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I feel like I am doing a complicated dance with the weather patterns trying to paint this trip. I've had to stop two different paintings partway finished due to weather in only three days. The good news was that I got sunshine long enough this morning to finish the one above of Notre Dame. I was so happy to see the cherry trees blooming when I got here, just like my first trip to Paris three years ago.
Then I laid off working while it rained again and sat in a cafe with my friend Rene having a lovely catch up of the year's news since we'd seen each other.
It was colder than I had expected today, and I got pretty chilled, so I headed home for tea and a late lunch. I had an argument with myself about going back out to work, since I'm in Paris and should take advantage of that. But cold feet won out. My compromise was doing a sketch of the rooftop view from underneath the duvet. I love this view and feel so lucky to get to revisit this place. I'm grateful to the friends who trust me with their cat and their home while they travel.
As I finished the first window sketch, the moon rose beautifully above the rooftops, and I couldn't resist a second. As with the Grand Palais, once you've drawn something once, you've learned it to a great extent (although there is always more to see), so a second sketch at the end goes much more quickly. Also I just did a half one, to get the moon.
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It was sunny today! I could not have been more delighted. I spent almost the whole day in Luxembourg Gardens making the most of it. I did three finished watercolors there (this blog post) plus three journal sketches that I'll post later.
One watercolor was of a spectacular tree that I have unaccountably walked past without pasting proper attention in years past. I enjoyed spending time with it today. And also with a kind gentleman who saw me painting it and also does watercolors. I told him about Urban Sketchers and also spread the gospel of my water brush, which is such a quick and easy sketching tool to have. He shared his strawberries with me, and I enjoyed a little friendly conversation since I'm traveling solo.
I had a gorgeous walk home in the sunshine. It's funny how ridiculously happy I feel just for being able to paint all day. I've been looking forward to this so much. I hope the weather holds for a bit.
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In the meantime, I've been sketching my food a little. I think about food a lot in Paris. I hit two of my very favorite bakeries today, one with fig bread (makes amazing toast) and one with a chocolate "fondant," a sort of brownie with pear slices on top. Just amazing. Dinner was lovely.
I also took time to hit the brocantes. A brocante is anything from an antique store to a garage sale that sells second hand goods. This is, hands down, my favorite French word, with the treasure hunt it implies. I went to the Marche Puces this morning (only open on weekends), and on my way home later I stumbled on a five block brocante, with tents lining both sides of the street. I had been intending to find a cafe with some shelter in case of further rain and paint, but I surrendered to the siren song of the brocante instead. I bought silk scarves made from old saris, soft gray leather gloves, and a French art book on Constable, my favorite painter, with the best reproductions I've seen of his paintings.
After all, it was a Saturday. And I'm in Paris.
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This is my first finished watercolor from the trip. I sat out on a bridge across the Seine and painted in the sunshine. Since it was my first full day, and a lovely moment to boot, I also wanted to remember it in my journal. I did a very quick sketch with a light blue ballpoint, since I now knew the scene pretty well from doing the watercolor. Then I slapped a bit of paint on top. Not full shadows and depth, but enough to give the impression.
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Weebly, which hosts my website, has apparently stopped supporting the app on my phone that lets me upload photos onto this blog. Apologies first to the people who have subscribed and gotten several emails saying there's a new blog post that I immediately deleted because it wasn't working.
Today I spent my morning finding an Internet cafe and making the changes tech support told me to make. It's still not working. They have other suggestions that involve hunting down other tech support in a foreign language, but I don't want to spend all my time in Paris trouble shooting my website that they've stopped supporting.
So please check out my Facebook page for Martha Kelly Art instead. You should be able to search for and access it even though you're not on fb. (Again the limitations of having just a phone -- I can't seem to pull up the web address to link to without a desktop.)
One kind friend is offering to update my blog for me if I email photos, but he is off having a well deserved dance weekend at the moment, so it will be a few days. I'll have things here sporadically, but not as often as I would like. Thank you, Weebly. They've been busy making the interface less easy to use over the last few years instead of keeping it working. I'm going to go drown my frustrations in chocolate mousse now. Thank you all for reading my blog. I'm sorry I can't get it to work as I would like.
Addendum: fueled by some chocolate mousse, I managed to make the browser version in my phone work after a fashion. It's not great, and it's very slow, but I may be able to get some work up.
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I sat at an outdoor cafe today during sun, rain, and, and sun again while I did this sketch. I'm trying to do at least one full watercolor a day and hopefully come home with a show. If I get enough sun, I should be able to do more than that and still have some time to enjoy Paris.
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On the way home I sketched the public water fountain in Abbesses. You see these all over Paris, and they are not only gorgeous but sometimes very welcome for refilling one's water bottle.
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Unlike the vast majority of Adam and Eve paintings, where they are separated by the tree, already in the process of reaching for the apple, or being expelled from the garden in shame, I wanted to include their embrace as part of good creation, part of the full range of wholeness and celebration that God intended for us. As a church we have tended to shy away from Song of Songs and not talk about the bit of Ruth where she is sent in to the harvest floor to seduce Boaz. There is body positive, celebratory sexual space in the Bible, and I see that as one of the gifts of creation when used in loving ways that don't harm other people.
I appreciate working at a seminary that is willing to have these discussions and hang such art.
