An afternoon, held in a few shapes.

I am Lucien Daret, a resident of Nîmes who likes to sit still long enough for a courtyard to become interesting. I draw the opening under an arch, the edge of a patch of shade, or the space between two shutters. These pages collect the small studies that survive after the afternoon itself has passed.

My sketchbook is landscape-shaped because I tend to notice things spread across a scene. A low wall, a doorway, and a rectangle of light can form a quiet arrangement without asking to become a grand view. I usually begin with the empty spaces. The objects around them arrive later, if the drawing needs them.

The colors here come from an ordinary walk home: dusty lavender in a shaded wall, warm clay near a doorstep, and a dark plum that appears when I mix too many pencil marks together. They are personal choices rather than a claim about how the city always looks. Light changes the whole arrangement before I have finished drawing it.

This is a modest notebook, with room for incomplete observations and deliberate simplification. You can read about my routine or visit the sketchbook for a three-shape exercise. The exercise works beside a window as well as in a courtyard. A comfortable place to pause is more useful than an impressive destination.