Right in the middle of Paris is the Jardin du Luxembourg , where the people from the surrounding residential areas spend their time, especially in the spring and summer.
© Astrid Volquardsen
The chess players can be found right next to the main house, using chairs as a table and thinking hard about the next clever move.
Der Schachspieler, 13×13 xm, 2012
© Astrid Volquardsen
In Paris there still are open art academies like the Academie de Grand Chaumiere. You can enroll for a couple of weeks, days or just for a couple of hours. All you have do to is to show up and pay a fee. We took part in a nude drawing class which lastet four hours and it was a pure joy to take part. Besides the very good model I enjoyed the the quiet and concentrated working atmosphere very much. No chatting, no rummaging around in ones bags. That is probably one of the reasons why the work most of the students is of high quality. If you happen to be in Paris and would like to participate show up 40 minutes in advance or the best seats are already taken.
© Astrid Volquardsen
© Astrid Volquardsen
© Astrid Volquardsen
LES DEUX MAGOTS, Sketchbook, 19,5 x 14 cm, 2012
© Astrid Volquardsen
Relaxed sketching in the streets of Paris. People are crowding the bistros, some of them kind of show offs, other for a relaxed reading in a newspaper and some meeting friends and enjoying a coffee in the sun.
Right now there is an exhibition about Degas and the nude at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. It shows Degas development from the traditional nude as a classical training to a modern depiction of everyday women in their private surroundings. As a young student he met the french painter Ingres whom Degas greatly admired and asked him for some advice. Ingres replied: »Draw lines, young man, draw lines; whether from nature or from memory. Then you will be a good artist.« His fellow artist knew Degas to be a relentless worker and over the years he created an immense body of work. Isn’t it nice to know, that Degas mastery didn’t grow on trees but was the result of great effort?
I was very much impressed by Degas‹ monotypes. For Degas it was as much a favorite medium as pastel. In 1906 he remarked « that if he could live his life over again, he would do nothing but black and white. And that black and white alone are sufficient to make a masterpiece.« Well, the monotypes in this exhibition prove him right.
On some monotypes he added pastel on top of them which you can see below. Degas used pastels by the french manufacturer Roche obout which I wrote in an earlier blogpost.
An excellent catalogue is published in high quality.
Coat of paint! 13×13 cm, 2012
© Astrid Volquardsen
Some crews are still very busy to give their ships a last coat of paint.
The other day at the museums harbor:
Mooring! 13×13 cm, 2012
© Astrid Volquardsen
