La Roseraie du Val-de-Marne, 3-Day 🌹Sale, Confiture Parisienne, Lancôme Cafe de la Rose

This past week was ROSE WEEK 🌹

Last Sunday I headed out to La Roseraie de Val-de-Marne to paint the roses 🌹 Take ligne 7 to last stop, Villejuif-LouisAragon end of the line. Then bus 172 (in front) for 10+ minutes to Sous-Prefecteur Eglise etc. It was windy, cold and looked about to rain any second. I got back on the 7train & came home 🏡 

Draw me a sheep…Le Petit Prince

 

The January letter will be in le poste by the time you read this 📬

The author of Le Petit Prince, Antoine de St. Exupery said, “I am from my childhood. “ Who can not relate to that?

Paris is OK

PBer Carolyn wrote and asked if I was OK?
She'd seen pictures of armed soldiers in the streets of Paris.

I've seen Parisians walking their little dogs and eating ice cream cones. No soldiers.

The cafes were full up on Saturday, a nice sunny day.

In the Marais everyone was carrying orange BHV sale bags.

Me too.
I fell hard for this little Cotman travel watercolor box on sale. Reduced from 72€ to 28€. My excuse? I will paint in cafes (my new year's resolution is to sit in a cafe now and then).

I've had these travel sets before.

At least 15 years ago same box in a different color. I wish I could still fit into that Agnes B. top...

Paris pastry chefs are busy gearing up for Easter/Paques so I had to go to a tasting on Friday at Christophe Michalak Masterclass 60 rue Faubourg du Poissonniere. 75010

Michalak always puts a unique, whimsical twist on classic French desserts.

Like this grilled croque monsieur sucre  Michalak created on the spot on his new Panini toaster for us to taste. Inside Valrhona chocolate ganache, citron vert and banana sprinkled with caramelized sugar. Yum.

Sunday night I was running to catch an early show of Whiplash and looked in at Un Dimanche a Paris full of people buying chocolate.

A quick look inside Grim'Art, a pen shop. Addressing lots of envelopes, pens and calligraphy have become a recurring obsession.

By the time I got to the Odeon, Whiplash was sold out. Parisians are going to the movies folks.

Walking home I passed the 3-day vide grenier/brocante(outdoor antique market) at Mutualite-Maubert.

I used to be obsessed with silverware before pens and envelopes took over my life...

I went and saw Whiplash tonight. Excellent.

When I came out of the theatre the cafes were filled with people.
Still no soldiers.
Notre Dame is beautiful as ever too.
Paris IS OK people!

Paintbox Addict

Tiny Daler-Rowney watercolor box

Some people can't live without Louboutins. I can't live without paintboxes. I'm a 'pan' person  more than a paint tube person. The formula is different. Paint comes up on your brush more easily from a pan than from dried tube paint. Europe is more pan-oriented so I came to the right place. 

Not just because of the Victorians took paintboxes with them as they crossed the Sahara 🌴 In the US art stores can't be bothered with tiny pans. Tubes are an easier sell. But enough paintbox trivia.

Someone sent me this book thinking I'd be interested, but its the cover that enthralled me.

This what my Kremer Pigment box looked like when it was new.

The before and after.

If you love watercolor paintboxes you start seeing them everywhere...like stacked Popsicles in a store window.

Or brilliantly colored dragée...

L'Eclair de Genie is pure watercolor beauty. Miam miam.

Fun matching icing colors with paintbox colors. More yum.

It must be what drives me nuts about macarons - the round disks of pure color look like they popped out of a kid's paintbox.

L'Occitane's sign is out in the street at Opera. If they just sold a product with this on it I'd buy it in a flash, but they don't. Dommage ;((

What's not to love? Slabs of color by Fabrice Moireau in his Giverny book. Drool-worthy definitely.

*Here's a hot watercolor tip! All new boxes come 'unseasoned'. When you try to mix colors they'll bead up in a most unsatisfactory way. The cure? Rub toothpaste on the surface.  Then wash off and do again several times. NEVER take Brillo or scouring powder to your box. You'll ruin the finish.

At the SIMP salon of miniatures show on Sunday, this dreamy set of paintboxes make any addict's heart beat faster.

I’m Carol Gillott, an artist living in Paris. Every month I send out beautifully illustrated letters that capture the true Parisian experience. 

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Thanks for reading PB ❤️

☕️ If you’d like to support my work, you can buy me a KO-FI here  ☕️  ❤️ Thank you so much!

Darling N. wants to fix me up with a nice Frenchman. But she's too late! Walking round her neighborhood I fell deeply and madly for this Daler-Rowney box(its British). What Frenchman stands a chance against this?

Paintbox Colors

Painting your paintbox is a fun thing to do.



 Here's one I did a few years back

 If the paintbox is small it definitely helps

 Sketch it in with Burnt Sienna paint

 Then just color in like a coloring book

 Get to know your paintbox colors

 Make loose swatches of each color in blobs of water on a scrap of paper

 It's easier to do if your water is dirty - easier to see that is.

 This Paris paintbox is on the to-do list. The trouble is not eating the macarons in the setup

 Did you do your blobs last weekend?

 The mess of paintboxes I'm playing with at the moment.

Paintboxes are so portable. Take yours with you this last weekend of summer.

HAVE A FUN HOLIDAY!