Sketching with Watercolor at the Medici Fountain in Paris

In Paris last month I did some sketching at one of my favorite spots, the Medici Fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens.

This is a little video preview of me sketching. The full 10-minute video sharing the process of creating these two sketches is a free bonus course available to my atelier Members on the Courses page.

The statues on the fountain are by Auguste Ottin, and represent the giant cyclops Polyphemus, in bronze, discovering the sea-nymph Acis with her human lover, Galatea, in white marble. In the Greek myth, jealous Polyphemus kills Acis, so Galatea transforms her lover into an immortal river spirit.

The fountain and grotto were designed for Marie de’ Medici’s Left Bank palace, created in the 1620’s. In 1811 the fountain was restored and moved to its current location, and the statues were added at that time.

I first discovered the fountain on my high school trip to France, in 1988. I sat and sketched the sculptures on that trip as well, in a long-lost sketchbook unfortunately. I visit the fountain every time I return to Paris since then.

This is another watercolor sketch I did last summer at my kitchen table:

Drawing Materials
Blackwing drawing pencil
Blackwing long point sharpener
General’s white chalk pencil
Kneaded eraser
Stillman & Birn Nova Trio Series Toned Softcover Sketchbook

Watercolor Materials
Arches watercolor block
Watercolor palette in brass by TirraLyra

Watercolor tin pans by TirraLyra
Watercolor red sable travel brushes by Rosemary Brushes
Collapsible tin water cup by Fulangpa
Guache: Zinc white, Winsor & Newton
Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolor Tube colors:
Raw Umber
Indian Yellow
Quinacridone Rose
Cerulean Blue
Chromium Green Oxide