April 8, 22:05 - Architecture!!

        I guess, if for nothing else, this project has been useful: I've discovered architecture.  I honestly never knew that I was interested in buildings or bridges.  Yet I have fallen completely in love with Parisian design.  I'm legitimately becoming interested in architecture as a profession.  I can't stop staring at the details put into every building, the delicate railings on every window, the arches, carvings and lines in the façades of museums and churches.  I came here for figure drawing!  And don't get me wrong - I still love drawing people and sculptures and paintings.  But the buildings!  Unfortunately, I'm having to work on building up my patience, because while I can draw a sculpture in 30 minutes, it takes hours to draw a building.  I've always prided myself on my ability to draw straight and parallel lines, circles, and symmetry, and I'm really putting it to the test. 

Today I got kicked out of le Cité de l'Architecture because I took so long drawing a window!
        I'm fascinated by Gothic architecture, but I don't have the patience or talent to draw every little detail.

        Thanks to an inspiring someone, I've been paying close attention to glass ceilings, which are proving to be a sort of transition to urbanism and modern architecture.  I love the combination of old (Gothic or 17th century or so) buildings with modern glass ceilings:

Cité de l'Architecture

Musée d'Orsay

I'm realizing how much soft light these ceilings add to a room or a building, and I love it!

        Yesterday at the Louvre, I stumbled onto a room full of sketches by Pietro de Cortona, the man who designed the façade of the Louvre.  Even his architectural blueprints (actually like redprints) were just those... blueprints... they were so beautiful to me.  He also had amazing figure drawings.  They inspired me so much; I've always thought of art as a low-priority hobby in my life, and now I'm starting to think seriously of a way that I could have art be my legitimate profession.  Wow, I like the idea of architecture so much more than something like communications in international business.  Even if I don't become an architect, I still find de Cortona's sketches of columns and ceilings heartbreakingly beautiful.  The way he adds subtle touches of watercolor to provide depth... *sigh.*

Oh my God, I want to do that.  Honestly, in my heart, I want to do that.  (This was the one photo I could take before I got yelled at, "No picture, no picture!")

        That sketch is so gorgeous to me with its delicacy and detail, yet simplicity.  I love 17th and 18th century architecture, especially in Paris.  I'm excited to be able to look closely at Italian architecture in Florence.  It should be different but still incredible.  Maybe more like this?

        I bought a compass today to draw all of the French arches better.  I wish I had all sorts of architectural tools, but I've been using straightedges and depending on my decent ability to draw parallel lines.  If only I had hours every day to spend getting the building proportions perfect :(  I only have two days left in Paris!  Jesus, I can't believe that.  Just this moment remembering and typing that, I felt my soul die a little, a physical crushing inside my chest.  It's not fair.  I want to go to Florence, but not yet.  Why did I have to fall so in love with this place?  It's so bittersweet.  I guess it means I will have to come back and study here... maybe architecture at La Sorbonne?