on the streets of la butte aux cailles

It took an outing organized by Marie-Christine for me to get out and produce my first "serious" urban sketch following the summer break. The location? The Buttes aux Cailles neighborhood. I have always known it to be a lively and somewhat quaint area of Paris, with its cobblestone streets, colorful building facades, groovy bars and mellow cafés. But on that Saturday in early October, with fellow members of Urban Sketchers Paris, I was able to better observe and appreciate the neighborhood by sketching one of its streets. The experience was so enjoyable that I would return the following two Saturdays to create more "street art".

Rue Buot

My visual exploration of La Buttes aux Cailles started with the above view from Rue Buot. It had most of the things that I like in a subject : perspective, architectural variety, and just a little greenery. The icing on the cake was sketching on the sidewalk. That is as urban is it gets!

Rue du Moulinet

The following Saturday, I was back in the neighborhood. Agnès, a fellow Parisian sketcher, had shown me her sketch of a mural inspired by the popular Super Mario Bros video game, and being a Super Mario Bros lover in my early days, it was only fitting that I sketch the mural too. I found it on Rue du Moulinet, and sat across the street from it to get it in whole in my sketchbook.

Rue de la Butte aux Cailles

For the third consecutive Saturday, I found myself in the Butte aux Cailles to draw. This time, the lucky street was the one sharing the name of the district. I set my stool down on the square on the western end of the street, named Place de la Commune de Paris. The view towards the Rue de la Butte aux Cailles offered a pleasing combination of greenery, buildings, and inclines, all in perspective.