On the Spot in Clermont-Ferrand

Hello readers, and welcome new subscribers,

I am back in Seattle after an exciting long weekend at Rendez-vous International du Carnet de Voyage.

Rendez-vous is the largest and longest running travel sketchbooks festival in the world. It takes place every year in mid-November in Clermont-Ferrand, a remote city in central France that is also well-known for its industry (Michelin) and for a ring of nearby volcanic domes like this one I drew with my urban sketcher pal Cyrille Briand.

How did an industrial city “in the middle of nowhere in France,” to quote some locals who compared it with Detroit, became the mecca of travel sketching?

I talked to one of the event co-founders about that, but first let me tell you about some of the 80 international artists who participated this year, and about the sketching projects they submitted to be invited.

Sheila Rooswitha Putri

Jakarta-based sketcher and comic book artist Sheila Rooswitha Putri, of Sheila’s Playground fame, returned to Rendez-vous this year with a delightful project about the traditional Indonesian “waroung,” the small, family-owned shops that are very much part of Indonesian identity.

Rooswitha Putri spent two months sketching waroung storefronts, shop owners, patrons and food, and the result is a colorful 70-page self-published edition and many lovely stickers.

Thierry Chehab

When Total Energies wanted to celebrate its 90th anniversary publishing a book with illustrations in a travel sketchbook style, the talent agency tasked with finding an artist for the job lucked out.

French Lebanese sketcher Thierry Chehab, who is based in Dubai, gladly took on the assignment. Working in tandem with a writer, he visited the facilities of the multinational French oil company in Qatar to create vibrant ink-and-watercolor drawings that make the company’s refineries look so colorful.

These sketches, along with his lively drawings of a Qatar World Cup match, earned Chehab a spot at this year’s Rendez-vous. He is not new to the event, having received several awards in 2021 for his reportage on the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion.

Jeroen Janssen

Another veteran of Rendez-vous, Belgian sketcher Jeroen Janssen was selected for his work on Landloos als de Wind(Landless as the Wind), an emotive sketchbook of everyday life in a working-class neighborhood of Ghent created in collaboration with journalist Arezoo Moradi.

Janssen isn’t sitting still. He said his next project will likely focus on documenting the lives of Roma traveling communities.

Lapin

Tireless globe-trotting Lapin has participated in many editions of Rendez-vous since 2005. This year, he showcased several books of aeronautic reportage, including “Patrouille de France,” a sketchbook featuring the legendary squadron of French acrobatic jets and their pilots.

Lapin, whose real name is a well-guarded secret, is one of 39 French artists currently bestowed by the French Air Force with the official title of “painter of the Air and Space.” He said this recognition comes with the honorific rank of captain and great perks such as access to military events and potential commissions.

Liz Roth and Diann Simms

Every year, two artists from cities around the world where Michelin has a presence are invited to Rendez-vous without the need to submit an application. In this edition, Liz Roth represented Norman, Oklahoma.

Although she didn’t need to apply, Roth had a unique body of work to present: sketches drawn in cities along the 40th parallel. She said the idea started in 2019 when she was spending time in China on a Fulbright scholarship.

Diann Simms represented Anderson, South Carolina, where Michelin has its American headquarters. She traveled to France with her daughter, pictured right.

Róisín Curé

Last year, Irish sketcher and art teacher Róisín Curé got a taste of Rendez-vous as a visitor. This time, she was among the exhibitors, presenting “Dublin in Sketches and Stories,” a gorgeous coffee table book that gives readers a visual walk through the Irish capital in every season.

Curé said she’s currently focused on nurturing the community of women who take her online classes, but a project for next year is already bubbling up. She said she’s looking forward to taking her watercolors to the wild countryside of County Clare in Western Ireland, not far from her home base in Galway.

Sylvain Cnudde

Sylvain Cnudde made his debut at Rendez-vous with a fabulous self-published book documenting his journey aboard a French scientific vessel on its way to the Crozet Islands, a sub-Antarctic archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean.

Cnudde is a Paris-based urban sketcher fond of drawing concerts, cars and nature. He said he likes to draw mostly for himself but may take on a project when the right opportunity comes. He said the chance to travel on the Marion Dufresne came unexpectedly through the scientific institute where he works as a graphic designer. A spot on the vessel opened up because one of his co-workers couldn’t go.

