Painted river

I painted this small painting an hour before going to a friends party, you know, as a hostess gift for her. It was the first time I had ever delivered a completely wet oil painting to someone. Ha! This friend lives right on the edge of the river that winds through the marshes and goes out to the sea. Every day she gets to see these beautiful salt marshes! And oh how this view changes. About once a week for 3+ years this friend has been snapping a photo of this river view. I think she needs to make a coffee book with all of her beautiful photographs.

Beet salad with chives blossoms

Sweet earthy beets are anointed with a classic french vinaigrette. Other tidbits in the salad are French lentils, edamame, arugula, goat cheese, red onion, and oniony chive blossoms, which are in bloom this week. The cosmos flower decided to join the party.

Floral confetti

Deadheading the pansies—such a colorful chore.
It's floral confetti!

Radishes, butter and salt—oh my!

The French do this marvelous thing with radishes. They serve these crunchy, peppery morsels with softened butter and sea salt, preferably Fleur de Sel. This much loved French hors d'oeuvre is so simple, yet so sublime. We've had these radishes served in a fancy presentation, as shown above—the butter even had chopped chives in it—but my favorite way to enjoy them is the rustic presentation shown below, over a soft bed of bibb lettuce, dressed with French dressing (of course!).

One particular restaurant served bread, so one could make a mini radish tartine. Mmmm... radish radish tartines—that's a whole other blog post for another day.

   

Spread (ok, slather) a little butter on the radish, sprinkle on some salt...

... and crunch!

Good to the last, zesty bite.

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Color inspiration—lilacs

The lovely lilacs are coming into bloom. Could spring ever be complete without sniffing the heavenly aroma of a lilac blossom?

I snapped this photo at a Market in Paris on my last trip there. This old woman was shouting her heart out for people to buy her lilac and lily-of-the-valley bouquets. If we weren't leaving in a few days I surely would have bought some from her.

To see more colors, click on the red "color inspiration" label below.

May Day!

The month of May is named after the Greek goddess Maia. The zodiac sign of Gemini starts in May. This print shows the twins Castor and Pollux. Enjoy this very beautiful month.

Au Revoir Paris

Time to say farewell to Paris, but it’s nice knowing that there will always be two cozy chairs waiting for us at the Tuilleries or Luxembourg Gardens.

Have I mentioned the chocolate shops?

Don't bother trying to find any chocolate in Paris—we bought it all! This amazing store was founded by the royal pharmacist to Louis XVI. He invented candy coating for medicine to give Marie Antoinette and her pals, and from that a chocolate shop was born.

inside DeBauve and Gallais

At Meert, another old time Store in Saint-Germain des Prés. Here I am making my selections... "Two of those and two of those and ..."

We interrupted the chocolate store tour for lunch. 

Which included profiteroles, covered in chocolate of courses!

Below, the colorful squares are from Pierre Marcolini, another fancy shop right next to our apartment. I bought one of these for us and it was an awesome dessert for our picnic dinner at Luxembourg  Garden. Always a sweet ending!

Paris Sketchbook: The Notre-Dame Cathedral

The Notre-Dame Cathedral, with a splash of pink cherry blossoms — at Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris.

Paris Sketchbook: Macaron madness

All the pretty colors and flavors., but Psst... here's a secret. I don't actually like mararons. Well, let's put it this way, it wouldn't be my first choice in a French patisserie. I'd much rather have something buttery or chocolaty!

Paris Sketchbook: Aaaahh, choux!

One can find all manner of confections made with a basic choux recipe. Here is a delicious one—chocolate eclairs!

Paris Sketchbook: Qu’ils mangent du gâteau!

Let them eat cake!

Paris Sketchbook: L'opera gateau

Ode to Parisian opera cake!

Paris Sketchbook: Cherry blossoms galore

I simply can't resist painting the beautiful cherry blossoms again! April is Paris is glorious!

This pretty specimen was at the Jardin des Plants (which, yes, means garden of plants. It’s a pretty cool botanical place set up by I think Louis XIV; there’s a zoo and arboretum and geological museum too.)

Paris Sketchbook: A fine cartouche

The hammered copper cartouche on the Pont Alexandre III bridge in Paris is spectacular. They don't make bridges like this anymore.

Paris Sketchbook: Painting + picnicking

Painting + picnicking in the Luxembourg Gardens—that was a good day. I sketched this stag sculpture in the Luxembourg Gardens today. The tulips were standing at attention, the birds were singing French chanteuse melodies and all of Paris was ‘a moveable feast’ of picnickers—including Dan and me. Our own private stag party!

To market, to market...!

Yesterday morning our Paris apartment fridge had only the bare necessities (a bottle of champagne and some chocolate bon-bons), so off we went to the Edgar Quinet outdoor market (in Montparnasse) to stock up. There, we bought a cornucopia of fresh culinary delights, including these small, but oh-so-sweet Cavaillon melons.

The strawberries here are always so ripe, red and sweet. There are different varieties too, including the elongated ‘gariguette’ strawberries, which are the small sweet ones seen all over the markets, and available only from March to mid June.

At a market today—two types of strawberries.

All the pretty clothes

Fashion wise, it seems that nothing is de rigueur in Paris these day, and anything goes, but this hip look with the French striped sailor shirt never goes out of style.

Parisian women can rock any style—

Red trousers

and flirty skirts

Pretty chocolates!

Bonjour from Paris! The temps will be in the mid 80s today—mon dieu! Hope all the pretty chocolates won’t melt in the heat.

Paris Sketchbook: 2018

Well here we go again. There's just something about this city that keeps pulling us back. Come along with me, won't you?

Happy Easter to all!

I watched the Miss Potter film this week. Twice. It's the story of the lovely, creative, and somewhat eccentric Beatrix Potter, who created of all the darling Peter Rabbit and friends books. I have to say after viewing the film, that Beatrix was one hell of a woman. I deeply adore her passion and commitment and have most definitely invited her to my dinner party in heaven... whenever I get there. (The list is getting longer every year, I am going to need a large table!)

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Room Interiors #2

I love a sunny, yellow living room. This is the 2nd in a series watercolor sketches of room interiors. My own living room walls just happens to be yellow, but not nearly this formal, or as spacious. The yellow on yellow colors in the living room remind me of one of my favorite paintings, The Yellow Scale, painted by Chezk painter František Kupka. Aren't the colors in his painting divine?

Hello Spring!

There's more snow in the forecast, but the calendar
insists that it is spring!

Daydreaming of spring

Three wicked New England Nor'easters in less than two week's time has me day dreaming of the glorious spring ahead. Here is how the wisteria that covers our pergola looked yesterday in a snowy blizzard—its branches, a nasty Medusa like tangle—and below is how the wisteria looks in May.