Monday, September 24, 2012

French coffee Sale!


 A 3-day Parisbreakfast French coffee original watercolor SALE on Etsy today as promised!



 A bit of Parisian atmosphere thrown in for good measure...


 Malheuresement the larger watercolors (14.5" x 12.5") are impossible to scan so they look a tad bluish but they're every bit as bright as the smaller watercolors (8.5" x 11") colors.

 Bonne journee

 French Coffee Macaron Express14.5" x 12.5"
 Again a sample scan of the larger watercolor


 La tasse petal cup from Cafes Richard...




Friday, September 21, 2012

P comme Petale de Rose

 Petale de rose macarons

 Sundays in the Marais flower shops are open. As I passed by Double Pensee on 35, rue Archives 75004

 I was enticed.
 Inside Double Pensee (what does that mean? Double thoughts or thinking twice?) was like a million other Paris flower shops - full of bouquets.

 Outside were a million little colorful buckets of flowering plants for your balcon.

 Who could resist?

 Even though I didn't have a balcon and knew I could never bring my little rose through US customs. I left it for the apartment caretaker.

 Off in the Loire vallee I picked up rose petals off the ground to paint.
*No rose bush was harmed for this post.

 It's easy to gather your own petale de rose while you may - just grasp the head of the rose in one hand and give the stem a good twist. Stash your rose petals in a plastic veggie bag releasing all the air and store in the fridge. Voila you have rose petals to paint or throw at a bride.

 Did you know Pierre Herme created a rose macaron with perfumer Jean-Michel Duriez this spring - Delicious! You can find tea made from rose buds at Fauchon and Cafes Richard. And rose jelly from Au Nom de la Rose.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Rouge Jaune Bleu

 Rouge, jaune et bleu aquarelle
I bought this little (1 3/4") Limoge-style perfume holder in Passage Jouffroy

 I've been playing with mixing colors: reds + Yellows + blues since I got home

The most basic color triad out there.
 
Maybe I was inspired by these red cafe tables
 
On rue Rambuteau
 
This lemon yellow table top looks just like
 

Or Wayne Thiebaud's round yellow cheese painting full of reds and blues too.
 
Red + Yellow + blue are used a lot around food.

Like this boulangerie painting of a wheat girl

Or this chef eating his dinner and licking his chops


Down the street on rue Rambuteau is Cupcake Berko, famous for their colorful mini cupcakes. More goldeny than bright yellow but this tarte fine is still yum.
This post is making me hungry!
 

 

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Backjoy etc.

 The only other time I painted in a bathroom was in Paris iat Hotel la Louisiane. The great thing was I could run around the block for still life subjects like French tea cups, macarons and chocolate boxes.
 My setup in Maine was pretty terrific since I had wi-fi handy, just no French chocolate boxes around the corner. *Warning: the 1st part of this post is a bit of an infomercial...
 You may not have noticed but I have a new seating thingie..

 I discovered Backjoy in Real Simple magazine and since I had sciattica last year I investigated further.
 I watched the videos
 and read the reviews bla bla

I decided to give Backjoy a whirl.
One of the hazards of painting watercolors all day is you sit too much. You curl over like a caterpillar, which end-of-day doesn't feel so great.

 Backjoy feels like my spine is a stack of pancakes straight up instead of the usual curled over position. No negative after effects I'm aware of so far. I can even sit on the floor and sit up straight. The only disadvantage, after taking it with me to Maine (it's light weight) on and off buses/cars, is I left it on the Boston Megabus to New York. Lost and Found can't find it.
Someone is sitting pretty.
I ordered another - this one I'm adding RED stripes so it's easily visible on the AirFrance seat. 
(end of infomercial)

 What I painted in my Maine bathroom/studio:
 Guerlain perfum bottles ...
 More Paris blobbing...
 Les chateaux...
More blobbing to come.