Category: Journal
Self-publishing 2: Dublin
Illustration + Film photography + Letterpress printing
A second self-publishing is on the way! This illustrations project is mixed with photography and typography. Realized in Dublin when I live since October.
April 2019: I left Leenane and I am not anymore barmaid. Finished to serve Guinness. I came in Dublin more than 6 months ago. I am barista in an Italian coffee shop near Trinity College. I meet Irish people since them first coffee and I really enjoy it! Winter is finished. The weather is better and I go everyday in the City Center with my pencils and a sketchbook. I sit down outside in front of a lovely view after work. The rest of the time, I draw the City from different nice pubs or restaurant’s windows if it’s too cold. I translate the noise and the movement of the City into my pictures. I re-use my Old Camera (Canon AE1 Program, 1987). I develop all my films in Georges St. I love to screen shot architecture and busy city streets. My project is to combine illustration, photography with letterpress printing. I discovered a lovely print studio in Temple Bar and I will probably work with them on this new project.
Exhibition: Art Capital 2019, Paris
“View from my window, Leenane village”
Exhibition: from the 13th to the 17th of February 2019 in Grand Palais, Paris
This illustration was created in April 2018 above the Hamilton’s bar in Leenane in the Connemara, Co. Galway in Ireland. I used different mediums like watercolour, soft pastel, coulour pencils water-soluble. I gathered items found on the place to do some collage. The size is: 500×600 mm. The frame is in accordance with the principal color into the illustration: Soft Walnut Matt Nielsen.
Self-publishing 1: Leenane
“Facing the fjord, Leenane village”
Illustrations book created in the ConnemaraIllustration + Nature (flowers found in the Connemara)
I lived in Leenane from March 2016 to January 2017. I was back to France during a year. I really missed Ireland! Then, I decided to come back in Leenane for a second summer.
We are in March 2018 and I am back for a second season during five months exactly in the same place than last year. I rent the same room abrove the Hamilton’s Bar where I worked to improve my English. I live with local irish people and I wake up every morning with a feel like to paint those amazing landscapes. Leenane is near the Killary Fjord. In the middle of the mountains. There are not too many trafic. Just some sheep and a lovely nature. I am here with my material (Mac, scanner, everything to draw) and my car for this time. I would love more discover and to continue to draw around the village.
Exhibitions in France
1/ Le P’tit Lieu (the little space): to be curious!
Exhibition: from the 10th of January to the 3rd for February 2018
“Passionate illustrator and traveler, Stéphanie loves to sketch on site, directly observing daily life. French native, she has been studing Graphic Design. To learn about different cultures has had a great impact on my drawings. She translates her affection through colourful illustrations. She fell in love two years ago with Connemara and came back to Leenane for a second season. She hopes to live longer in the beautiful Ireland! The artist develop in the practice of sketch drawings from the reality. Meeting local people add to her illustrations some anecdotes. When Stéphanie was child, she had already the sensation like her home wasn’t hers. So, she is looking for her home to draw some lovely places nice to stay for a while.”
Opening the 11th for January from 6.30 pm
Meeting /Watercolour Workshop: the 14th of January from 2 pm to 6 pm
Postal address:
Le P’tit Lieu
15, rue de Bras
14000 Caen
France
www.facebook.com/leptitlieu
2/ A cosy ambiance in the pub “L’Antirouille”
Exhibition: from the 6th to the 28th of February 2018
Opening the 8th from 8 pm
Événement ouvert à tous ! J’y apporterai d’autant plus d’illustrations qu’il y en a sur les murs du bar.
Postal address:
L’Antirouille
29, rue Caponnière
14000 Caen
France
https://www.facebook.com/lantirouille.caen/
3/ “Vous êtes ici”
Exhibition: from the 1st to the 29th of March 2018
instagram to see more picture.
Postal address:
Vous êtes ici
13, rue Saint Sauveur
Caen, 14000
France
www.facebook.com/Barvousetesici/
Publishing
Then, I have been working on journey diaries, combining my graphics and illustration competences.