Joey Mason

Joey Mason’s brand of reportage is instantly recognizable for his charming cartoonish style and use of accent spot colors.

The Los Angeles-based sketcher and animation artist earned his first ticket to Clermont-Ferrand with the results from an artist residency in Galway, Ireland, where he spent a month capturing the unique pedestrian environment around Quay Street.

His self-published edition of lively Quay Street sketches follows the same format as previous books featuring his drawings of Porto, Madrid, New York and Los Angeles.

Rita Sabler

With a project documenting the jazz scene in New Orleans, American artist Rita Sabler earned not only an invitation to this year’s Rendez-vous but also the coveted International Sketchbook Award.

As the publisher of Sabler’s previous book, New York Rewakens, I was happy to see Sabler being recognized. Her reportage of the Kalaupapa settlement in Hawaii was also awarded by the festival jurors in 2021.

Nicolas Loustalot

To earn his first invitation to Rendez-vous, Nantes-based urban sketcher Nicolas Loustalot documented the scenic coast of Brittany and its iconic lighthouses.

His self-published book, “Phares Ouest”, is an actual-size replica of his sketchbook, including his own handwritten notes, calligraphic titles and signature splashes of watercolor.

Next year he would like to capture another picturesque subject: the little quaint towns in the Vendée region that are designated as “Petites Cités de Caractère.”

Aurélie Bourdin

In 2022 she presented sketches of erupting vulcanoes. This time, French-born sketcher Aurélie Bourdin brought a very personal travel sketchbook to Rendez-vous.

Traveling by train, scooter, bus, motorcycle and even canoes, Bourdin explored the southern part of Vietnam where her mom was born, and also the more mountainous north. Her sketchbooks show lush nature scenes, ornate temples and beautiful portraits of her relatives and native Hmong people.

Documenting the land of her ancestors was very special, said Bourdin. “I was not in my country, but I felt at home.”

Juliette Plisson

Paris-based artist and urban sketcher Juliette Plisson said this was her fourth time exhibiting at Rendez-vous. “Carnets d’Italie,” the project that brought her back, is a collection of sketches made over eight trips to Milan to visit her daughter. Plisson showed the eclectic array of sketchbooks she used to document her time in Milan and experiment with different media.

Arnaud De Meyer

After seeing his beautifully crafted book make the rounds on Instagram posts for a while, I couldn’t wait to get a copy of Arnaud De Meyer’s “Luxembourg, sketch by sketch” in my own hands — I have a soft spot for carefully observed architectural sketches, and his work excels in that category.

Artists who exhibit at Rende-vous often present sketchbooks drawn far away from their own home. De Meyer’s portrait of the city where he has lived for 30 years proves that you don’t have to go far to be a travel sketcher. You only need to walk the streets of your own city with a tourist mindset.

Tazab

Tazab’s epic sketchbook project for this edition of Rendez-vous took more than drawing chops. Pedaling across the Pyrénées on his gravel Cannondale bike, Tazab covered 1,050 kilometers and an elevation gain of 18,000 meters (more than twice the height of Mount Everest) to retrace a trip Victor Hugo took back in 1843.

The effort paid off. “Les Pyrenees de Víctor Hugo,” which has already been published by Elytis Editions, was awarded the Writing Award Michel Renaud and the Michelin Foundation Coup de Cœur.

Despite the recognition, the local Clermont-Ferrand artist was humble when I approached his stand to congratulate him. “I just found some writing by Victor Hugo and added some drawings,” he said with a big smile.

How it all started

Turns out the original idea of Rendez-vous wasn’t much about sketchbooks. Co-founder Éric Gauthey said he and a few other friends just wanted to do something that would bring people passionate about travel together in Clermon-Ferrand. The impetus happened one day “while we were just having coffee.”

Gauthey, pictured above in front of his photo reportage of Iran, credits Pierrette Viel, one of those friends and the current president of Il Faut Aller Voir (You Have to Go See), the association they formed in 1997, with the idea of inviting travel sketchbook artists.

P.S.: In case you are interested, the application period to take part in Rendez-vous usually opens in April. The artists whose projects are chosen receive a travel stipend and free accommodation during the dates of the event in November. Invited artists can also have their self-published books and prints available for sale in the “autoédités” and “boutique” stands.