I’ll mostly be cat sitting in Paris again this trip, but I decided to take a couple of nights and see somewhere different at the beginning of the trip. A gothic cathedral with some Chagall windows was a definite winner. In fact, they have a whole series of mid century windows that are exquisite and beautiful, both theologically and visually, even though the Chagall ones are the total standoust. The back rose window from the 30’s is dedicated to Mary, and around her are three trees, a moon and star, and the sun. I love the emphasis on creation in a lot of the newer windows.

Today I painted about half and half inside and out, partly because the weather today was half and half, half rain, half dry. I started with the outside view in my big sketchbook, knowing rain was coming later. Then I looked the other direction and did a smaller sketch of a Carnegie library in a charming Art Deco building.

Lunch was at a sidewalk cafe while the weather was still fine. In the interest of this page loading efficiently, I’ll save the cathedral interior sketches for my next post. It was a good first day to hit the ground sketching.