I heart art

Walked my shoes off on my first full day in Paris. I started out at the Rodin Museum and ended up at the Arc de Triomphe. In between I saw the Hotel Invalides, Musee d'Orsay, Garden Tuilleries and avenue Champs-elysses. All in all a full 12 hours of walking was had.

The Rodin Museum has a wonderful garden full of sculptures, including The Thinker. I had a quiet walk through and did a little sketch of a statue in the middle of a pond. I totally forgot about my sketchbook! Crap. Oh well, I did get two sketches in.





After the museum, I ventured into Hotel Invalides as it is right across the street. It is not somewhere I was going to see, but I was there, so why not. I'm glad I did. The place is massive and has the tomb Napoleon is in. Boy did that dude have a bad case of short-mans syndrome. Everything he did was over-the-top. The tomb would fit at least 50 clowns.


I then ventured into the army museum there. I believe it's the biggest in the world (don't quote me on that). The French keep everything. They have thousands of pieces of armor from medieval times alone! And the amount of artillery, swords, crossbows canons and horse armor is impressive.


I would highly recommend seeing this place if you are in Paris. It is beautifully laid out and they have demonstration areas where you can put on the armor to see how it feels.


Another cool thing they have is full depictions of most of their war battles. They have these huge screens that animate a battle and you listen and watch as they show you on maps how the battle was won or lost. I listened to the Battle of Waterloo completely.

What a contradiction though. In London, they have so many monuments and are so proud of defeating Napoleon. And in Paris, they are so proud of Napoleon and his accomplishments. It's interesting to hear both sides. It makes me want to learn much more about this crazy little man.

Afterwards I walked over to the Musee d'Orsay. Ok, this is my favorite museum ever! The amount of impressionism and post-impressionism is, in a word, impressive. The one piece that absolutely "wowed" me was van Gogh's self portrait. I bet you can see it a mile away, it's so bright with colour. The aqua colours in the painting are so bright and contrast greatly with the orange of his hair and beard. It's almost cheerful until you look at his face, which is full of pain.


I saw so many other pieces that I loved, but I will not go on and bore you with my nerdiness.

But I'm still sticking with art, I am in Paris after all. After the Orsay, I sat by a fountain in Garden Tuilleries and there was a woman beside me painting in a small book. She had her shoes off and was resting her feet on the fountain edge. She held two little metal bottles of paint while she painted. I kept looking over at her work. It was beautiful. It looked like art deco from the 40's. I finally got up the nerve to ask her if she was willing to sell. Unfortunately, she couldn't. She is making a new design for a larger piece she is working on. Her name was Rusudan Petviashvili, she's an artist from Georgia. Too bad, I would have cherished it. Wasn't meant to be. But she gave me her card and a small pamphlet of her work.

Bonsoir.

Paris c'est magnifique!

Bonjour! And that's about the extent of French I know. I arrived this morning via the Eurostar. It took 2 hours and was quite a pleasant ride. The staff were extremely nice.

The Hotel Pont Royal is very nice too. The staff are extremely kind and the room is elegant and large. I'm on the sixth floor and when I open the window I have a view of the top of the Eiffel tower on the left and all of Sacre Couer on the right. Here are two pics from outside my window.






I did a short walk to the river and back as I had someone picking me up for a Louvre tour. I didn't get lost at all. Hmm, maybe I'm getting the hang of this. I have yet to see a car that doesn't have scratches or dents or worse! They drive like maniacs here.

Our tour guide was a good dude, he was originally from Holland. He said he came here for a trip and didn't go home. He showed us the big things, like Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa. Mona was stunning. It's too bad it's so busy in there. It would be nice to sit in front of it and appreciate its beauty. Hard to do when there is about 60 people in the room and they are all just taking pictures and talking. I didn't think that would ruin my experience of it, but it did. Ah well, I did get to see another Leonardo that was just as beautiful, The Virgin of the Rocks.

After the tour I walked through Napoleon's state rooms. Holy, they are ornate to the extreme. You know how American's say "go big or go home?" I believe the French originated that title. The ceilings and floors and walls are works of art, and that's not including what resides within them.


I also tasted the best quiche. I have no idea what it was, but it had mushrooms in it and was so good. I think I will just eat pastry here. ;)

There is no wireless access in my room at the hotel, it's just in the bar and lobby downstairs. I hope to upload as much as I can, but it might be few and far between.

Here are some photos from tonight. I went for a walk and there is this one pedestrian bridge that is all young people sitting around eating baguettes, drinking wine and smoking. Looked like everyone was having a great time. Also, the bridge has thousands of little locks attached. Don't know the history behind it, but it was pretty cool.

London in pictures - Day 1

Here are a few pictures from my first day in London.





Victoria & Albert museum - the courtyard. The sign said "no puddling." I'm assuming that means jumping in the water.











Wooden sculpture. Dude killed dragon and is now just chilling with it. The detail is incredible on this piece.





The beat down. I think this is what UFC was 500 years ago.





Teeny, tiny Hasidic Jewish crown. Would fit nicely in your hand.





Beatrix Potter watercolor. An entire hall was dedicated to "Peter Rabbit." Each page is framed and displayed in a line so you can read the book.





English paintings. Look at the huge one on the right. Someone really loved that dog!





Concert and theatre posters. Loved the Sex Pistols one.





Yep, that is a Juicy Couture outfit. So sophisticated.





Royal Albert Hall at night. Got a double decker bus in there too.






Albert Memorial at night. Queen Victoria really loved her Albert! The whole area seems to be named after him.

Vincent

Just received an email from my friend Brenda who is currently visiting Paris. She was telling me about all the art she is seeing and how fantastic everything is.

