Dream Come True: Speaking French, France. Dream to Fulfill: Art

 I enjoyed May's series with daily prompts on "Mindfulness" &

Mental Health. All of the prompts were positive & uplifting during 

a month which is always uplifting here: Full springtime! 

I longed to travel during the covid quarantine time. 

I'm still not ready to do it, but there is hope.

Stay tuned for a new sketchbook diary series 

that I began on June 1. 

Going Sketching with a Visitor from France

I went sketching with a high school art student 
from France who visited me with her U.S. host family.

Lisa, the talented and artistic owner of Brambles, 

welcomed us to sketch in her front "garden"

of ornaments, potted herbs & flowers 

such as lavender & verbena.

The steady buzzing of bumble bees  in roses 

& floral scents kept me company as I sketched.

My friend sketched nearby.

This is something that I enjoy when sketching with others:

You are together, but separate while drawing.

Then there is time for sharing.

There is a park a few steps down from Brambles, 

next to the Harbor. 
With benches, shade & boats,
it's perfect for sketching. 
While there. a windjammer, rowers, sailboats,
& my least favorite, a smelly diesel boat, came & went.

Sketching in front of well known photographer Neal Parent's Gallery, 
right in the middle of downtown, 
attracted friendly passersby.

Some even stopped to speak to my friend in French.

A city councilor, one of the early Back to the Landers 
who became entrepreneurs in Belfast in the 70's, 
stopped to tell us that he had formerly had a café 

where Neal's Gallery is today. 

Another great thing about sketching:  If you stay in one spot long enough,

you often learn more about the place.


At the toy store across the street, Scott Canon,
local educator, musician & mime
sang a little English language song with his uke,
to my French friend, who is here to leanr English.

There is not a moment, not in any season, that I don't appreciate my little town. 

Visitors & sketching add so much to my enjoyment.

La Tour Eiffel • Bon anniversaire! (edited re-post)

 

Above: I turned a corner in the 7th arrondissemnt

and caught my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.

Today Paris is celebrating the 130th birthday 

of the Eiffel Tower!

This is a re-post from September 21, 2012 

with some changes in the original text.

                                     

"Qui aurait dit il y a 130 ans que La Tour Eiffel deviendrait le symbole de Paris?  

130 ans et pas une ride!" (Site: Paris à Sortir)

 

Paintings by Maurice Utrillo and Raoul Dufy.

From Chez Toi en France, a bilingual children's book.

 

 Delauney was obsessed by La Tour Eiffel, painting at least 30 versions. 

He appreciated it as a radio tower & symbol for global communication 

as well as for its beautiful design.

This book is in a series on arrondissements of Paris. 

Gorgeous watercolors are by René Oghia.

 

ABC de Paris: Découvrir la capitale est un jeu d'enfant           

by Raphaëlle Aubert

Minou, a children's book in English, illustrated by Itoko Maeno. 

Features many Parisian landmarks.

 9 images in the Paris Calendar by Cavallini & Co. 

feature the Eiffel. 

When I first went to Paris it seemed like a cliché, 

& I almost didnt visit it. 

But was thrilling. 

Far more original, complex , & magificent than I had imagined!

Rose Windows

 My first visit to Paris: 2003.

And my first conscious travel journal, 

with encouragement from my French teacher at

The Language Exchange in Portland. 

Never EVER could I have imagined the complexity,

the grandeur, the art, & the spiritual feeling of

Notre Dame de Paris!

In 2003 I broke down & cried before one of the rose windows,

for its beauty.

In 2019 I cried  to see Notre Dame de Paris in flames.

My 2003 journal sketch of the window is rough & inaccurate.

And along with my notes, private.

But spending extended time in the cathedral was sweet,

& the journal pages bring the experience back.

Recently I've been making ink drawings based on photos. 

But the photos seem to be only a point of departure.

During that 2003 visit, one of my companions said

that the windows are like giant mandalas. 

That & more.

Let us hope that they & the cathedral 
will be restored for future visitors.

Boxes: My Key to Organization

The workshop that keeps on giving,

That was Beth's. I continue to play.

I notice my ongoing fascination with squares.

Squares. BOXES. Order. Symmetry. 

Containment which allows for freedom & chaos.

Ohhhh. I get it!

I learned about creative surface design,

but I also learned about how to organize materials

because Beth had 

So So Many!  

(Click on Sew Sew Art , 

Beth's website.)

I've been learning that my creative spirit can't flow without 

organizing my materials!

 That generous Beth lent me her BOX of metallic threads.

