Last Day in Paris

I'm slowly scanning in at least my favorites from my sketchbook, so I thought I'd write about my last day. I had finished the work I needed to do there (still lifes for my September show and sketches for a graphic essay I'm planning), so I treated myself with another beautifully quiet morning at the Orsay and lunch at one of my favorite bakeries. It was amazing (and emotional) to stand with this self portrait by Vincent for 45 minutes, practically on my own. Two couples came through, saw it, and left. Otherwise it was just Vincent and me. Usually this piece is five people deep with everyone trying to take selfies. I felt so privileged to spend this quiet time with it. I've been thinking about self portraits a lot, had been doing some of my own (an annual Paris occupation for me) and had already done my study of Berthe Morisot's stunning one. I couldn't catch Vincent's likeness, and the background got a bit too dark, but it was wonderful to look at it deeply as I did the copy.

My friend Beth Rowlett so kindly made me a watercolor kit especially for this kind of sketching. It's attached to a wristband with heavy velcro, so I don't have to juggle the paint box as well as the book and water brush when I'm standing up in a museum. I like to sketch from a bench when I can, but there aren't benches everywhere I want to draw. You can see that I use the left side of the page to test colors or blot my brush as needed.

I also did a copy of a Bonnard painting. One of many things I love about the Orsay is that it has an absolute host of paintings of women and dogs. This one is completely charming, with their heads so intimately together. It speaks of the love in that relationship, and I was missing Mr. Darcy. I'd meant to copy it two or three years ago but hadn't gotten around to it that first summer of spending time here. Then it disappeared. The Orsay rotates paintings regularly. So when it reappeared this summer, I knew I had to take the opportunity.

Bonnard and Vuillard are two of the Nabis ("prophets"), a loose group of painters at the turn of the last century doing different things than the Impressionists/Post Impressionists who are more well known from that time. Some of them are symbolists as well, but the two I like best focused on interiors and domestic life more than anything else. I feel like Morisot was a bit of a bridge between them and the Impressionists. I didn't really know much about the Nabis before I started spending time in the Orsay, and they've enriched my art.

I continued the day with lunch at Eric Kaiser's (who have my favorite fig bread). This bakery is just a couple of blocks from the Orsay. I don't usually sit and eat, but that day I took the time, went back to the museum for a bit, and finished with a long walk to my favorite thrift store, which had just reopened in time for me to visit it. I got a fun, swingy polka dot dress I'll enjoy dancing in. And then I had dinner and a good visit with my friends whose cat I had been keeping company. It was a perfect end to a great trip.