More Paris sketches

A few more pages from my sketchbook.  These are from the train ride between Paris and Nice.

Works in Progress

We'll take a break from talking about Paris to talk about my own art - after all, that was the point of going to Paris!  Inspiration!  I got in some good studio time this weekend, and here's some quick cell phone photos of the progress.

Here's Snoqualmie Pass in the snow:

Yes there's some super-purple underpainting!  Here's a detail of one side:

Some more work on those rice fields; mostly minor adjustments in the foreground:

And here's the "work in progress" wall:

Sketchbook pages: Waterlilies and Starry Nights

A few pages from my sketchbook. First some Monet.  The large paintings from the l'Orangerie:

Then from Giverny and the pond itself:

Then some sketches from the Orsay:

(And I doubt if you could read the handwriting any better at a higher resolution!)

Videos from the train and beach

Here's the train ride between Nice and Paris out the window of the club car (random ambient sounds from the car):

Here's the waves on the beach at Nice.  The sound is worth it for this one - the waves and pebbles are awesome!

Home

The morning started early with some last-minute packing then head out to the airport.  I took a cab since I didn't want to deal with my luggage on the metro for that long.  Paris has crazy streets and some drivers to match:  There are often 4 lanes but no lane markings; some intersections are about 6-way and about as smooth as you would expect; apparently you don't need to pull over for sirens - I've seen motorcycles pass ambulances.

The airport was easy since I flew business class. Air France takes care of it's business class passengers and I had a fabulous breakfast in the lounge.  My seatmate on the plane was a kick: She was on her way back from the Wedding from Hell.  Someone she had known for 20 years, and she was the one who had to help out with everything - the sisters or other family didn't lift a finger.  It kept getting crazier and crazier.  I swear she could sell the story to Hollywood.

The flight was good, the food was excellent, and I actually got some sleep.  Sleep is a challenge because of the timing: When you get on the plane it's 2 am PST, so I should really be asleep, but they're serving dinner.  Afterwards I slept until about 8:30 am PST, which is late for me, but it's not much sleep.  The movie selection included Akira Kurosawa's Ran, but only in French.  I passed on that.

Once we got to SFO I got through that pretty quickly too.  You never know since it depends on how many other flights have just come in but it looked like we were the first of the bunch.  Quick cab ride home then it's laundry.  Oh, and the bathing suit from the trip to Nice was still slightly damp and had been in my luggage for two days, so all of the salty damp stuff got soaked in the tub for a while and is now hanging up to dry.

I have about 1500 pictures to import, so I'll share some more of those tomorrow.

I'll take Paris

Whirlwind day.  Started early by taking one last walk by the water in Nice, then found a croissant and headed for the train station.  It's insanity of course, with 12 trains worth of people waiting to find out what track their train will be on.  Mine is F and it's bump! bump! bump! down the stairs with my luggage then pull drag pull back up a flight.  I have a nice reserved seat in a first class coach - with no air conditioning.  The air in our section was out and it quickly turned into an oven.  I went to the club car to hang out for the duration - it's cooler and on the upper deck so there's a better view.  I sketched all the way to Paris with my watercolor set - no easy task at 200 mph!

We finally pull in to Paris and it's overcast but we're grateful for the cool air.  I wander looking for the Metro entrance and it's bump! bump! bump! down the stairs with my luggage then down the winding hall then down another set of stairs.  Luggage and I make our way on to the train, which is only too crowded for part of the journey then it's up the stairs and out... into a downpour.  Absolute soaking cloudburst for the block to the hotel.  But it felt kind of good.

I'm checked in and in the room and boarding pass for the morning printed by 4pm, then it's out again for dinner/lunch followed by tea and chocolate.

Now to walk through the park.  Nice is nice if you want a beach and scenery, but there's nothing quite like sitting in a garden surrounded by statues.  I sit by the fountain to enjoy it one last time, then head out to walk along the Seine at sunset.  The thunderstorm has left behind some really cool clouds.

Farewell Paris, you've been awesome!

Ice cream

Today was all about ice cream.  Meaning I had no particular plans other than trying some more ice cream.  I hiked up the citadel again just for the view, then decided to wander the streets and take it in.  Tall narrow roadways that wind around.  I don't know how you find anything if you are looking for something in particular. Luckily I didn't have that problem. But I did find ice cream and had a milkshake that was excellent.

I wound up in that central strip, and the produce market seems to be a daily thing - before 1 pm it's produce and bad art, and after it's additional seating for the restaurants.  I'm so accustomed to visiting countries where you avoid the tap water and food from open-air markets, so I didn't get anything yesterday, but today I got a chocolate croissant and a nectarine.  Quite good!   

It's hot, so I wandered back to the hotel for a nap in the early afternoon, then headed back to the beach.  Now, the beach stretches on for miles and miles, but believe it or not, when I wandered down to the beach - and it was in a slightly different spot than yesterday - I ended up parking myself right next to the two ladies from London that I was talking to on Saturday!  Small world.  We all agreed that the water was warmer today; yesterday there had been some really cold currents.  Once again Totoro got packed into my waterproof pack and went swimming in the French Riviera - he seems a bit surprised by it!  And once again everyone is topless in their thongs and I'm wearing long sleeves and factor 50.  A really cool thing about these rocky beaches is that when you float on your back in the water (which is easy since it's so very salty) if your ears are underwater then you can hear the pebbles clicking together in the waves.  Very cool.

