" I
spent my childhood in Normandy, near Honfleur, the famous harbour close to Le Havre
where the River Seine flows into the English Channel.
Many famous painters like Monet,
Boudin and Corot came here to paint the sea side and the riverbanks... We call this
the "Honfleur school".
It was my school... but now it is very old school. "
"Maybe
it's a stupid quest in our modern times
but like them, I continued to do sketches with pencils, watercolours on paper.
Everywhere I went, on the French Riviera, in Spain,
in Corsica...
This is my own rule: create pictures on
the ground."
I also
try to mix all the cultures together. Classic and pop, ethnic and comics,
western and eastern, all of them... but to understand these different
cultures, Google was not enough.
One day, I left Europe...
I
couldn’t find a translation for the specific French expression "peindre
sur le motif". I only found "on the ground", but It's very
difficult to paint "on the ground" when you're on the sea..
…
because what you are drawing is moving and where you are drawing is also moving...
So, it's not good for the inner ear and for the balance... especially
after lunch.