She also mentioned a Van Gogh self-portrait that made her emotional. Funny, that is exactly how I felt the first time I saw one at the WAG in 1999. I have always loved Van Gogh, but was never interested in the self-portraits. Then I stood in front of one. I was stunned. As someone who paints, I was blown away by the colour and lightness he created. The painting seemed to glow. That's the problem with prints, they just look so dull next to the real thing.

Here is the painting I saw, this is hardly how I remember it. It did not look this dark.

Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat

Time to mix it up

I need to begin painting again. I haven't put brush in hand for months. Nothing has inspired me lately. There are a couple of paintings that I have been commissioned to do and I should get off my butt and start them, but alas, I haven't.

Starting is the hardest part, but once I begin, it will go quickly. Maybe I'll start with this old car; I do enjoy painting old cars.

Also, it's that time of year to think about painting a few presents for Christmas; a very economical way to give a decent gift.

Put that in your pipe

This is the exterior of Centre Pompidou, the National Modern Art Museum in Paris.

What unique architecture. I imagine it was shocking to the locals when it first opened in 1977; but that’s what a modern art museum should be.

Did a little Googling and here’s what I found:

“The architects created huge uncluttered space inside by moving all the service sections outside. Their goal was to show the public how a building functions and color-coded the different areas – the air pipes are blue, the water pipes are green, the escalators are red, the electricity is yellow.”

Love that the building guts are on the outside and colour-coded. How cool is that?

...where the ladies wear no pants

Next fall I’m travelling to Europe and last week I took the first step of my adventure, I picked up a couple of travel books. Let me tell you, I’m devouring the France one. Trying to figure out the city maps, trains, and sights to see is a daunting task, but an exciting one. I want to experience as much as I can when I get there. I just have to figure out how much I can fit in. There are at least six art galleries that are a must see with gardens, cafes, night life and so on mixed in. And that’s just Paris!

One huge must is finding a piece of art to buy off a street painter. It will hopefully be watercolour, light and airy, and depict Paris or France in a way that will mean something to me, whatever that might be. This will be my souvenir, the one that makes me remember my trip fondly every time I glance upon it.

In the sixties, my grandparents visited Paris and purchased three watercolours off the street. The paintings are of the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and Champs Elysées (pictured). They now hang in my living room. I love them! They are my favourite pieces in the house. I was honoured to have them handed down to me. I hope the piece I find will be just as beautiful.

La vie est l'art!

If you have a must see for France, I would love to hear it. Let me know by posting a comment.

The smell of autumn is in the air

After all the bright and shiny colours of summer, it's time to wrap yourself up in the rich hues of fall.


This painting is titled Autumn Leaves and was painted for my friend Denise. It now hangs in her living room.

Rodin

In the fall of 2006, my mom and I visited the Auguste Rodin exhibit at the WAG. Besides the “Thinker” and “The Kiss” I didn’t know much about his work.

Rodin’s bronzes were impressive. They were harsh and beautiful at the same time. Their rough texture made you feel the emotional state of the subject (love, passion, sadness, tension). I wanted to touch one. Run my hands over it, feel the smoothness, the bumps and try to imagine what he was thinking while sculpting it. Not touching was torture.

His subjects seemed more real than a Michelangelo. Don’t get me wrong, seeing a real Michelangelo will be a dream come true, but his subjects are the embodiment of human perfection. Rodin’s are almost grotesque in comparison. The feet and hands are way too large and everything looks harsh. It’s like Rodin’s pieces are the working class to Michelangelo’s upper class.

After seeing the exhibit, I wished I had the talent to sculpt. To take a big piece of clay and chip away at it to create something (besides a smaller piece of clay). I would love to sculpt the human form. But sculpting is all about removal and I cannot do that. I’ve tried many times, and it’s just not something I can figure out. I guess I’m more about addition. I have been blessed with the ability to look at a blank canvas and add to it to form an image, but never have I been able to subtract. Maybe that’s the difference between painters and sculptors. When you paint, you add. When you sculpt, you subtract. You have to chip away to form your image.

Back in high school I would take clay, form individual pieces and try to stick them together. It always ended in disaster. Oh well.

If you ever get a chance to see a Rodin exhibit, do it. You will not be disappointed. Just don’t touch! (Or at least not when security is watching.)

Frida

Frida Kahlo is one of the greatest artists I have laid eyes on. I didn’t used to think so. I would look at her paintings in art books and think “nice unibrow.” Her paintings didn’t interest me. They were colourful for sure, but otherwise they looked boring and depressing. Seriously, how many self portraits can a person paint?

I changed my opinion awhile ago. I was in Vancouver visiting a friend and on a day she had to work I went to the art gallery. The main exhibit was showcasing the work of three women, Kahlo, Georgia O’Keefe and Emily Carr.

O’Keefe was the reason I went. I love her orchid paintings and wanted to see some in person. Once there though, I was disappointed to discover they only had her adobe paintings.

I was starting to think the exhibit was a bust (never been a fan of Carr) until I ventured into the Kahlo wing. I was struck. I couldn’t look away from her paintings and spent a long time in front of each one. They were all self portraits and the unibrow was still very prominent, but the depth in her gaze was jarring. It made me sad. I didn’t know anything about her life, but looking at those paintings told me that it was not a happy one. To this day, I can still remember the pain I saw on the canvas. To think that something that beautiful could be so painful to look at. All the paintings I saw were similar in that they had the vibrant colours of Mexico surrounding a woman in absolute pain.

I never saw the movie about Kahlo’s life that came out a few years ago. Not sure I want to. Sometimes you don’t need to know everything about a subject. Seeing the movie might ruin the experience I had. For me, watching a biography on an artist is not always necessary as their life is depicted in their work. You just have to look for it. Maybe it’s not the correct version of their life, but it’s the one you imagine.