And cloudmen portraits?

You know, all those faces you see in clouds, in rocks, in trees and in the knots and rings of wood... I painted their portraits.  I wanted to keep them, all those funny shapes that we're lucky enough to glimpse.  I wanted to immortalize them in spite of the ephemereal nature of their origins... and most of all, this project required me to always have a pencil and paper on me, and to keep watching the clouds.

Seeing all these bizarre characters stopped in time like this makes you want to keep playing the game of finding what their lives might be like:

   -Who's this mini-genius?

-He looks kind of dumb, too.

    -No, that's just it, he's not dumb, he's super intelligent. He's a top scientist.

-But I'm sure he still lives with his mom.

  -And he invents formulas and stuff and gets manipulated by all the big politicians.

-He gets manipulated by just about everybody, in fact.

  -Even his mom.

-Oh yeah, especially his mom.

  -Must be her that made him get his portrait done even though it makes him really nervous.

-Poor guy, his hands must be all sticky.

And I kind of wanted to make fun of all those dark old portraits of people's ancestors that you see in the hallways of big cold houses. Excuse me if they really do resemble your ancestors; I didn't do it on purpose.

The faces I see in clouds are always masculine.  You can interpret that however you like.

Et des bonshommes de nuage ?

Vous savez, les bonshommes qu’on voit dans les nuages, dans les rochers, dans les arbres et dans les nœuds et anneaux du bois… J’ai fait leur portrait.  Je voulais les garder, ces formes rigolotes qu’on a la chance d’entrevoir, de les immortaliser malgré la caractère éphémère de leurs origines… et surtout, ce projet m'a obligé de toujours avoir un crayon et papier sur moi, et de regarder souvent les nuages.

De les voir comme ça fixes, ces drôles de personnages, donne envie de continuer le jeu de trouver les vies derrière:

-C'est qui ce mini-savant?

-Il est un peu bête, lui aussi.

-Non justement, il est pas bête, il est très intelligent. Il fait de la haute science.

-Mais je suis sûr qu'il habite encore chez sa maman.

-Puis il invente des formules et des trucs comme ça et il se fait manipuler par les grands politiciens.

-Il se fait manipuler par tout le monde en fait.

-Même sa maman.

-Ah oui, surtout sa maman.

-Ça doit être elle qui l'a obligé de faire faire son portrait alors que ça lui fout la trouille.

-Le pauvre, il a les mains tout moites.

Puis je voulais me moquer un peu de ces vieux portraits sombres des ancêtres qu'on voit dans les couloirs des grandes maisons froides. Excusez-moi s'ils ressemblent vraiment à vos ancêtres, ce n'est pas fait exprès.

Les bonshommes que je vois sont toujours masculins. Vous interpréterez cela comme vous voulez.

"Hey, you don't do your sketchbook anymore?"

Not so much right now.  I've been working on a bunch of other stuff, look:

A poster for a book fair at Evaux-les-Bains in June (I'll have a table there, too!)

And this is the one they didn't pick:

...and then there's this guy with an electric bike company who asked me to make a graphic for a bike frame:

This is the one he picked.  Guys like flames best.

You already saw this one.  Our hike up the mountain Cheif Joseph last summer...

...and I finished building my beehives.  Now I better start working on my art show for June, right?

Tiphen's mom commissioned a drawing of a watering can.  I made lots.  But this one I ended up giving to Simon for his birthday (it was my favorite)...

This is the one Tiphen and Olivier liked best.  (not me.)

and this is the one she picked.

Wait dad!
What's your last name?  -Lamberson.
And yours?  -Varet.
It's a miracle!