Sparkly. Shimmery. Oooooh! Thank you, generous Beth!

The BOX for raw material for my August Art Show.

 The BOX for hand sewing & little papers,

for book covers, for little collages. 

For now it has to wait for me in its BOX 

because I need to be into the Art Show BOX.

 Another BOX of Bookmaking stuff. 

Beth's Beads. Waxed threads. Buttons!

A BOX of travel journals from France voyages.

Also waiting for me.

Rita's saved BOXES, 

thrown in a corner of the spare room.

You never know when you'll need another BOX!

I'm remembering one of the first magical 

BOXES in my life:

Jenny's Mom's BOX of old clothes in the basement,

put there so we could play Dress-Up 

when we were wee kids!!

Thank you Jenny's Mom! 

How do YOU organize your materials?

A Still Life with Robert

My childhood art teacher presented us

with still lifes. 

Many, many still lifes. 

Above: I quickly arranged some things that were 

already on my table. 

The caption,

"Every picture tells a story" showed up
as a complete serendipity.

In August I'll have my 2nd show at my library.

Theme: sketching locally. 

This still life is very, very local.
My table.

A friend who is visiting France writes that

she has found paradise on earth.

Reading & looking up French vocabulary at my table, 

this is for me a local paradise on earth.

Dreaming of Provence on a Snowy Day

View from my studio window

While it was snowing all day, a friend came over

and we shared stories of travel in Provence.

My past travel, her upcoming trip.

St. Rémy de Provence, a view par la fenêtre du Musée Estrine.

That was the trip on which I didn't bring my camera, 

but I did fill 2 sketch journals. 

A little drawing, 4 X 6" made this morning 

from the initial sketch.

Blogger La Table de Nana has been posting photos

of her last trip to Provence. She loves it there,

but then again, she finds & shows beauty wherever she is. 

Click here to visit her exquisite blog.

Works for the Language Exchange Show

I have been away but where I have NOT been during this time

 is at the pleasant Petits Déjeuners at Portland's Language Exchange. (1st image) 

And not out hiking like the randonneur in the 2nd sketch.

 Nor on vacation in Paris, as in the 3rd.

I have been in some high stress times in relation to home repairs. 

I did manage to frame up some work for a show at The Language Exchange.

What most of the little works in the show have in common is that they have

French language text integrated into the sketches,

or English language descriptions related to my travels in France.

The Art of the Handwritten Note

Je souhaite à mes amis Francophones et Francophiles 

un joyeux 1er mai! Je vous envoie un brin de muguet virtuel!

Speaking of virtual cards verses the handwritten: 

The book, The Art of the Handwritten Note: A Guide to Reclaiming Civilized Communication begins with: 

"When I mention the handwritten note to any group of otherwise optimistic and intelligent people, I almost always hear someone say, 'It's a dying art.' Wrong! It's not dying, it's healthier than ever. But it certainly is an art, because it brings out the best in both the person who creates it and the person who looks at it."

I am blessed to participate in this art. I sometimes lapse in keeping up my end, even though I so love creating, sending & receiving handmade notes, cards & letters.  I also resort to typing sometimes because of easy editing, spell check & dictionaries, especially when writing in French. I do understand why computers have pushed out writing by hand.

But what's this about penmanship no longer being offered in public schools?? Perhaps someone can explain this evolution to me...We're not all talented for calligraphy, but aren't there times when we still need to write by hand? Perhaps a former generation bemoaned the day when inkwells were taken out of the schools, & I am just an old fashioned member of my generation.

For me, those letters for copying that were posted above the chalkboard in grade school where magical. I grew up seeing my grandmother's handwriting, she being two generations before me & European, & I loved it. Below is a page from one of my grandmother's journals. She was Polish, but it is a poem by French poet Rimbaud. (THAT is a WHOLE other story.)

My cursive writing has degenerated these days & I've been re-inspired by a gorgeous handwritten note from a penpal  (Merci, mon amie!)  The Art of the Handwritten Note is also reminding me that handwriting is not only a means to an end for me, it's pleasant in its own right. Or should I say, "In it's own write."

French Homework: My Style of Dining in Paris

 I wrote it all in French: Assignment: Describe a favorite meal. I'm not a cook so I wrote about my favorite meals when in Paris:  "La cuisine à emporter", take out food, but not McD's. Asian traiteurs, the neighborhoods of Rue Cler, Rue de la Huchette, & Rue Mouffetard with such varieties of fresh, ready made food! Boulangeries everywhere with more than just bread: sandwiches with fresh ingredients, quiche, salads, soupes. Guichets, windows with counters, where you can watch your crêpe being made, or where you can buy Middle Eastern food. The Monoprix grocery & department store. Oh! And the outdoor markets for fruits, vegetables, cheese, bread, & regional dishes~ & lots of French language to hear.

