The gardens along the side and back of Notre Dame are one of my favorite places in Paris. I decided to paint there, since so far I'd only been hanging out, eating lunch, and enjoying the wifi.

I love the flying buttresses.

I also painted the statue at the center of the garden.

And walking home I stopped to paint this funky building with lots of statues that remind me of the knights in Alice in Wonderland.

I'm not sure what the building is, but not seems to have perpetual concerts and events in the plaza in front of it. This summer it's beach volleyball.

Speaking of special summer events, I also took the time to ride the Ferris wheel I keep painting. It's got stunning views of Paris.

Here's the view from my bench where I'm taking a lunch break. I love this small park down the side of and behind Notre Dame. It even has free wifi, so I can do a little work on my break.

Here's the side garden. Cherry trees were blooming in April when I was here, and it is just as beautiful now.

In other news, here are the paintings I did yesterday. It was a productive day downtown. I finished four watercolors and then had a lovely walk home.

The Louvre again. I can't stop painting it. Above is the view from my lunch break on the Tuileries. Below is the Ferris wheel again. I love the frisson of old world and new world.

I regretted not painting the Musee d'Orsay last time. I love it's huge clocks. So I did two along the Seine yesterday. Cloud cover gave me sporadic sun protection as I sat out on bridges in the middle of the river, and a bagpiper provided entertainment for the ascond drawing.

Between the market in the morning and a vet appointment in the afternoon for the cat I'm sitting, I stayed close to home yesterday. I also had a little lingering jet lag, so I gave myself permission to have a slower day.

The one watercolor I did was intricate and time consuming, though. Lots of small detail, so the drawing phase took much longer than usual. This is one of my three regular metro stations. I walk to different ones depending on which direction I want to go. The lines all have different areas they cut across. I like this station because all the best food stores are on the way home.

I was groggy my first day getting here and only took two walks around the neighborhood, getting reacquainted, instead of painting. I'm making up for that now. I did six watercolors yesterday.

I took the "wrong" turn out of the metro before getting oriented, and I ended up at the Rodin Museum. A right turn, as it turned out. It's one of my very favorite places here, and it was a good place to get my feet back under me artistically. You can but just a garden ticket for only one euro. Perfect for artists.

Then I walked to San Sulpice. I'd done a very quick sketch of the lion fountain last time and wanted to spend a little more time with it. I did two there.

I was totally heading home afterwards, but I'd missed my chance last trip to paint an accordion player, which was a special request from a friend of mine. When I saw this playersying on one of the bridges over the Seine, I knew I needed to stop and paint. He left me to watch his gear while he ran for a beer and cigarette. Necessary for the musical process, apparently. And he played me a medley of American songs as a thank you, ending with "Hello, Dolly".

So I'm a little embarrassed to announce it, but I've been asked back to Paris to care for the same cat. I had just booked a show for my French work for December at the Memphis Botanic Garden when I got the invitation, and it seemed too good to pass up.

It's marvelous as an artist going back to a familiar place. I already have the feel of Paris, know roughly how I want to paint it, and I have a list of places I either wanted to paint but didn't get to, or places I want to return to and paint more. The paintings in this blog post are all from the Rodin Museum garden, which falls into the latter category.

I feel blessed to have a great housemate just now, which gives me the freedom to travel and not worry about home. So I'll be posting new Paris paintings starting the middle of next week.

Sorry I've been gone from here for a few days. It was crazy busy in Cape May, and the internet access was less than stellar. I'm now home and trying to catch up on everything.

I know a number of artists, many in the Memphis Urban Sketchers group, who are great about keeping personal sketch books. I've mostly painted on watercolor blocks instead, so I can exhibit the work I'm pleased with. However, I'm starting a new chapter in my life this year, and I decided to keep a sketch book of my summer to mark that transition. It's been fun to have it with me on my travels.

I started it in St. Louis a few weeks ago, when I went to the Twelfth Night production in Forest Park (above) and Circus Flora (below).

