intricate and invite you to spend several minutes with each piece, I was surprised to find them even more engaging than many paintings.  The etching pieces varied in technical ability, some being astonishing in their technical prowess and some (the Rembrandts) were stunning in their communication of humanity and emotion.  There were goofy ones, ones that glorified the state, religious scenes that were moving (Rembrandt), religious scenes that were like crazy pageants, simple home scenes, landscapes and on and on.  Then came the paintings – wonderful banquet tables with meats and lemons and cloth, the flowers that I so love and the stunning Vermeer.  That Vermeer is absolutely wonderful.  (Side note:  Like the Mona Lisa, she has no eyebrows.!? Curious.)

A Few Recent Drawings

I quit my day job!  As of May 1, I’m a full time artist.  Yikes! (Just kidding, I’m not really scared about it.  Feels great.)  I’ve been painting up a storm outside, lots to scan and show, but for now here are a few new drawings.

I Just Got Featured on the Etsy Blog!

Get the Look  is a regular feature on Etsy that I always enjoy and I’m super stoked to have been included in today’s post!  It’s a sweet loft on Airbnb in Detroit (somewhere I dream of going to do landscape painting, maybe I could stay at this place…)  Check out the full post here.