Cover story: Fine lines -- Ink-on-paper images turn Alain Ridard's season's greetings into a gift of art Cover story: Fine lines -- Ink-on-paper images turn Alain Ridard's season's greetings into a gift of art (December 22, 2004)

By Annick O. Shinn

Special to the Almanac

The winter sun filters through the oak tree foliage and brightens Alain Ridard's studio at his Atherton home.

Sitting by the bay window, pen in hand, Alain applies fine black lines to a penciled sketch that is taking shape, like a Polaroid photo slowly developing. Prints of this drawing will become his annual season's greeting card -- the latest in the card series he began in 1959.

"At first, I sent only a few cards, and they were all original drawings," he reminds me. "I have now 160 names on my Christmas list. The recipients seem to like the prints just as well." He grins. "Some of them even inquire about my card if they have not received it by mid-December."

Light reflects on his wire-rimmed glasses, and I recognize the mischievous twinkle in his brown eyes. His hair combed to the side has turned the color of salt and pepper, but I remember him as a young boy, the brother one year older than I, who loved to draw from the time he was 6.

We grew up in France ,where paper was scarce during World War II, and Alain executed his first artistic endeavors with chalk on a blackboard set up against the kitchen wall.

Today, in the quiet room, I hear the nib of the pen scratching the vellum as he adds intricate details to the steeple of a cathedral. I watch Alain focus on the project at hand. A view of Orleans, France, the hometown we left four decades ago, is coming alive on paper.

As a teenager, Alain studied at the Beaux Arts of Orleans, under Louis-Joseph Soulas, whose work at the time won awards in Europe. Alain experimented with various art techniques, but chose ink-pen drawing, black on white paper, as his favorite medium.

Over the years, the topics of his Christmas cards have varied from a series of antique toys to one of exotic birds, and reproductions of scenes photographed during his world travels.

He is partial to capturing picturesque landscapes of French villages.

The size of his cards has changed too. They are now an impressive 8 by 10 inches, ready for framing.

The message or letter inside is hand written, as well as the address on the envelope. Alain, an avid stamp collector, adorns the envelopes with colorful stamps, as if they were bows on a package.

As for the originals of his drawings, he rarely keeps them. Instead he offers them as gifts to friends and relatives.

"I own four of them!" boasts Monique Faylor of Saratoga, who displays them in her well-decorated home.

After a long career in the technical industry, Alain retired from Avanti Corp. in 2000.

Like most retirees, he found a host of new hobbies that often keep him away from the drawing table. But no matter what, he never postpones the task of creating his annual season's greeting card.

His 160 recipients will soon be checking their mailboxes. They won't be disappointed.

Annick O. Shinn, the sister of Atherton artist Alain Ridard, is a freelance writer who lives in San Jose. Annick O. Shinn/ Ridard Story 3

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