#88: Waiter's Disapproval turns to Waiter's Delight through Art

In Paris, the City of Light, thanks to my friends' predilection for coffee, we spent a fair amount of time sitting in cafe's, watching the people go by, enjoying a rest from all the activity. I don't drink coffee, and I tend to push myself quite a lot and to forget to rest, so sitting in a cafe was different for me! Not bad at all - just different!

After going to a fabulous market near the Bastille our second day in the city, it was definitely time to take a load off our feet, so we went to a crowded cafe nearby. Karen and Gerlinde ordered coffee.  I asked for water. The waiter told me that wouldn't work - I needed to consume something.  I shrugged and figured he just wouldn't bring me anything. I'd sit and enjoy the company. 

A few minutes later, he did bring me water and was fairly nice about it, though he didn't put it down with a flourish.

I took out my sketchpad, watercolors, and brushes, and began to paint the scene in front of me. To my delight, Karen and Gerlinde did the same.  It felt like a dream come true - sitting in a cafe in Paris, sketching the scene before me.  I was tickled to bits!

The cafe had red chairs, red tables, red cups, and we had coincidentally bought red anenomes at the market to put in our apartment to brighten it up. I really enjoyed painting the bright red elements.

The waiter returned about 30 minutes later and saw I was using the water he'd brought to wash my brush out with. Suddenly he was totally delighted! He grinned and mimicked posing and asked me to paint his picture, "The Waiter"! I'd worried he might be pissed I was misusing their glass, so it made me really happy that he was thrilled and played along so well.  It made me think of the days when Paris was the center of the art world and starving artists paid their bills at the cafes and restaurants by drawing pictures on napkins and placemats for the propietors who quasi-supported them. It was very fun being a part of that for a brief fantasy-rich moment!

#88, Waiter's Delight
Watercolor
6"x9"

Paris, City of Light, near sunset.

Sainte Chappele, my favorite building in Paris, in the evening as night falls,
as we prepare to listen to a concert of Baroque setting in the most
beautiful setting imaginable.

#87: Monet's famous Japanese bridge. Not my most successful product, but fabulously wonderful process!

When Gerlinde, Karen, and I went to Paris in March, we decided to take a daytrip to Claude Monet's most fabulous creation - his home an garden in Giverny. It was a perfect blue-sky Spring day with a touch of coolness in the air with the plants just beginning to send out shoots, leaves, and flowers. The site had only been opened for 2 days so far this season so there were very few visitors. We had the place almost to ourselves - well, relatively speaking! That famous Japanese bridge was only very rarely free of people taking selfies or having others photograph them (I'm definitely included in that number!)

I love the way the trim all around the room, and
 even on the furniture is painted a darker color.
I don't know that I would be so bold!
(I also don't have such ornate,
beautiful trim!)

The yellow dining room. Everything was yellow other than the
floor! There were also different shades of yellow here, like
in the blue room, but they were less noticeable here.
This felt very much like a room for a large family.  I could
almost hear their voices echoing off the walls.  (He had 2
children, his second wife brought 6 into the marriage - BIG
family!)

The kitchen! Blue tiles. Huge stove. Large room. I covet his
kitchen!

I also want these pots, shiny
copper bottoms all lined up in size
order. So beautiful!!

We toured Monet's fabulous, huge studio where he painted the gigantic water lily series which he donated to the French state and which can be found installed at l'Orangerie. Then we went to his house - what a fabulous home! It was nothing short of inspiring to see how he chose to decorate it - very bright and colorful rooms full of light and art. He collected Japanese prints and had them hung in many of the rooms on all the walls.  Of course, he also hung his own works, as well as those of his friends.  The ones hung there now are copies, but it gives the feel for how it would have looked with his works in progress and finished works all over the house.  

Gerlinde and I are standing by his bedroom window by his
desk. There is a simliar window by his bed. He awoke to
this view each day he was home and died in this room, with
this view just outside.  That sounds pretty close to heaven
already.

Karen was nice enough to take a picture
of me pretending to paint at Monet's
easel. That was heady stuff!  I WISH!!

The views from the rooms were stunning! They all looked out onto his gardens which were his other creations. I'd read about his gardens and had looked at pictures in books, but I never got a sense of how they were laid out. It was wonderful seeing them!

A boat just like this shows up in many of
Monet's paintings.  It was so easy to imagine
him here painting. Glorious!

This small creek wound grace-
fully beside the larger pond.

To try to give you a sense of it: you can see his house at the top of this post. Behind the house is the lane that goes through the village. I didn't notice any windows at all looking onto the lane. All the windows are directed towards the gardens. The formal, symmetrical gardens with many trellises for hanging roses, wysteria, etc. are directly in front of the house. They extend maybe 50 yards.

