Guy Martin, Portrait of a Grand Chef

Fruit de la Passion et la Fraise, watercolor, 9" x 11"
I've always wanted to sketch pastries in rows - the way you see them in patisseries windows...
 A wonderful cake sketch of Wayne Thiebaud's et voila!Artists sketch out their ideas before painting. Many pastry chefs, Japanese or otherwise, also sketch before baking their creations. Who knew Michelin 3-star Parisian chefs sketch as well? I watched a fascinating documentary on Guy Martin yesterday. Chef Guy Martin earned his bones not in any culinary school or by doing stages, but on his own cooking in several country chateaux in the Savoy region. He was then invited to cook in one of Paris' grandest restaurants, Le Grand Vefour and won his third star. I've looked in the window and admired the menu, but that's it.

Chef Martin hangs out with artists in his spare time for inspiration...

 Back in the kitchen, Martin sketches out his ideas like this 'red' ratatouille. Quelle surpris!

Another intriguing thing about chef Martin - he invites French school children in gratis for special lunches to educate their palates.
Lucky ducks!

  I'm waiting for an electric knife to cut cleanly through my 'pastry models'...

Hurry up Amazon...

BONJOUR GUY MARTIN, Chef-Sketcher!

Pastry Sketch Crawl

Last Saturday, January 22nd there was a Sketch Crawl marathon. Groups of artists gathered in Rio, Paris, Sydney, NYC, SF, etc. and went out sketching together. Naturalement I heard about it on Sunday, the day after. 

C'est toujours comme ca non?

I rarely go out sketching onsite, but I decided to create my own sketch crawl, just drawing pastry in various New York tea salons.

First stop Pain Quotidien and this lush tarte framboise + a pot of mint tea.

On a cold Sunday night the joint was buzzing.

I was nervous as a cat. I set up my tiny paint boxes

And commenced painting with my sketchbook on my lap!

Not easy at all let me tell you :(

Yikes!

The folks at the next table wanted to know if I would eventually EAT that tarte..?

It was all I could do to figure out where to place the tarte on the paper, much less think of putting it in my stomach. (I took the #$@ thing home to study and nibbled off the raspberries before any serious studying took place - c'est la vie)

Voila!

My sketches tableside at PQ.

Who could resist drawing a honey bear?

Pas moi

Et enfin - le finished painting

The same Paris bookshop offering yesterday's baking sets had this Draw-A-Horse set in the vitrine. Oh where is the how-to-draw-a-raspberry-tarte set SVP?

Aides moi!

This is my 'January' project (and February-March until I get to Paris and can do this properly). I'm in the early warming up stages of my Pastry Sketch Crawl.

WE CAN DO THIS NON???

All moral support is most welcome

SVP!

Musée Marmottan Monet

My Paris plan was to go places I hadn't visited before.
 Getting into the Monet retrospective at the Grand Palais was next to impossible until mid-December.
 So off I went to the Musée Marmottan Monet In the 16th (pronounced says-e-M [not seizes-e-M 6th arr.] my second cousin reminded me over and over.
2, rue Louis Bouilly
Metro:La Muette
I rarely go to the 16th so it was an adventure.

The musee Marmottan is a rather grand setting and perfect for Monet's paintings.

How au courant to have 'catty patterned' upholstery.

Not nearly as crowded as the Grand Palais exhibit either.

And one can soak up the 19th century atmosphere in these exquisite salons.

I loved this soft portrait by Monet's friend, Berthe Morisot of Julie Manet and her greyhound.

Monet's portrait of his long suffering wife Camille.

She endured years of penury and endless posing for Monet.

I was surprised how loose Monet's drawings were and like his painted brush marks.

Monet adored London smog and painted out the window of his room at the Savoy. Wonderfully casual sketches of London's houses of Parliment.

Foggy London was made for Monet.

Loose sketch of the interior of Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris.

Who knew Claude Monet, at age 15 earned his keep drawing charicatures of his teachers at school? There's a room full of them at the Marmottan.

The big surprise is in the basement at the Marmottan 

Several rooms of waterlily paintings 

You never heard about.

The gift shop is not to be missed, along with the serious tomes are many artsy tchochtkas as only the French can do them.

The grounds are quite serene but I don't think you can 'dejeuner sur l'herbe' here.

Do not miss this small select Monet exhibit if you're going to be in Paris...

And if you're going to be in Philadelphia tomorrow evening, PLEASE drop by my opening at the Alliance Francaise

6:30 - 8:30 PM

1420 Walnut Street - suite 700

Mad MacNYC macarons will be served up +
Paris Facade watercolors by yours truly.

BONJOUR EXPOS!