I have made some prototypes, joining my personal texts, extracted from my Irish diary, and my sketches. I have done the same about my journey in Malta, very rich in terms of compositions and colours.
I’ve also had the opportunity to participate to some events such as photographic competitions, and to answer invitations to tender.
I am currently collaborating as illustrator with a German structure. I benefit greatly from any collaboration.
Urban Sketchers in Europe
Stéphanie Chéron-Cielecki est tombée sous le charme du village de Leenane, en Irlande. Florilège de ses plus belles illustrations sur photos.geo.fr/member/36734-St%25C3%25A9phanie-Ch%25C3%25A9ron_Cielecki
Publiée par GEO France sur Mercredi 5 octobre 2016
Scotland in January 2017:
Italy in February 2017:
Travelling Interrail From Naples to Venise (Milan, Turin and Rome).
Interview with L’Ogresse de Paris
Octobre 2016 / Paris, France > Leenane, Irlande
When we talk about journeys, we usually consider destinations, places or weather conditions. I want to talk about encounters instead. Loving travelling means spending time to discover and open up to the others.
Hello Stéphanie! Could you introduce yourself to the blog readers?
My name is Stéphanie Chéron. I am French, but adding Cielecki to my surname, I want to underline how much proud I am of my Polish origins. After a university career in graphics, I fell in love with travelling and I made some pictures to express my international experience.
Tell me something that I don’t know about you. When have you started drawing, painting?
Everything started in 2012. Passionate for discovery, I decided to end my studies at the Beaux-arts University of Martinique. I was alone for the first time, in the middle of an environment I had never seen before. The humidity rate, the coloured districts I used to cross to reach the university, the impressive cockroaches, the rich vegetation of the surrounding area…everything was astonishing to me!
Which was your first subject?
I made a series of three 400x600mm watercoloured sketches representing the topology of the streets of Fort-de-France.
Have watercolours become your favourite technique?
No, I also use pencils, dry pastels, acrylics, collage, or the collection of objects found on site and many more techniques.
We have met in Martinique. What have you retained from your experience down there?
It’s nice to have passions. This experience allowed me to discover how to express my feelings through illustrations. I focused on several landscapes and scenes of everyday life, but I preferred to represent the architecture of the island.
Then, I lived in Malta.
You are living in Ireland at the moment… What do you like in Connemara?
The grey colour, the varied nuances of green and the strong contrasts between warm and cold colours you can find here. The colour of mountains varies depending on the weather. After the rain, the sun. After the sun, the rain. And between the two, you can appreciate fog, rainbows, showers, mist and often, sun and rain at the same time, resulting in nice shadows reflecting on the mountains of Leenane. Given that I draw in situ, that confers movement and clumsiness to my works. My new subject: lights and shadows.
To paint on the ground, the weather conditions must be favourable. How do you select your subjects?
In Ireland, I wear a good oilskin, a pair of boots and I am ready to go! I keep my diary under my arm, so that the material does not take place in my backpack. I follow my intuition. I stop, I take a breath, I listen to the nature, or, more often, to Chopin and I start drawing to mark the passing time. In any case, I never draw from a photo, I always stand in front my subject to paint it!
How much time does it take making a painting?
It takes me about 30 minutes to paint an A5 format, 4 hours for an A3 format. I’m really looking forward to focus on A2 paintings at the moment! The mountain in front of me is so great that it deserves such a scale. If the subject is personal, I attach much more importance to it and I take the time to transcribe my emotions on the paper. I am patient, and I can stand drawing on the same place for up to 6 hours.
Do you have any suggestions for those who want to start drawing?
Do not throw anything, try to preserve everything! Come back on the painting if needed, but be also able to stop. Watercolours are interesting, because they leave trace of the instantaneity. The lowest layers preserve the first gestures, the clumsiness remains visible, and that’s charming to me.
Any dreams?
I’d like to collaborate with a publishing house …
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to travel through the blog today. Your work is very inspiring. I love the spontaneity that emerges in a moment in which many artists intellectualize a lot their creations. That’s exhilarating!
