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.

Last year I was lucky enough to get to do watercolor illustrations for the Memphis Magazine City Guide issue. It seems to have been well enough received for the art editor to want to have some more artwork instead of their usual photography. In a neat twist, he's enlisted the Memphis Urban Sketchers to provide illustrations, spreading the love around a bit and adding some interest. I can't wait to see the different artwork he uses. I've submitted a few myself, and it will be interesting to see what makes it to print.

There are certain categories each year (arts, dining, who's who, etc.), and blogs and hospitals are some of the more challenging topics. I decided to offer artwork for those, figuring he might need a little help in those areas.

I stopped on my way home from kayaking this morning to paint Le Bonheur. I love the view of it from right in the middle of Poplar Avenue, but that's not a safe place to paint. This was the best angle I could get from the sidewalk. As an added bonus, I scored some shade as well.

Yesterday my very kind housemate agreed to let me paint him as he did some schoolwork on his laptop. That's always a bit of a risk. You never know how you're going to look in someone else's artwork, and I appreciated his taking it. I've been enjoying doing more figural work, but capturing  likenesses us still very hard for me.

The Side Street Steppers, one of my favorite local bands, was playing at Brooks Museum this morning. As it happens, I've been needing to get over there to do three quite small watercolors for a commission. The morning was lovely, and with musical entertainment, it was the perfect time to do a little plein air painting. I had a marvelous time and heard some great tunes from the 20's, 30's, and 40's. Delightful.

I sketched another wedding last weekend, this one in my home church. I began before the ceremony, doing a full view of the sanctuary that I could add to as the ceremony began. So the main watercolor I have for them is the overview.

I did stay during the photos afterwards, though, and did a number of much quicker sketches as well. It was special to get to be a part of the celebration for a family I've known all my life.

It was a sketching sort of day. I met with one group of sketchers first thing (haven't gotten that one scanned in yet) to draw a lovely garden. Then I went straight on to the regular monthly Memphis Urban Sketchers group down at a funky indoor flea market in my neighborhood. It's fun to sit around and sketch with a group, and Judi Munn, a potter I admire and a friend who lives in Arkansas, was here with the potters guild show this weekend and managed to join us for an hour or so. It's fun to draw more people in to the idea of group sketching.

I often use the urban sketcher meetings to try things I don't normally in the course of my regular work. Today I kept playing with waterproof ink and watercolor, and in the second one, I left the foreground black and white, only adding color to the landscape out the window. That was the bit I was really drawn to.

This evening I sketched my third wedding, but I'm rushing to get out of town again (it looks like I'll be gone about every other week for a while), so I haven't scanned any of them in yet. It was neat to get to be a part of such a special occasion, and esp

I've had a couple of questions lately about my process of making prints, and I always like the excuse to explain a little more about what I do. All of my prints start with a drawing or painting done on site from life. I'm currently working on an image of Shakertown in Kentucky, near my old alma mater Centre College. Above is the watercolor on a double page in my sketch pad that's sitting on my work table while I carve.

From the sketch I do a full sized drawing, which I then trace (above). I flip the tracing paper over (you can see "BACK" written on the drawing in large letters to remind me not to skip that step) and transfer it onto a sheet of linoleum with carbon paper.

I like linoleum instead of wood because it takes curves better instead of tearing, the way wood grain does, and I really like carving curves and spirals. It also prints a smooth, velvety, solid surface. I love some artists' woodblocks which really show the grain and use that pattern as an integral part of the finished piece. Edvard Munch was a master of that. My first series was done in wood, but I really prefer not having to fight the way the wood tears as I go around a corner with my gouges. And I like that I can slice linoleum to whatever size I need it just with a box cutter instead of having to get someone with a table saw to do it for me.

I use a series of gouges to carve the linoleum. They're Japanese tools, mostly u-gouges, along with one v-shaped ones for very fine lines. McClain's printmaking supplies sells some lovely sets, and I got the student grade one, which I've been very happy with. My least favorite part is keeping them sharp, but one kind friend of mine in North Carolina gives me occasional lessons and tunes them up for me, and I'm getting better at it. Slowly.

You can also see in the photo above that reading glasses are a necessary tool for me now that I'm over 40. And a rubber grip mat to hold the block steady while I carve is the other must-have equipment.

Here is my progress so far on the "key" block, the one that will be darkest (usually black in my work) and which holds all the surface pattern. This print will have much simpler red and green blocks that are carved separately and just have large solid sections of color. They print first, with the key block on top of everything else. I'll photograph them as I go along. I carve the pattern one first and make sure I like the direction I'm going in before I move on to the color parts. Stay tuned as I keep working on this one. It takes a few weeks for me to get one fully right (usually with other work interspersed).