This was a great serendipitous luncheon and first meeting of Daniel Brunier that along with his brother Frederic are owners of LE VIEUX TELEGRAPHE and LA ROQUETE, LES PALLIERES and I believe partners with MASSAYA (the Lebanese winery that we sell as well ). A couple of years ago the owner came to the store and tasted his wines with me at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. That was a real treat and I enjoyed the experience as well as the wines very much. I have already blogged about that here so just use the search engine to read that blog if you would like. I also liked the owner's hat very much from MASSAYA and it is pictured in some of the pictures.
This, however is my blog about art and as well as the art in wine-making and wine drinking there are also my four out of eight quick portrait sketches that I did of Daniel at this luncheon at Proof restaurant with Daniel Brunier, Eric Platt and Xavier of Washington Wholesalers, Andrew and Moez, too. Go to : chatwine.blogspot.com for more on all of that.
I am an artist and so along with being a father and having a full-time job I do not have a whole lot of spare time for me art. However, having said this I do realize that five minutes here, ten minutes there, and fifteen somewhere else and I have accomplished some things as long as I stay focused and work steadily at the time.
Here you see some of the sketches and some of the poetry. I wrote the poems before arriving at this luncheon at Proof. It was a glorious day on this past Friday and the sun was out and warming me as well as the blue baby skies inspiring me.
I had to park by the National Portrait Gallery and that was easy enough though I did not have enough quarters and so had to go to the restaurant in search of some and to announce that I had arrived. This is when I took this photograph of Daniel just after meeting him and waiting for some quarters. I think I surprised him as I flashed these first two pictures of him but he was a good sport about it.
That is why these sketches exist and why I also have these various blog sites of mine. They are often worked on in small segments of time until I may finally post them. As long as get them posted I do not mind all that much that I have to do it this way. In fact I may bring new things to the table as I do it this way as I have time in between the times I work on them to arrive at new ideas/inspirations / deductions and conclusions : all good things.
I have pictures here of four out of the five quick portrait sketches that I did here in blue ink of Daniel across the table at Proof restaurant from me. It was an intimate gathering : only six of us. I spoke French with Daniel and with Moez later when he arrived. That was a thrill for me as well. Our meal had not arrived yet and so while we sampled the wines and Daniel spoke of them I took my two sheets of paper out and started to sketch quickly never looking down at the paper or what I was doing and just watching him and his movements and facial expressions all the while. Often I am sure that as he moved and turned his head I would draw over whet I had already done. No matter : adds for me to the sense of the fluidity of motion and the animation of the luncheon and of Daniel, too. I like all of this of course because I really like recording some of these moments of ours with both poems ( go to : chatpoetry.blogspot.com ), sketches , photos and signed menus and sheets of paper that mark and record the events. I'm a bit crazy about all of this but it does help to " fill-in " the exact moment and place and all that were present as well as what was eaten and served for wine.
There are only four of the eight sketches here because I gave four of them to Daniel. I would have given them all to him if my Kodak camera had been working well because all I wanted was for him to hold them in front of him and I could have taken the photos of him with them and then they would have all been his. As it was my camera was just not cooperating at that moment and so I asked him to pick one of the two pages ( I did the pages folded in two and front and back ) and he picked one. I will now give him this set if I ever see him again and he would like to have it. That's a promise Daniel.
The portrait sketches have become my new " quick art form " as I can do them easily as people talk and move around and then I can give them to them as a " thank you " and as an appreciation of mine for the moment that we just have shared together. I may keep some, too. But as long as I have photos of the sketches with the people that inspired them then I am happy. It's something that I may do for them and of course I hope thet enjoy them.
I was rushed for time and had forgotten to bring one of my sketch books and so I rummaged around in my trunk and found two pieces of white paper and determined that if the moment arose that I would make some quick portrait sketches of Daniel. Fortunately for me there was time and I took full advantage of it.
I think that they came out okay. I think that they capture some of him : the inner man perhaps? I don't mean them to be sad or too serious,I just draw quickly what I see as it moves and both expressions and lighting and all the rest change and pass quickly before my eyes.
In the attempt not to miss anything I do not look at what I am doing and only at my subject. I want to see as much as I can see and all the smiles and grimaces and wrinkling of the nose and the lines of the face as they appear and as quickly disappear. It's quite an enjoyable thing to do : like being along for a ride and being able to observe/serve fully the moment.
I know that this surprises many as this is not an usual occurrence and so it must be a bit shocking and maybe even off-putting. I do not mean to offend anyone and so I di it as silently and unobtrusively as I possibly can as I want the moment to progress with the least bit of disruption as possible. After all, the event is not simply about me if about me at all.
I do like capturing the moment and it pleases me that I can like this. It's nice to have something to look back on and to help trigger memories as they fade with time. I enjoyed myself immensely and it was great to meet you Daniel and to try the LA ROQUETE white Chateauneuf-Du-Pape 2008 as well as the four red LA ROQUETE Chateauneuf-Du-Papes : 2007, 2005, 2006 and the " L'Accent de ROQUETE 2006.
Cheers and Happy New Year to one and to all. Stay-tuned for more of these sketches and if you want to see more just scroll down this site at : chatart.blogspot for more, including the ones I just did in the last week of October, 2009 in Tuscany, Italy with my daughter. TONY
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