PETIT PALAIS, PARIS, watercolor

PETIT PALAIS, PARIS,  watercolor in my art notebook.

Le "petit" (small) Palais,  in Paris, was built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition, like its neighbor, the Grand Palais. It houses a magnificent collection of decorative murals and sculptures created between 1903 and 1925. The architect Charles Girault wanted to lend his building the grandeur and dignity of an official palace and created a program of work designed to glorify the city of Paris, and celebrate the benefits of art. This is the view from the garden, where I was sitting sketching in ink, and then put some color into it. I used sepia ink, then some watercolor. It is a huge, beautiful, very elegant building. Nothing in it is "petit", but it is smaller in comparison with the "grand" Palais. In the galleries around the garden, Paul Baudouin painted a huge vista of vines interspersed with medallions featuring the months of the year, and the hours of the day and night. Then three large sections of the vaulted ceiling are painted with feminine allegories of the Seasons. Gorgeous! Not to be missed!

PAYSAGE, after Janos Mattis Teutsch, watercolor on notebook

PAYSAGE, AFTER JANOS MATTIS TEUTSCH, watercolor on my art notebook.
Here in Paris, at the Musee d'Orsay, this is the leading painting for the excellent exhibition: ALLEGRO BARBARO: Béla Bartók et la Modernité Hongroise 1905-1920.

Young Hungarian artists were living in Paris at the beginning of the XXth C., and they would spend thieir summers in Hungary, painting in plein-air. At the same time, Bartók published his "Fourteen Bagatelles" for piano, dissonant, revolutionary, radically different. Music and painting were working together. Bartók would play during the painters exhibitions.

DANS LA RUE, after Robert Bereny, watercolor

DANS LA RUE, after Robert Bereny, watercolor in my art notebook.
At the Musee d'Orsay, in Paris, I had the great opportunity of enjoying the temporary exhibition: "Béla Bartók and the Hungarian Modernity 1905-1920". In music and in painting, the same spirit of renewal was vibrating in Hungary and Paris. A group of Hungarian painters and the musician Bartók, were visiting Paris for different periods of time, enjoying the art scene Parisienne. This is Robert Bereny's masterpiece, in oil. I did a quick watercolor in my art notebook to remember this beautiful painting: Dans la Rue = En la calle.

CAUTERETS SUNSET II, France, watercolor,

CAUTERETS SUNSET II, France, watercolor, 10x15cm.
I've recently read, admired, enjoyed beautiful watercolors by Jean Christophe Pierre in his book: COULEURS DE BIGORRE. I learned some details about this area of Southern France, and enjoyed Pierre's watercolors. They are very traditional, lots of details, and beautifully done. Sometimes I do work like that, whatever gets into me to work very detailed. But most of the time I prefer to work more loosely, faster, and get more into the mood of the moment than in the detail.

ARCACHON LETTER 9, watercolor

ARCACHON LETTER 9, watercolor on a letter, sent.
I was a few days in Arcachon, a beautiful and elegant beach city near Bordeaux, in France. One day I was looking for postcards, and found a series of 10 envelopes each with a scene of Arcachon. Since I had white writing paper, I painted in watercolor, in the corner, one scene on each paper sheet. Then I wrote letters to friends. Each one received a letter with an original watercolor, matching the photograph on the envelope. They were happy. One of my friends even framed the letter!

ANNECY, FRANCE, watercolor

Annecy, France, watercolor 7x5 in.
Only the swans are missing! But at the moment I painted this small watercolor, the swans were somewhere else, I guess. They are often swimming around this area of Annecy, on the East of France.

I've just finished reading Katherine Pancol's LES YEUX JAUNES DES CROCODILES, original in French. The literal translation is: "The yellow eyes of crocodiles", but who knows how the offcial translation will be when it appears in English, or maybe it already has? It's a novel placed in Paris, France, about fear, low self-esteem, redemption, happiness, lies and truth, about men and women, about who we are and who we want to be, it's full of laughs and tears, it's about life. I enjoyed it very much, I recommend it, if you can find a translation.

ABBAYE LAIQUE, LE BEARN, FRANCE, watercolor on Yupo

ABBAYE LAIQUE, LE BEARN, watercolor on Yupo, 2007, 28x35cm

Le Béarn is one of the regions of France, with its own distinctive architecture, wines, foods, accent, veggies, and agricultural life style.
Looking through my older watercolors, in my  art storage in France, I found this one on Yupo I painted over 6 years ago. It's still not too bad, although today I'd paint it more loose, and the colors in the front and the building would be more varied. I find lots of mistakes here, but I still like it a bit, I can't get myself to cut it up and throw it away. You cannot tear Yupo. If you really want to get rid of a painting on Yupo you have to wash it, since a lot of pigment will go away with water and brush, and then you have to cut it up with scissors. Enjoy looking at the problems on this painting, and send me a comment, let's see how many points of improvement you can find!!