I also did a quick sketch at Sunday lunch. It's very, very rapid, but I wanted to mark the occasion and remember the good company. Just a fast sketch in my art journal will bring back good memories later on.

I wrote about stars being the theme of the trip the other day. I've followed that up with a celebratory self portrait of myself in this space with the view of the sky I've so been enjoying. It's a little bit of magical thinking, since I can't actually see this many stars with the light pollution in Paris (and I think I could stand to thin a few out artistically anyway), but the Persieds are happening right now, and I do feel surrounded by stars this trip.

I'm actually doing a series of self portraits this trip. I do them in occasional spurts, not as a steady part of my work. They usually pop up when I'm feeling especially self reflective. I set a goal for myself to think some things through this trip, and I'm not actually getting very far with that (too much painting and socializing both), but perhaps there is some self examination going on at a deeper level since the self portraits keep popping out, although many of them are in teapots.

First here is the original star self portrait, done a little bit after Vincent and the portrait he did with stars in the background. This one made me want to do the more full view one tonight.

Now the teapots.

Above is this year's teapot self portrait at the cafe at Marche Aligre. Last year's was less fully formed, but still visible with me in a red halter top. It's one of my favorite sketches from last year because of the happy memories woven in.

I'm not sure the teapot ones really count as that self reflective, since I also adore painting tea things, but the volume is a little telling. We'll see. Sometimes I also use them to mark a really good day or place, as I did with last year's. I may just be on a spurt right now. But sometimes my art brain is picking up on things faster than my conscious one does, as happened with that dancing series I did last year. Art is always hardwired into the deepest parts of who I am.

I was having such a lovely and non stop social life that I forgot to post sketches from Saturday morning. My visiting friends came with me to hear Rene and Stephen play outside a cafe at the Marche d'Aligre. It's my favorite market in Paris, and I love getting to hear the guys play there. I can sit and have tea and listen and sketch. It's perfect.

Of course, I only get the back view of the guys, but I still love it.

Last year I did a self portrait in the shiny teapot. Here is this year's version.

Later that day I did one quick sketch at dinner with Chrissie and Ella. We had a beautiful celebratory dinner, fancier than I ever do on my own, and I so enjoyed the sense of occasion with them. Sharing this time in Paris. Just marvelous to have them here to experience it with me. Ella's trip at 16 is reminding me so much of the trip I had at 17 with my grandmother. It's a beautiful way to teach young people to step out into the world and fully live, and I was so delighted to be able to see it from the other side, especially with such exceptional company.

I got to Paris today and started out right, settling in with tea. I had started the journal on the plane with a simple sketch of a new print of the Greensward (hopefully a companion piece to the phlox) that I woke up with. I figured if I put it there, I would still remember it when I got home after a bunch of other art.

Then in a effort t stay upright, I went out walking and got some lunch to eat on a park bench.

I also walked a loop and visited a couple
of my favorite spots -- Luxembourg gardens (specifically the statue of Genevieve) and the Musee d'Orsay. I got myself a "carte blanche" when I was here in the spring and plan to use it a lot. And, as one friend pointed out, how often are you given carte blanche anyway??

I did the self portrait because it was good to be back in that space again and also because I was still testing out my new watercolor graphite. Below are a couple of more I did at Zuivre on lunch breaks from more serious painting or museum going.

Since I had been drawing the eclairs and fondant in Paris, I figured I should pay tribute to a lovely dense Dutch cake as well.

I had a very chocolate sort of day on Friday. One thing I love about walking in Paris is seeing all the gorgeous shop windows, designed to lure people in. We largely don't mess with those in America since everyone is driving cars and going by too fast to notice. (As an aside, my home bookstore of 140 years and counting does delightful new window displays each new season, but Burkes is in the minority.)

I had been passing and admiring the window of this chocolatier for two weeks now, and on Friday it was finally warm enough to contemplate sitting in the shade to paint it. It's a complex and layered scene that I'm not sure will be comprehensible, but I hope the visual richness and whimsy of the paper flowers will make up for that.

I also painted my lunchtime eclair that day, largely because it's from my favorite bakery, and they had given me a nifty sticker to close the box that I wanted to preserve somehow, so I devoted a sketchbook page to it.

Finally here is a bakery from a couple of days previous. It was rainy that morning, and I lucked into a visually charming bakery that also (quite rare) had a table inside where I could sit and paint. Nowhere in France is really warm on a cold day, since all the shops and cafés keep their doors open regardless, but I was out of the rain and in close proximity to pain au chocolat, so I called it a win.

After a few lovely painting days it was back to clouds and rain. And cold. So I've been a wimp and have been doing some sketching around home.

I hadn't sketched my teapot this trip, and it's always fun to do. I also had a request to sketch the fondant I love, and who am I to disappoint, especially when the request involves acquiring baked goods?

I did one of my home away from home, including my wooly slippers that I have been wearing almost nonstop this trip.

And finally I painted Square Leon-Serpollet, the lovely local park that is currently ablaze in tulips.

These have been published now (see the feature on the Memphis Daily News site here), so I can post the watercolors. My monthly sketch feature for the Daily News was the Calvary Waffle Shop. I got to eat peppermint ice cream and call it work. So utterly delightful.