Part of the garden in front of his house

 Then there is a high wall.  We were directed to the right where there is a tunnel that goes under the road and emerges into the second garden, a much less formal one, where the pond is. There the plants appear less formally planted, but I have a feeling that they are every bit as carefully placed. Weeping willows, wysteria hanging from the famous bridge, azaleas, rhododendrons, bushes, shrubs, tulips and other seasonal blooming flowers, and, of course, the water lilies (which weren't yet in bloom when we were there).  There is a path all the way around the pond along with several secondary paths which branch off from and lead back to the primary path. The views from each aspect were stunning and made me want to stay for months painting, drawing, gazing, absorbing.

I am aware that the house and gardens have both been refurbished since Monet's time, and I believe the pond has even been enlarged, so they may not be completely faithful to his times, but I think there were great efforts made to be true.  I'm so glad we went!  It was a wonderful day with perfect weather!

Portender of what's to come!

After we had gone all the way around the pond, we decided to rest for a moment on one of the benches set there for just that purpose. I couldn't help myself - I got out my watercolors and journal and began to paint! The scene was too gorgeous to NOT at least try to paint. Gerlinde did the same. Karen served as cheerleader and photographer for our process.  For the next hour or more, we sat in the perfect sunshine and drew arguably the most famous artist's garden in the world.  As I worked, I felt very good about my art, enjoyed what I was doing, liked my results.  When I was finished, I felt chagrinned - it hadn't turned out as well as I wanted it to.  I made excuses - I'm not good at plein air, watercolor isn't my medium - I can't do it very well, I needed more time. I could have done it better in pastels, especially from a photo.  Any and all of that may be true, but, really, it just doesn't matter.  I had a wonderful time working on the piece. It was very fun when people came by and commented. It filled my heart with joy to create in Monet's garden. Period. Full stop.  The results just aren't that important.  (Though, honestly, I do wish they were better!)

When I got home from Paris, I found out from my brother that he and my mother had been to Giverny together quite some years ago. They actually sat in the exact same place and also painted!  When I visited my mother last week, she showed me the painting she did there. THAT was what I'd wanted mine to look like!  Mom is one of the best watercolorists I know.  It was great seeing her version of what I'd tried so hard to capture! Maybe one day she and I will go back there and she'll show me how to do watercolor like a pro like she does!

#87
My version of the famous Japanese bridge, 3/2019

and my mother's beautiful painting from 2004.
Watercolor by Emma Lou Marchant Martin.

#74 - #79 of 100 Creations in 100 Days: Working/Playing Hard with Divine Inspiration

Working/playing hard today

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I feel as if I’m finally getting someplace I’ve been wanting to go for a long long time. Finally. Time makes a real difference. 

I have five small canvases I started working on before Paris. They’re all of Iceland. I painted them realistically, giving them all the tenderness I feel for the land. Recognizing what I have to give is not what Monet has to give. I don’t have those strokes. I have a tender gentle realistic stroke. 

Then I wanted to infuse the strokes with feeling, with the intensity I feel when I am there. With the light that is behind the clouds. With the energy in the ground. The pieces morphed. I had to start new ones. And/or risk a crazy change and assume I wouldn’t want to do it, wouldn’t have it available in my thoughts, if it wasn’t the right thing to do. It’s 12” of canvas. Who cares?

And magic is happening. I’m very pleased. I have decided to go to Iceland for the month of September. July is too expensive and too soon and I’m already obligated to teach then. 

Here are the pieces:

#74

Finished. I enjoyed the smoothness and subtleties of this. There are many colors in the grey, no black. And lots of colors in the white. And then I had to do this on a second canvas:

Same scene. More feeling. Disregard for visual reality. Attention to emotional reality. 

I did this image several months ago in pastel.  I'd been wanting to try it in oils to see if I could do more glazing and make the colors more luminous. It's one reason I wanted to start painting again - to try this piece again.  I'd begun it before Paris, but today, this is where I went with it...

#76  I love it. THIS is what I’ve been trying to express. THIS is what I want to say. 

This was finished. Then the others happened and I knew there was more to say here. How did I feel when I saw this scene in real life? What was going through me? I didn’t see the grey. I felt the heat, the love, the glory, the beauty. So then this happened. It may or may not be finished. 

Then there’s this which is saying what the photo says but doesn’t show what I love about it. I’m not clear what else to say here, so I’ll leave it for now. It’ll let me know.  

This one went through many iterations today.  Here's how it started:

Here are other iterations:

And the final one.  Maybe.  I'll see how it feels tomorrow.

#79

Obviously this is how I need to be living, what I need to be doing - painting all day, experimenting, listening. trying, looking, playing, delighting in color and texture and form and place. Now to figure out how to make that happen!

I hope your day is feeling equally divinely inspired.