Tuesday 16 November 2021

LET'S GO TO PARIS!

Parisian Artist, Yves Damin

Today I have something deliciously different on my blog! I am happy to introduce to you, Yves Damin, who is a Parisian artist and is my guest on my website today. Just like me, Yves likes to travel, and to also sketch his daily life. He’s never been to Melbourne, but Australia is on his top list of travel destinations. I’ll let him introduce himself and his work to you in his own words. Please visit his sites (links below) and enjoy his wonderful art!

"My name is Yves Damin, I was born in 1973 in Lyon, France. I come from a family of artists, as my father is also a painter. In my early years I was more happy drawing, rather than studying I must say! I could spend hours sketching secretly in my notebooks with my coloured pencils.

When it was time to enter secondary school, I opted for Art School, which was an obvious choice for me. I studied one year at the Ateliers de Sèvres in Paris, where I learnt the fundamentals of drawing and painting. I then studied in a specialized Art School of Graphic Design and Illustration at ESAT (Ecole Supérieure des Arts et Techniques), also in Paris. After graduating, it was time to find a job and I first worked as a Graphic Designer, and then as an Art Director for communication agencies. As this was mainly a digital job, I was a bit disappointed not to practice enough hands on painting.

So I decided in the 2000’s to challenge myself by doing more and more sketching so as not to get frustrated. It was a relief to be back on track with my sketchbooks and my canvases. I joined a few collective exhibitions to find a home with kindred souls.  As a big fan of architecture design, my passion was always to sketch in the city. I became very active doing some paintings of Paris, but also of London (my wife is English) or other big cities like Berlin or Barcelona.
I became part of Paris Urban Sketchers having a few meetings with fellow sketchers. It’s such a strange combination, because for me sketching is a very lonesome activity, and I discovered a very passionate community of people who enjoyed painting as much as me. It was wonderful to meet local artists in various places, such as England, Italy or painting in Greece.

An American publisher contacted me for the book Sketch City, and I was very pleased to be part of this project.  I have the privilege to be also an illustrator for magazines, I collaborate from time to time with French and American magazines: This is a good way to look for interesting topics to illustrate, such as History, Gastronomy or Culture in various articles. I like the journalistic approach of this kind of illustration.

Painting equipment: Most of the time, I use Indian ink for drawing, and I really love watercolour. I think it’s a fast, very expressive technique. It’s easy to carry everywhere, and it gives the artist a lot of freedom. As it dries quickly, it is quite convenient to draw somewhere quite fast and then to move on. It is useful when you like to sketch and paint on location.

For drawing, Pentel Pen brushes are amazing. I use them with Indian ink cartridges. As the ink is waterproof, it won’t smudge with watercolour, even when a lot of water is used. Otherwise, I discovered recently glass pens and coloured inks. It is interesting, because I can choose the colour of the ink; not only deep black, but also sepia, blue, whatever colour I like.

I really wish to come to Australia, the landscape are so different from Europe. Thanks to people like Nick, writing for Melbourne Daily is way to travel virtually for me. I just hope one day to be there and to sketch in Melbourne, it would be truly wonderful!

Thanks a lot for reading, feel free to discover my artwork at www.lexposition.fr
You can also follow me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/yvesdamin or on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yvesdam1

Kind regards,
Yves
Yves Damin painting on location in Bali

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

18 comments:

  1. a nice work and a wonderful artist. thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much @kwarkito, this is nice to read ! Warm regards from Paris :-)

      Delete
  2. Your sketches are delightful, and can see you put much work into it! Unusual for a French artist to be a watercolorist, eh?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is very kind of you Iesh ! Why is it unusual for frenchies to don't use watercolor ?! :-) For me, it's the best technique : quick, easy to carry and dries pretty much quickly, even during these wet days in Paris!

      Delete
  3. Fantastic art! The style is marvelous and I like the colors!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks you John, colors are a bit gloomy these days as autumn is on its way, but I like these melancolic atmosphere. Europe is getting poetic with these variations of green and orange

      Delete
  4. Great art. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much Erica for your comment. Glad you like my artwork :-)

      Delete
  5. Beautiful paintings, bravo, Monsieur Damin!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. C'est très gentil, merci beaucoup BarbViel ! Nice to read these nice comments !

      Delete
  6. Replies
    1. Hello and thank you very much for your nice comment!

      Delete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very cool! I can't draw a straight line with a ruler so I'm blown away by talent like this.
    Thanks for sharing at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2021/11/this-is-all-ill-say-about-that.html, and best wishes, Yves!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sweet! I love to see how artists interpret their surroundings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much for your feedback Magical Mystical Teacher :-)

      Delete

Feel free to comment, I'd really like to hear from you!
Please do not use this comment box to advertise your goods and services!