Versailles, the fountains come alive!

I'm now at Versailles...me and a few thousand others from all corners of the world, each holding an umbrella.   Even more vast than Vaux, it literally takes days to see it.  I am here for four days, staying in the small and cozy Hôtel de France which is virtually across the street from the château entrance.  Any closer, and I'd be sleeping IN Versailles.  Perfect!

The building is immense and the gardens even more immense.  The scale is mind-boggling, but what has really surprised me is how modern the gardens are...tall, clipped hedges form huge green walls, and everywhere there is a slight change in the slope of the ground.  The grading is sublime and sophisticated...barely noticeable slopes up or down to fountains, into maze-like groves where Louis XIV's courtiers did who knows what, up and around the parterres so you can get a better view of the embroidery-like shaped shrubs, paths leading you from one place to the next with focal points and strong perspective.  What a place for me to be!

All of a sudden, the fountains came alive yesterday afternoon--unexpectedly, as it wasn't the regularly scheduled day.  It had been pouring rain earlier, but all of a sudden the sun popped out...I think the fountain gods decided to celebrate and coerced someone to flip the switch.  The spouting fountains absolutely transformed the place--suddenly there was movement, the sound of water, and the sparkle of light.

I literally ran from fountain to fountain trying to snap photos of as many as I could reach or find, as many are hidden. Exhausted, I collapsed near one of my favorites, le Bassin de la Pyramide.  I love how the water froths and turns white, it literally looks like a wedding cake with white, moving frosting. I had to attempt a sketch...

Versailles, Bassin de la Pyramide. May 29

Château Vaux-le-Vicomte, May 27, and a little sun

About 8 days ago, I headed south of Paris to stay with a dear friend of my dear friend Beanne.  Helen is the mayor of small village called Nanteau-sur-Essonne, and she lives in a beautiful home in the country.  Still plagued with jet-lag headaches, it was wonderful to stay here and finally adjust to the time change.

It's still raining and even pouring pretty much every day, and everyone says this is very unusual for May.  However, the day I drove to see the elegant château Vaux-le-Vicomte, there was a little sun.  I toured the building, then marched out to the Le Nôtre gardens, to begin the research for my Gabriel Prize project.

OK, this is going to be hard--the gardens are immense, and for the most part, pretty flat--which makes sketching the landscape extremely challenging.  This is my sketch of the château from pretty far into the gardens, but I'm interested in the approach to the building.  

Overworked the water...I'll blame it on the lingering jetlag!  At least the many french school kids who looked over my shoulder gave it a thumbs up!

Vaux-le-Vicomte from Le Nôtre's gardens. May27

Attempting the Impossible!

Galeries Lafayette.
May 20

OK, I taunted the sketching gods by 

attempting this one!  

With all the rain and a Catholic holiday on Monday, 

the department stores were packed. I took my first

Metro ride and went to Printemps, C&A, and finally 

to Galeries Lafayette's flagship store on 

Boulevard Haussmann.  

It is an amazing store, opened in 1895.

 

Both Printemps and GL have the biggest shoe departments

I have ever seen in my life, occupying an entire floor. 

Also at both stores, lines of Asian tourists were waiting to 

get into the Gucci store-in-the-store to buy some 

pricey souveniers of Paris.

I managed to snag the last remaining 

seat in the cafe and sat with my cafe 

au lait and pain au chocolat and sketched.  

About 10 minutes into it, I realized this was 

pure insanity!  The scale and detail were 

totally overwhelming.  

I kept thinking how if this were India, there would be 

a crowd of at least 25 curious onlookers around 

me watching me draw.  But in Paris, I don't 

think anyone even glanced my way.

Now that I can see the sketch on a small screen, I 

see some wonky perspective, but at least it 

does capture the moment for me.

Hopefully you'll see these sketches get

better and better as the weeks go on...

Sunday Farmer's Market near Rennes Metro, May 19

Rennes Farmer's Market.May19

A brief break in the rain allowed me to meet Paris Urban Sketcher Kim at the Rennes Farmer's Market, which she visits every Sunday for produce.  It was lovely!  Amazing breads and french cheeses, all sorts of veggies...all in the narrow space under the trees in the median of the Boulevard Raspail.

Alas, this sketch is a little overworked, but I like the baskets!
In this shot is radishes, lettuces, pumpkin, squash, piles of broccoli, leeks, green onions, purple onions, basil, and more...

It was great meeting Kim, who has suggusted I start to post as a blog correspondent on Paris Urban Sketchers at www.paris.urbansketchers.org.
Merci, Kim! I'd be honored!

