L'Atelier Nomade

Ivan Seymus

Spain

2 May 2017
Hiking along the GR92 in Catalonia
Now that’s a camino! From Provence in France, it’s approximately a 4 to 5 hours drive depending on where you want to end up. Continue reading
Carnet de voyage
Catalonia, Spain

About Me

World citizen with a notebook in hand to write, sketch and tell stories with all senses present.

This blog is a zibaldone in itself — part notebook, part stage, where fragments turn into text, images, and sometimes motion. Mostly on keeping a zibaldone, Provence, sketching and stories of all kind.

Recent Posts

ivanseymus

World citizen with a notebook in hand to write, sketch and tell stories with all senses present.

Old, older, oldest The name of our village, Oppè

Old, older, oldest The name of our village, Oppède-le-Vieux, says it all: ‘vieux’ (old in French). I wondered what the oldest house in the village would ultimately be. So we planned a Sunday walk up the hill via the medieval callade of Chemin de Tombereau … Short story on my blog, link in bio. #oppede #provence #traveljournal #sketch #deepmapping #ateliernomade #usk

Just realized that I posted the preliminary sketch

Just realized that I posted the preliminary sketches but not the finished piece. A commissioned story map of an olive oil mill and its grounds in Oppède, Luberon, Provence. Size: A2
#deepmapping #senseofplace #spiritofplace #provence #pencilsketching #unescobiospherereserve

✨ A Double-Chambered Vessel ✨  Some objects

✨ A Double-Chambered Vessel ✨
 Some objects quietly wait to tell their story.
 Years ago, I traded one of my first intaglios for a small, mysterious stone with two holes. At the time, no one knew what it was — maybe a toy? It ended up forgotten in a box. Until, by chance, I saw its twin behind glass in a writing museum: an ancient inkwell, once used by scribes in Mesoamerica.
 Now it sits on my desk, connecting distant hands, pigments, and stories.
Read the full story on my blog — link in bio. #artiststory #foundobject #artefact #mysteryobject #doublechamberedvessel #teotihuacan #aztecculture #inkwell #inspiration #artistlife #historyandart #ancientcraft #printmakinginspiration #serendipity #storybehindtheart #writinghistory #creativeprocess #objectswithastory #artandmemory

Thinking through making As part of the deep mappi

Thinking through making As part of the deep mapping project around Saint Augustin, I set out to better understand how building a new site in the 12th century might have unfolded. Instead of relying on written sources alone, I chose to explore this through making. Not far from the location I was documenting, I constructed a larger-scale sculpture: an attempt to reconstruct the principles of medieval building practices. It began with gathering materials, transporting them, stacking, disassembling, adjusting. Working with weight and balance, volume and void. As the process continued, immaterial aspects revealed themselves naturally: orientation, the position of the sun, shadows, the play of light, the connection to the landscape. These were not decisions made in advance but responses to conditions on site. I used only what was at hand: stones, tree stumps, branches. Slowly, the structure began to resemble a hilltop village — Gordes serving as a model. A small architecture, assembled by hand, guided by observation. Sometimes the best way to understand history is to let your hands ask the questions. IMAGES 1. Preliminary study 2. NORTH: a hilltop village under construction 3. EAST: “The painter sketches to paint, the sculptor draws to carve, and the architect draws to build.” — Louis I. Kahn 4. From drawing to the field 5. SOUTH: “At the end of the day I was inventing shapes and placing buildings in different relationships than they were.” — Louis I. Kahn
 
6. WEST: “A space can never reach its place in architecture without natural light. The structure is a design in light.” — Louis I. Kahn #DeepMapping #ThinkingThroughMaking #HandsOnHistory #MaterialThinking #ArtisticResearch #SculpturalProcess #SiteBasedResearch #ateliernomade

Storm Darragh unleashed havoc on the Victorian pie

Storm Darragh unleashed havoc on the Victorian pier of Llandudno in Northern Wales last week. A 150 year old kiosk was ripped from its foundations. An ice cream parlor has been missing since then. I do not know if it is the one a sketched earlier this year on our first visit. Will be checking later this week. #wales #llandudno #sketch #carnetdevoyage #usk

When in Provence you can blend in with the local s

When in Provence you can blend in with the local scenery by renting a ‘deuche’ or ‘deux chevaux’. The first one is a 2CV Special, the second sketch is a ‘Charleston’ version. Probably the best way to take in the landscape with as few horsepower as possible. 😋 #citroen #2CV #deuche #carnetdevoyage #sketchbook #traveljournal #provenceluberon #provence #urbansketching #drawing #illustration #locationdrawing #travelillustration #cardrawing #ateliernomade

I promise, this is the last page I will share with

I promise, this is the last page I will share with the blanc-out-bleed-through-text-technique. This kind of serendipity keeps me drawing in notebooks and from switching to a tablet. Paper is my home. Little square in Uzès at the entrance of the local library. Pencil on 52g Tomoe River paper. #Uzes #sketchbookdrawing #journaling #provence #handlettering #USK #urbansketchers

'No littering. The sea begins here.' Pavement sign

'No littering. The sea begins here.' Pavement sign in Javea. They chose the silhouette of a giant sunfish (mola mola) to fit all the text in, I presume. (detail travel journal) #sunfish #javea #pencildrawing #uskspain #traveljournal #sketchbook #handlettering

Fond memories of Javea/Xabia in my journal. 52g To

Fond memories of Javea/Xabia in my journal. 52g Tomoe River paper in goodinkpressions notebook, perfect for travelling. #tomoeriverpaper #goodinkpressions #carnetdevoyage #jávea #costablanca #usk #urbansketchers

#nationalillustrationday , #thanksgiving , where’s that turkey from a few years back 🤔 #penillustration #inkdrawing #artistsofinstagram #illustrationartists #turkey

Teotihuacan, Mexico 1984. My first plein air sketc

Teotihuacan, Mexico 1984. My first plein air sketches and travelogue. Some thoughts in a new blogpost on my website. Link in bio. #travelogue #sketchbook #carnetdevoyage #mexico #teotihuacan #dippen #illustration

Many thanks to @roadandtrack.artdept for having me

Many thanks to @roadandtrack.artdept for having me in their latest issue of Road & Track vol.17: 'Sacred grounds' and creating this stunning collage of the illustrations. 😍 With a total print circulation of nearly 600,000 copies, this is by far my most distributed travel journal 😳 Amazing! A big thanks to @cassidyzobl and her team for taking such good care ✨ #roadandtrack #traveljournal #porsche911 #editorialillustration #handdrawn #illustration #carnetdevoyage #porsche #roadandtrackmagazine

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