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The first sketches in the Rykami Samaðenâ were of buildings in their urban context. These are ballpoint ink sketches (fine-point black Pentel RSVP). I visited Chartres to see the noble cathedral on 9 May. Weather was excellent for sketching and I arrived early. Much of the morning was spent looking for a good vantage point. Chartres Cathedral is mostly hidden by the surrounding town. During lunch I ended up sketching the roofline of the cathedral over line drawings of the surrounding vernacular. I’d hoped to have done further sketches but foggy rain was moving in and it was time to return to Paris. (I revisited the subject in a snowbound color drawing j6304 in 2000.) The next day I was sitting in the Square René Viviani in Paris, sketching the vernacular left-bank homes to the north. While fleeing a nationwide train strike (which dashed the objective of the trip) I sketched a section of the iron Gare de Marseille at the top of the page while waiting for a way out of the country on 14 May. The small line-art study of homes was done on a train at some point, probably before 14 May.

This sketchbook page won the 1997 AIA/CPC Architectural Drawing Award from the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Produced 9 May 1997 = Tayya 5815, 10 May = 5816, 14 May = 581a, 23 May = 5827, five dozen eighth phase (Ñixaþ-Alindðal Xrga).

This page last modified Wednesday 4 April 2012.