Where to eat? I admit I have eaten crêpes from the guichets standing on the sidewalks. But benches, oh the benches! They are in the the grand parks with magnificent statues, but also in church courtyards & along sidewalks, and near so many architectural wonders!  (And probably other places I have yet to discover...) If it is raining? Portez toujours un parapluie!

Why not eat in restaurants while traveling? Obviously to save money, lots, (which you can then spend on books & scarves!) There's more: by eating outdoors  you can spend more time enjoying the amazing buildings & action of Paris. Benches are my friends & support while sketching, & also my favorite form of restaurant.

I recently learned the expression, "se mettre dans la peau de quelqu'un.", to place yourself in another's skin, to see their point of view. I understand that restaurants are a big form of entertainment for many tourists, so I know my way is not for everyone.    

N'importe où, bon appétit!

Portland Sunday Morning: A park & a bakery

I don't get back to my old city as often as I used to. But I've been attending monthly Saturday French workshops at my old school, The Language Exchange. 

I still like to get up early to go sketching. Above, from my car, a Sunday morning sketch at Bug Light Park, South Portland. There are oil storage tanks behind this park, as SP is a pretty industrial city, but it has preserved some great shore front space for the public. 

Bug Light has lots of outdoor benches, but downtown does not. So next time I'm in Portland, I will try sketching from my parked car, before the meters kick in. This time, I found an indoor bench at Standard Baking Co., where I ate my raisin roll & watched a steady stream of customers.

Such animated comings & goings, interchanges & transactions! As in French boulangeries, which are the inspiration for this bakery, everything is created daily, right there, in the wee hours of the morning. Standard delivers to restaurants & cafés each day, but buying these pretty & fragrant works of art directly, along with morning coffee, is a fresh & energetic way to start the day! 

Storyboard for French Homework: Le stylo plume

 Story-board, un Scénarimage, un Scénario-maquette

with 6 panels pasted onto an accordion fold book.

The writing assignment: To imagine shopping for an item, conversing in French with a shop person, using the comparative & superlative forms. Students "shopped" for things like L.L.Bean Boots, a birdhouse, &,  moi: 

For a fountain pen in Paris.

An American tourist greets the salesperson in a Parisian stationery shop with "Bonjour Madame," & she says she's searching for a good fountain pen. She explains that in the U.S. people don't write with fountain pens as much as they used to, & the U.S. doesn't have as many stationery stores as France does! 

The salesperson shows several pens & compares their attributes. Our tourist comments on the fact that her writing is better with a fountain pen than with a felt pen & it's the worst with a ballpoint pen. 
The vendeuse comments that with fountain pens one needs to use smooth papers of good quality.

The sales person invites the tourist to try some pens (without ink), to see how they feel. She also tells the tourist that she speaks French well. (Is she just flattering her? wonders the tourist, but she enjoys cinversing.) The salesperson asks the tourist where she's from. They chat...

After having purchased her new fountain pen the tourist departs & the two women exchange parting salutations. The salesperson tells the tourist to enjoy her new pen & to enjoy the rest of her stay in Paris.

The tourist does enjoy the rest of her stay, 

using her new pen to write & sketch her impressions of beautiful Paris, its landmarks, & its activity. 

(Click on on the drawings if you would like to read 

my flawed French.)

The Language Exchange of Portland Maine

Meet La Fofolle. The idea of her 

as well as her name came from 

Valérie Guillet, the founder of 

Portland Maine's Language Exchange. 

She is part of the new logo & website for the school 

& its wonderful Immersion Programs & Trips.

To see her in her context, 

& to check out the school's offerings Click HERE .

La Fofolle is full of joy because at the school 

she has learned to communicate in the native language 

of the foreign country in which she is travelling! 

And she gets to learn more of that language 

when she travels with

The Language Exchange's Immersion trips!

Click Here to visit the Photo Gallery of 

Valérie’s magificent photos of past Immersion Trips.

My favorite happened to be the Lavendar Trip en Provence.

  It was one of the most enchanting experiences of my life!

The day we went into the mountains to see, to experience 

& to smell the amazing fields of lavender 

I'd forgotten to bring my camera. 

So I had to sketch like never before!

But now I am delighted to see Valérie's photos in her gallery!