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Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Peonies in Paris

Artist studio with peony watercolors and peony still lives
On Friday someone commented,” Carol, i just love your peony watercolour sketches! Will you be offering them for purchase? I think of them as "A Suggestion of Peonies." 🌸 

A seed was planted. Late at the Sunday Bastille marché, finally headed home, loaded with pamplemousse, I noticed the flower stand was packing up. 


Woman’s hands trimming peonies
They saw me drooling and offered me one bunch of peonies  for 15€ or…two bunches for 20€. Guess who came home with  pale pink and Bordeaux colored pivoines/peonies?

Chinese painting of peonies
I didn’t know peonies are grown in Bordeaux. Or in the Midi in the south. Or that the Chinese during the Tang dynasty began breeding peonies in the imperial courts in the 7th century BCE. 

Or that Eduard Manet was superb at painting peonies. These are at the d’Orsay.

Older watercolor of peonies
I’ve been painting peonies for a long time yet didn’t investigate 🔍 them very much. These peonies are from 2019.

In the same post I took a photograph of Cordelia de la Castellane from the back, in a peony pink suit at the Dior Homme show opening nearby. I’m sure its her. She’s the creative director at Dior.
Cordelia’s Coffee Flower shop window
Recently I was in Cordelia’s Coffee Flower shop with Alaina for tea ☕️ and the window was full of peonies of course. I was thinking I MUST paint these 🌸
Bouquet of four pink peonies
The 4 peonies from Jardins,Jardin I carried to Burgundy and stashed in the fridge. 
Making chocolate bonbons in Burgundy
The chocolate 🍫 makers needed all the space and insisted I move them.
Otherwise I might have never started painting them 🌸 My flower vase was a crème fleurette bottle used for making whipping cream (to go with all the strawberries 🍓 in season right now).

I bet you’re wondering about the mini Champagne 🍾 bottle…
Fauchon gift shop at Gare Montparnasse
Coming home from Nantes, I discovered, tucked in a corner of Montparnasse station a Fauchon shop fully stocked. Anyone sensible would be eager to get home & unpack. 
Fauchon shop in Gare Montparnasse
Me, I stopped to browse. I really miss the big Fauchon store at Madeleine. It was always my first go-to place in Paris for imaginative wild creativity in food and packaging.
Peonie watercolors
I bought a madeleine cookie, a Fauchon shopping bag and the mini bottle of Fauchon Champagne🍾 I made the guy in the shop very happy ☺️
Watercolor of a pink peony with a flower
The end of a long, wandering, shaggy dog story…just like these shaggy peonies. This one, the color of bubble gum, is called Jacorma. One of the last blossoming peonies of the season FYI. She’s from The Netherlands.

Me Jumping for joy in Noyers
Jane
took this picture in Noyers, when I was let loose to chase after l’escargot 🤸‍♂️
I’m Carol Gillott, an artist living in Paris. Every month I send out beautifully illustrated letters that capture the true Parisian experience. Sign up to receive these whimsical treasures in your mail.

Thanks for reading PB ❤️
☕️ If you’d like to support my work, you can buy me a KO-FI here  ☕️  ❤️ Thank you so much!  Bon Mercredi PBers🤸🏾‍♀️🎉🥂

35 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:38 AM

    Magnifique!

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    1. Anonymous8:00 AM

      Mille Merci! ❤️CAROL GILLOTT

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  2. Anonymous7:20 AM

    Beautiful! Peonies really are amazing. Fantin-Latour also painted peonies beautifully. Thanks for another great post!

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    1. Anonymous7:59 AM

      Thanks, I am crazy ❤️ for Fantin-Latour. Will take a look CAROL GILLOTT

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  3. On my recent trip to Paris I stopped in George V and they were decorating their lobby with masses of peonies. Spectacular! Lucky you to have discovered the Fauchon store. ❤️🗼

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    1. Anonymous7:56 AM

      Now I will have to run 🏃‍♀️ over there to check if they still have them CAROL GILLOTT

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  4. Funny to hear the chocolate makers took over the fridge and that’s how you got onto painting peonies!
    Also, I am loving my grapefruit knife - inspired purchase from your pamplemousse eating. They taste really good here at the moment (June is our winter, but it’s warm and tropical in northern Australia) and the life works so well. No more torturing my grapefruit with other knives.

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    1. Anonymous7:58 AM

      It’s true Kirra ☺️ Sometimes you need a good push to get going. Otherwise I might have brought them home. Evidently peonies can keep for months in the fridge if wrapped in newsprint Suzanne said! ❤️ CAROL GILLOTT

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    2. Anonymous2:03 AM

      PS you have the serrated grapefruit spoon 🥄 too? One of the few things I brought from NYC & good thing too. I fear for when the pink grapefruit season will be over 😳 CAROL GILLOTT

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  5. Such a cute pic of you the artiste!

