Un conseil ? 06.48.16.06.90
Passionate about drawing since childhood, I learned everything about painting and graphic design from my grandfather, a great doctor but above all a sublime watercolourist. Curious and versatile, I have been a university professor, an advertising executive and a designer in Rome, London, Paris and now Bordeaux.
But one often returns to one’s first love and here I am again with a pencil in hand. I am inspired by the little pleasures of everyday life. So of course I draw a lot of people who love each other! Parents and children, lovers and newlyweds…
I like to imagine these fleeting moments, magical and insignificant at the same time, these obvious moments of shared love, between sparkle and nostalgia, candid but also a little offbeat. And I think that this shows in my line.
Cécile, illustrator 🇫🇷
Order a portrait by CécileCecile's Happy Life
Cécile's Happy STYLE
Her portraits are drawings that she works on with a… virtual pencil. Oh, her pencil is real, but it’s all plastic and straight on her graphics tablet. So she works on a computer. And she particularly likes to incorporate watercolours that she paints “in real life” into her portraits and that she digitises.
And as she is very emotional, even if she draws from a photo, you can feel a fragility in her line which, all in all, applies perfectly to my subject: precise, realistic, accurate and yet sensitive, delicate and unfinished.
Why we LOVE Cécile
Cécile immediately drew us into her colourful world. We love her slightly retro style, her fine black and delicate lines and her expressive faces that stand out on plain backgrounds.
His compositions are like an evidence, a harmony and softness emerge which magnify the characters and give life to the work.
The Happy Funky PORTRAIT of Cécile
♥ Do you remember your first aesthetic shock?
When I came out of the ophthalmologist’s with my very first glasses, and I saw, finally, the intensity of the colours of the trees, the light that played in the leaves changing the tone, the blue with a tiny tinge of magenta of the summer sky. I was one year old. I still remember it very clearly.
♥ The artist you would like to meet? What would you say to him?
Chuck Close impresses me with his coolly realistic transcription that is so tinged with his personal filter. More recently, I have been irresistibly drawn to the work of Milt Kobashi and Ronald Jackson. I’d probably buy them a drink and talk about something else entirely. Out of modesty!
♥ What is your favourite colour? What does it inspire you?
I like warm colours. Coral being probably my favourite at the moment… And yellow. Maybe “crushed raspberry” too! For the joyful energy they give off.
♥ Which museum gives you the greatest emotion? Why?
When I lived in London, I spent my time at the National Portrait Gallery. The portrait is both a mystery and a relief. And then museums are open to everyone in London, you make them your own like a favourite chair.
♥ Which piece of art would you buy without hesitation if you had an unlimited budget?
I don’t really have the need to own. But a sculpture maybe to touch or maybe a beautiful piece of mid-century designer furniture, a Charlotte Perriand, George Nakashima or Gio Ponti maybe.
♥ In which city do you feel happiest? Why do you think so? Share your 3 favourite addresses.
At the moment it’s Bordeaux!
I drink cocktails at Simone, Cocktailerie & Cuisine, a beautiful address located on the quays of Louis XVIII.
I eat organic and outrageously delicious ice creams at La Maison du Glacier, place St Pierre.
I dip my hand in the clay with delight at Studio Primitif, a ceramic studio on Rue du Mirail run by lovely girls.
♥ What book keeps you up all night?
The last one is Elisabeth Vonarburg’s Chronicle of Motherland.
♥ What are your biggest sources of inspiration?
Leaving on a whim for another country (twice!)… selling our house in Paris to go and live in Bordeaux, without having found a job or anything… Getting both arms tattooed entirely at 45, because it’s enough to want a tattoo and be afraid of other people’s gaze (and then getting carried away and getting 4… Very big!).
♥ What’s the funkiest thing you’ve done in your life?
A little bit of everything… the street where I sneakily photograph the print of passers-by’ dresses, art galleries, virtual or not, the colours of what surrounds me.
♥ What is your definition of happiness?
It’s a never-ending quest, I’m an anxious person. But maybe lying on the grass in the summer with friends around, a glass of wine, children running around us and quietude.
