About this item
Drawing activities, art instruction, and advice for artists and non-artists alike. Urban sketching--the process of drawing on the go as a regular practice--is a hot trend in the drawing world. It's also a practical necessity for creatively minded people in a busy world. In this aspirational guide, self-taught French artist France Belleville-Van Stone emboldens readers to craft a ritual of their own and devote more time to art, even if it's just 10 minutes a day. She offers motivation to move beyond the comfort zone, as well as instruction on turning rough sketches into finished work. Belleville Van-Stone learned how to draw through her own daily practice and knows first-hand how hard it is to find time to incorporate creativity into a busy life.
About the Author
France Belleville-Van Stone is best known in the little community of Mount Olive, NJ, for being the high school French teacher who sketches during meetings.
She was born in north-eastern France, and moved to the United States after finishing her Master's degree in English from the Université de Strasbourg.
In 2006, Belleville-Van Stone started her blog wagonized (www.wagonized.com, a reference to her love for old Volvo wagons) and has been posting about drawing on trains, drawing when there is no time to draw, drawing at work, drawing at night, drawing on any support, drawing first thing in the morning, drawing without any formal training, drawing while nursing a new-born, drawing standing up and drawing with a cat on your lap. Belleville-Van Stone has turned her main handicap (being untaught) into a strength: "I don't know what I am doing so let me show you how".
Her work was published in Danny Gregory's An Illustrated Life in 2008. She has joined the Fakulty of Sketchbook Skool for the Spring 2015 semester.
Belleville-Van Stone lives in New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and cat. She is the proud owner of a 1993 5-speed Volvo 240 wagon Classic.