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  6. Anonymous8:43 AM

    Right now I am crazy over peonies, buying them every chance I get. Soon they will be just a sweet memory of this years spring. I recently moved from a house with a big garden that had several peonies to a small condo with a teeny tiny deck so I’ve got to buy all the flowers I can. beautiful peony watercolors!

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    1. Anonymous2:05 AM

      Thank you! They had peonies bushes at the Abbey…what a surprise 🌸 CAROL GILLOTT

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  7. Yes if bud feels like marshmallow. you can wrap in kraft paper or whatev and refrigerate for later use:)

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    1. Anonymous2:06 AM

      But how long? Suzanne said MONTHS?! 🌸 CAROL GILLOTT

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  8. Anonymous9:22 AM

    Ah, J’adore this poste!!!! My mother had peonies in our garden, so I grew up loving them PLUS I assumed all peonies come with ants, as they did in Ohio. I stole (quel horreur!) a pivoine from Monet’s garden in Giverny so many decades ago. There were no ants. It is still in a wooden box of dried flowers from France. Je t’embrasse!

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    1. Anonymous2:07 AM

      How wonderful,! How ever did you do that? I don’t think you could these days…maybe a petal on the ground..though they ask you not to take petals 🌸 CAROL GILLOTT

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  9. Anonymous10:49 AM

    Peonies are the best!

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  10. Anonymous10:52 AM

    Great and happy picture of you! Thanks for stories of your recent travels in France.

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  11. You look so happy in that photo! Makes me smile. I'm loving your peony paintings-- you capture the sweet looseness of their blooms, and the wonderful color! I would love to bring mine in the house but every time I do, I get a load of ants! I don't know what the vendors do to stop that! Wonderful, all!

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  12. Anonymous11:09 AM

    A great Peony story, Carol!! Now I’m inspired to work on some myself merci♥️♥️

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    1. Anonymous2:09 AM

      So glad you bought some Lis 🌸 CAROL GILLOTT

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  13. Bonnie L11:54 AM

    Your peony watercolors are GORGEOUS! You got a great bargain at Bastille. That’s one of the (many) things I love about France…how reasonably priced fresh flowers are. You can have beautiful flowers in your home all the time. ❤️

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    1. Anonymous2:10 AM

      I would love to have more flowers around…if I knew how to care for them 🤔 CAROL

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  14. Dorrance11:56 AM

    That is a great photo of you. It perfectly reflects your Joie de Vivre!!

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  15. Sukicart12:18 PM

    Love that picture of you and love peonies. My grandfather grew them and I miss them as the ones grown in California are different and don't smell.

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    1. Anonymous2:18 PM

      Interesting Suki…maybe commercial peonies 🌸 are propagated for size & color and less for fragrance 🤔 CAROL GILLOTT

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  16. Anonymous1:02 PM

    Lovely peonies. I miss the Fauchon at Madeline, too. Used to live in that area 20 years ago. I think there was a Hediard nearby, too.

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    1. Anonymous2:12 AM

      Yes Hediard is gone. Fauchon still has a small tea shop at Madeleine. Plus that huge hotel they built. I suppose their delusions pf grandeur got carried away..dommage ❤️ CAROL

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  17. Anonymous3:09 PM

    Oh, Carol! I'm the person who mentioned that i think of your Chocolate Retreat watercolour sketches as "A Suggestion of Peonies." So airy, so obviously peonies, so pink, so elegant, so exuberant. Your fully-realised peonies are gorgeous! I'm heading to PBEtsy right this minute. Je les adore.

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  18. Anonymous7:07 PM

    The colors are gorgeous. I can't grow peonies in here in the mountains of Southern California however my rose bush has 11 buds and 2 started to open today. Also a luscious pink color!

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    1. Anonymous8:25 AM

      Roses are next up to paint 🌹CAROL GILLOTT

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  19. Anonymous3:08 AM

    Your peonies are DIVINE!! Marilyn P.

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  20. Anonymous3:08 AM

    LOVE...THE PEONIES....THEY USUALLY APPEAR IN THE BAY AREA MARKETS IN MAY....OUR BIRTH MONTH !
    MERCI ! JACQUELYN GOUDEAU

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  21. Anonymous12:09 PM

    I too adore Peonies! Just received a huge bouquet for my birthday from Vanessa!
    I am in love of this picture of you! My favorite so far! Look at those ling skinny legs (so jealous!)
    Carolyn

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    1. Anonymous12:53 AM

      Thanks Carolyn 🌹 4 days of eating naughty things can wreck havoc on your resolve. Thank goodness sugar hives 🙏 And for long lines in Paris at ice cream places = 2 deterrents that keep on giving ❤️ CAROL GILLOTT

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