Then it's back to the hotel to wash the salt off and go find dinner.  I swear all of the restaurants have the same menu!  There was one where there was a guy playing "Somewhere over the rainbow" on an accordion, but there weren't any tables, so I wandered on to another one, had a chicken dish, and then wandered back to the water to watch the sky change.  Ahhhh.

the Citadel

I am definitely inside a Cezanne painting.  I hiked up the Citadel this morning.  It's one of these ancient things on top of a hill, and as it was intended as a fortress, it has great views!  And all around you are orange rooftops cut up by green trees and white cliffs.

Unlike all of Paris, you could actually sit quietly and sketch and paint up there, so I did.  At one point my sketching was interrupted by an Italian wedding party taking a thousand photos (and "selfie" in Italian is "selfie" I learned) and then wandering off to the next scenic local.  The place is a maze of stairs and lookouts and more winding stairs, and has been upgraded to have a nice playground in the main yard.  There were also crossfit folks and runners running up the stairs (I walked) and I saw one guy on a bike (I'm thinking there's another path to get there that I didn't find).  At the very top there are really amazing views.

It was cool enough in the shade in the morning - that stone stays nice and cool - but by noon it was broiling in the sun.  Actually, I think it was broiling before then, but I had avoided the sun.  So back down I went, had some lunch, took a short nap, then headed down to the beach.  It's a rocky beach, but I was prepared.  Being the French Riviera there were a load of people in their bikinis, and then there was me is board shorts that go down to my knees and a long-sleeve board shirt.  I burn in the sun!   I have a waterproof pack that I first got for a trip to Australia years ago, and I brought it with me.  Now I can say that Totoro has been swimming in the French Riviera!  I stuffed him in there and headed for the water.

I was ready for the rocky beach, but not ready for how cold the water is.  It gets deep fast so there are some cold currents that come in there.  I was in long enough to get soaked, then parked on the beach to people-watch.  There was a boy of about 8 who found a little crab, and that kept him entertained for about an hour.  Then there were the college-aged guys who were trying to cool a 2-litre of Coke by submerging it in cold water, but they couldn't tether it down so they threw each other in the cold water instead.  And a whole bunch of young kids having fun splashing but with their teeth chattering.

At about 5 I headed back to take a shower and get some dinner.  There's an area that's got a zillion restaurants with outdoor seating, and I found me a pizza.  Sauce is good, cheese is good, but I have to say that the pizza crust in Tokyo is much better (they do bread!).  Oh, and they don't slice it up for you here: They give you a knife and a fork and you cut it up.  Of course I cut it into, you know, pizza slices and ate it like a pizza, but the people next to me were just cutting it up like you would chicken.  Weird.

The place was all but empty when I got there at 7pm; but at 7:30 it was packed!  After dinner I headed back over to the water to watch the light change.  It's different here, and again the sea started to glow light blue but now the sky turned pink, then they blended together.  Meanwhile over the city the sun blazed down.  Gorgeous evening!

Nice

That's "Nice" not "nice."  As in the south of France.  Today started off early so I could catch a train, and I discovered that Paris does not rise early.  At 7am on a weekday the streets were empty and even the bakeries were not yet opened! Considering how late they stay up, this makes sense.

I decided to take the metro to the train station, which requires a certain amount of wrestling large luggage up and down staircases, but since the city was still sleeping at 8am it worked OK.  Once you get to the train station, then it becomes a mass of humanity - they don't tell you what track anything is on until the last minute, so it becomes a crush.  But I was sailing in the first-class cabin so I had a reserved seat.  A little more wrestling of luggage onto the rack and into my comfortable seat!

When they say "bullet train," they mean it - we are going at about 200 mph (they actually show you the speed).  Taking pictures through the window of a train moving at that speed is not always successful, but here's a few that worked out OK (starting with the train itself):

South France is a Cezanne landscape!  Those orange rooftops broken up by green trees?  It really looks like that!  Those red rocks?  Yup!  Very cool to see what he saw (along with giant wind turbines and a nuclear power plant).  First Monet, now Cezanne, very cool.  Thank you!

Once in Nice I found the tram down to the hotel - a very crowded tram that did not appreciate my luggage!  But I only needed to go two stops, then wrestle it out again an in to the hotel.  Then it  was time for lots of sunscreen, and some food!  I found a "tea house" (cafe) right by the hotel, had a sandwich and tea, and tried a chocolate dessert - for scientific comparison purposes!  Good, but there was no way I could finish it.  I don't know why the French aren't all dead - they drink a lot, smoke, and eat really rich foods.

Nice is not Paris.  Not only is Cezanne's light and scenery different from Monet's, but it's also less wine and cheese and more beer and disco  Instead of buildings that are neutral gray/beige, these are more intense colors and taller.

There's this long area that's been made into a cool park with playgrounds and a cool fountain area:

 It's also a hell of a place to lose a cow - tall buildings with narrow alleyways that twist and turn.

 The beach itself is stone.  Oh, but the sound of the waves - it's waves plus pebbles!

 The sunset was a smooth transition to pastel blue when the sky and the sea met.