Martha Kelly Art

I came to Paris with the intention of doing a series of gouache still lifes for my September show at Playhouse on the Square. (The opening is lucky Friday the 13th for anyone planning ahead.) I like the depth I can get with gouache, but I’m still learning how it works, and often I find myself thinking it was better two layers ago. I’m going to have to pay attention and try to keep from over fussing. Somewhere along the way, I did a couple of watercolor studies in my sketchbook as studies before doing the gouache, and I really liked the lightness and airy-ness of them. So I’ve ended up doing four watercolors for the show as well.

It’s easy to default into the familiar and comfortable, though, and there was a time when watercolor was incredibly hard going for me. It still is sometimes, but I’m glad I pushed through and got it into my regular tool kit. I gave up on gouache two summers ago and don’t want to do that again, but I am still struggling. I want to do some forest studies with it when I get home, and hopefully that will keep me excited about using it. You can see the two side by side here and decide foe yourself. I think the gouache needs a little more blue in the purple shadows. I’ve got a couple I’ll do a small bit of balancing/retouching on next time I get the paints out. Right now I’ve shifted gears a bit and am painting more out in the city again.

I’ve been doing gouache still lifes for my fall show while I’m here, and then I did a couple of watercolor studies for them in my sketchbook and really liked the looseness and light of the watercolors. I decided to do some free standing ones I can put in the show, so here are several from the last couple of days. I really liked the vanilla eclair above, both in sketch and in taste, even though the bakery lady had to correct how I asked for it in French. It turns out “vanille” is not that intuitive to pronounce, even though I had several years of French (well more that several years ago, however).

The macarons were what kicked this off, so I did a couple of them. They’re fun to play with in those bright colors. I need to look at all these, gouache plus watercolor, and figure out which ones I want to order frames for. I’ll put in an order this week so they’ll be built and ready for me to work on when I get home. Math work is looming too, to figure out the sizes. That may be this evening’s project so I can walk out and sketch more tomorrow.

The weekend was rainy, and I had a lovely time anyway. I went to the market to buy my favorite tomatoes, and then I had tea in my favorite cafe right next to it, which has a totally fun Art Deco mural inside. Just as I was finishing up, the heavens really opened, so I settled back in and did a second, quicker drawing.

I had a lovely, unhurried day yesterday. I painted all morning at the house, working on the still life show again (colored macarons are totally fun to paint!), and then I just walked out into the city and followed my nose for the afternoon and evening. I went into St. Eustache, which I’d walked past for years, and enjoyed doing two loose sketches in my bigger sketchbook there. I kept the palette super simple and just used French ultramarine blue and burnt umber, mixing all the grays from warm to cool between those colors.

Then I walked on to Ile de la Cite and found an adorable bicycle crepe stand, complete with stove going, at its tip. I got a crepe and sat on the bridge to eat it. By the time I’d finished, I wanted to sketch the view I’d been looking at.

I ended up having dinner at my very favorite place here, with the most delicious yellow curry you can imagine. I got a sidewalk table, drew as I ate, watched the world go by, and had three different people tell me “bon apetit!” as they walked past. Just lovely. I brought the rest home for my dinner tonight, catching the metro home after I’d finished. It was a lovely day.

I went to call on Notre Dame the other day. I had drawn and painted her so much in my early trips to this city, and watching the news about the fire really gutted me. I’m grateful it isn’t worse, and I’m also hoping more damage doesn’t come with further collapse. Recent news about lead poisoning have halted the work, and the summer heat took a toll on the already damaged building. There is scaffolding holding up all the flying buttresses, and the nave windows, except the huge rose ones, are gone. I think they’ve been removed instead of all of them damaged, at least I hope so. It’s disconcerting to look through the side of the nave and see sky. I walked all around, up the north side just along the church and then over the Ile St. Louis, where I did this sketch, and then on around the south side looking from the Left Bank. I process things, and also look more closely, by drawing, so here is my sketch, which tends to fall into the recent category of “reportage sketching.” I’m also adding a couple of photos below once I got around to the south side and a little closer, for anyone wanting a better look at how things stand now.

It’s been raining some here, keeping the weather thankfully cool and giving me a chance to do some painting indoors. I went to two big flea markets I love over the weekend, but I also came home after each one and did a small painting or two. Here are the still life ones. I’m very happy with the Mille feulle one, and pretty happy with the peach. At the bottom is the Cherokee purple tomato. My oil at home of several of those is my favorite of all the still lifes I’ve done so far, but this gouache totally bombed. I got it way overworked, and I don’t think the composition was that strong to begin with. I also struggled with the teapot one and walked away, but I may go back into that one again and see if I can spruce it up just a bit. A couple of artists I really admire on fb sent me encouraging words about that one.

I was in a total frenzy sketching Reims — both a new place to me and a scarcity factor. I’ve been really lazy in Paris, both settling in (unpacking, buying groceries, just walking around my favorite spots), but I plan to get going here soon. I had two afternoon naps, though, which has been marvelous. I’m still dealing with a little jet lag and a little it-was-crazy-getting-organized-to-be-gone-again exhaustion. I figure a few days of vacation are good. I walked to my very favorite market/flea market today, which took ages from the place I’m staying this summer, but it felt good to just let loose and walk.

So here are the last of my Reims sketches, and I’ll work on having some Paris things to show here soon. Above is just outside the building where I stayed, a few blocks from the cathedral. I also painted the Joan of Arc statue just outside the cathedral, and I sketched a bottle of champagne that was (delightfully) in my Air b&b along with a white peach, cut up in a bowl. It’s good to remember treats and savor them again later.

I couldn’t get my camera to capture the blue that glimmers through the cathedral from the Chagalls all the way to the west entrance, so I tried in watercolor instead. Still not satisfying, but better. I also love the off centeredness of the crucifixion, with that white figure showing up on the right hand side, but the deposition and ascension above and below (though less discernible from far off ) to its left. Brilliant design. I did one more sketch of the whole bank of candles that people light and pray by. It was a worshipful space, and I tend to paint the things that move me.

I wish I’d taken time to sketch the 1930’s smaller rose window at the back. Mary is central, and she is surrounded in a circle by several biblical trees (a palm, a cedar of Lebanon, and an olive tree) along with the moon, the morning star, and the sun. I love creation being so central in surrounding and celebrating her. I would have chosen an apple tree to go along with the others, given both Song of Songs and that lovely carol “Jesus Christ the Apple Tree,” along with the connection from Eve through her son Jesus to correct the original wayward bite. But that’s a quibble. It’s a gorgeous window in its own right. I loved the mid century glass they added in the restoration all the way around. There’s some subtle and beautiful grisaille windows as well. I wish I could have done these windows justice, and I wish they would hire one good photographer and get good images to sell. I was deeply disappointed in what was on offer. But it was a gorgeous cathedral to be in, and I’m so glad I went somewhere new this year.