Drinks at Place de la Contrescarpe

Saturday evening, our long time from New Yorker now living in Paris and Barcelona friend Peter Cyrus (who incidentally moved us out to Seattle for Rich to work with his company Parvia...another story), arranged to have a group of friends meet for drinks followed by a Moroccan dinner.  This was sketched during the drink part (I had a fresh orange juice) while we sat outside at a cafe.  It was pouring, really pouring rain...the weather is a current theme in many sketches at this point becuase it is defintely challenging to go out and sketch.  I hear this rain and cold in May is very unusual in Paris.

In this sketch, I really fell in love with the purple flowering trees--looking it up online, they may be Princess Trees.  They are blooming now and a soft, lilac color that glows in the gray light.

Place de la Contrescarpe, Paris in the pouring rain. May 18
Apparently Hemingway lived near here in the early 1920's

Waiting for Bus 21

North of the Louvre, waiting for bus 21

Last week, I met Paris Urban Sketcher Martine who kindly invited me to the Louvre--my first time ever to see that amazing museum.  Merci, Martine!

Afterward, we were both headed in the same direction, so we waited 7 or 8 minutes for bus 21 down Boulevard San Michel.  I sketched the fountain across the street in pencil, then tried watercoloring it that night in my room. 

MISTAKE--here is where I promise to post the good, the bad, and the ugly, afterall I am here to improve! This one got way overworked in paint, was much better as a simple pencil sketch.

Hopefully, you'll see me improve with practice over the next 3 month as I search for my artistic self (aren't we all searching for that?)

If you click on the image, it looks better zoomed in.

The crowds were out today

After several days of sometimes heavy rain, it seems people came out of the woodwork to enjoy the rays.  Nearly every seat in the Jardin du Luxembourg that was collecting raindrops yesterday was collecting warm bodies today, and swarms of people filled the Tuilleries near the Louvre...and it isn't even summer yet!

Pre-summer crowds walk the Tuilleries from the Louvre. 

Check out the crowds checking out the Mona Lisa, happily grinning
behind thick glass (she knows she's safe.) The attractive art to either side of
 DaVinci's masterpiece are signs warning the public about pickpockets.  

Well, I too enjoyed the break in the rain and decided to sit with a sandwich and cola to sketch what I believe to be the Bibliotheque de Arts Décoratifs in the Tuilleries, dodging hawkers trying to sell mini-Eiffel towers.

Enjoying the sun and my emmentaler, butter and ham sandwich in the Tuilleries.

After sketching, I met a Paris Urban Sketcher, Martine, who invited me through the Louvre.  Thanks, Martine--it was great meeting you, and I look forward to meeting other Paris Sketchers!

One other observation today: French artist materials, such as paper and paint, are cheaper in the US than they are in France!  Go figure--paper made in France/shipped to the US is cheaper than paper made in France/stay in France.  I'm glad I brought some French watercolor paper with me...

Palais du Luxembourg

Palais du Luxembourg, Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris.  May 16, 2013

Woke up in Paris Today (someone pinch me)

As I'm traveling alone, I had to pinch myself.  Groggy from jet-lag, I awoke today to a chilly, wet, gray Paris morning, rather like the Seattle I'm used to.  But the similarity stops there...this is no Seattle!  

Yes, it's finally here...the opportunity of a life time to sketch, paint, draw, study and experience the architecture and urbanity of this amazing city, thanks to the incredible generosity of one George Parker Jr. and the jury who saw fit to award this year's Gabriel Prize to moi. To them, I am profoundly humbled and grateful--grateful to my core--and I hope I can honor this legacy by producing some beautiful work over the next three months.

I also awoke to a state of shock...yes, I've left my husband and two kids back in Seattle for a big chunk of time. Yes, I'll be on my own most of the time in Paris (have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit alone in a romantic Parisian cafe?)  And yes, the pressure is ON to find my artistic self at last, draw and paint non-stop, and produce something worthy of this incredibly, unbelievably rare opportunity. I hope I rise to the challenge.

Today in the rain, I made my way to the nearby Jardin du Luxembourg, peppered with young people in romantic poses at one end and with small groups of tourists in the other.  It was raining, but under the canopy of the dense rectangularly-trimmed trees, it was very dry, so quite a few people were huddled together listening to the rain hit the leaves overhead.  It was lovely.

I pulled out sketchbook number one, turned to the first blank page, and plunged in. 

Palais du Luxembourg, Jardin du Luxembourg May 16