Back to Being an Artist

My latest favorite painting .  I am getting pickier about my work.  I used to like/accept everything, but now I am  less accepting.  

This painting by Matisse was my inspiration.  

OK, I never really left being an artist, I just wasn't painting anything It is interesting how my eye was always looking for the art in everything while in Paris.  More so than usual.  And yet... I humbly admit, I still don't see everything the way that I'd like to. For example, I looked at the Metro station at Lamarck (near where I was living) and saw  nothing artistic.  Day after day, I walked to and from that "station" and saw nothing special.  Recently I saw a Facebook post by a young photographer( RL Photography)  who I have been following and she took this photograph of that station when she was in Paris recently.  

Totally charming, and yet I never saw it that way.  To me it was rather a dirty and ugly place.   I have a ways to go in the visualizing department.  

I dragged around my camera most days.  I took a couple thousand photos.  I like about four of them really well.  I really wanted to like a whole lot more, but there were always people in the way, or the weather was crummy, or the lighting was all wrong, or there were cars and busses in the way or, or. or.  

I am loving one photo that I took and today I blew it up into an 11 x 14" print on 13 x 19" Velvet paper.  I love its crispness and all the textures going on.  

Home from Paris

I've been home nearly a week now and am getting in the groove of the Pacific Northwest again.  The weather is so similar, but I would say the PNW is even a bit warmer this time of year.  Not a day passed that I didn't need my coat in Paris and most often a sweater too.   I shuttled between a pair of black jeans and a pair of dark navy jeans because skirts and crops were out of the question... so cold!  Thank  goodness my apartment had a washing machine.

I am spending some time going over my posts from the trip, writing captions and enlarging the photos, something I couldn't do from my iPad.  I appreciate all the "followers" I had on my blog, which encouraged me to do that nightly post when I wasn't in the mood.  I know I will appreciate having that chronology when I go to work on my art journal for that trip.

I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to experience Paris, taking my time to absorb its uniqueness.  At the same time I am over the moon about being home. There is something about being away that always makes me appreciate where I live. 

Some odds and ends photos I can't resist adding.

                              

Mother's Day in Paris  May 26th

Cafe Chairs stacked before opening

Loved the subway seats.

Au revoir, Paris.  We had a good time together.