I also took it to Cape May. I was crazy busy doing watercolors for them most of the week, but the last couple of nights, I took a little time to paint for myself. Below is the view from the porch of my hotel, where I sat out for a bit most evenings to play banjo, relax, and watch the moon rise.

The great thing about a sketch book is that it is NOT intended for exhibition, so an artist is freer to play with materials and styles. I do think I get too tight when almost all of my work is possible show material. I really enjoyed playing with the idea of of doing part of a sketch in color but leaving parts of the drawing in just pencil as well. This isn't a style I'd worked in much in the past, and I had a lot of fun. I hope to keep playing with it.

My last night was up there quite near the full moon, and the moonrise over Victorian homes and power lines caught my eye as I was out for a walk. I put my butt cushion down on the sidewalk, up against a store front, and painted with the light shining out of the shop window to work by.

I'm noticing how much of the sketch book is about the moon. I seem more and more drawn to it each year. Below is a very quick sketch of the moon as I glimpsed it out the window before dawn the night of the super moon. I did the sketch from memory the next morning after I woke up for good and found the image was still dancing in my brain.

This was one of my favorite buildings in Paris. It's overdone and very Baroque, which is not usually my taste, but the form of it is lovely, with its aqua dome, and it's so delightfully playful that I liked it very much. I sat outside and painted it from across the street first. It's on a busy plaza, and I had trouble finding somewhere I could work. Then a bus stopped in front of me for a good ten minutes. I had done everything possible from memory and was just thinking I would need to move when it finally turned on its engine and took off. The trials of sidewalk painting.

I hadn't been inside the Opera until my friend Caroline joined me, but I liked it so much that I went back to paint the day she took the train out to Versailles. I painted from the balcony down into the plaza below.

And halfway through that one the sun got to me, so I took a break and painted the inside lobby before finishing from the balcony.

I also ran across an outside performance walking home one day and stopped to paint that as well. I was amazed at how easily the street musicians move full pianos around the sidewalks of Paris.

It was cloudy a lot while I was in Paris. There were days I'd planned to go to a museum, and if the sun came out suddenly, I would change gears and paint to take advantage of it. And there were certainly days when I walked out hoping to paint something particular and ended up in a museum instead for lack of light. Overall, I found a great balance of seeing art and making my own. I'm happy with the crew of paintings I brought home. There are only a couple I really wanted to do and never quite got the chance to.

One day it was cloudy, and I was planning to go to the Musee d'Orsay, but when I got downtown, it was MISTY instead. Delicate, transporting, mysterious. I spent the morning doing three quick watercolors. I never left the apartment that trip without my art gear, and on this day I was particularly grateful.

I'm in the process of scanning in the watercolors from my French trip. The scans are much clearer and brighter than the snapshots I posted while I was traveling, so I'll repost the paintings as I get them scanned in.

I loved painting along the Seine. Walking up and down the river and across the bridges was one of my favorite parts of being in Paris. I enjoyed painting from the bridges and along the river. I wish I'd had time to do the fabulous old train station that now houses the Musee d'Orsay, but hopefully another trip will let me do that.

Below is the Grand Palais, which is a lovely birdcage of a building that rises up along the skyline.

This last one was done on the bridge between Ile de la Cite and Ile St. Louis. I loved that spot, which often had musicians busking. This is a quick one, done in a hurry before dinner and trying out my new waterproof ink with the paints. I treated myself to a new Lamy fountain pen to remember the trip and to house a different kind of ink than I normally use while sketching.

It's been nuts since I got home. I had a couple of nights back, and then I left again for a dance weekend with my sisters. I loved spending time with them after being gone for a month.

I hung out with awesome women (that's one of my sisters front and center):

danced to my favorite band with friends (and sisters, though no one got a shot of that):

and got dipped a few times:

Now I'm back to work. I was supposed to be in Cape May this week painting for Cape Resorts Group again, but bad weather cancelled my flight. So I have a little time to do some commissions here, catch up on my sleep, and get up there in the next few weeks more rested and ready to go at full speed. Overall a very good thing.