Do you like flowers and their smell? Then your next vacation should be in France, my favorite country:) Flowers are part of life everywhere, in cities, you probably won’t find houses that are not decorated with rose bushes and clematis that make a hedge.
And between the cities, endless blooming fields stretch, which not only delight the eye, but also generate income, since flowers are used in the production of essential oils.
Impressionist painting of orchid, the delicate and exotic at the same time.
An integral part of the French cultural heritage, these gardens are open to the public throughout the country. All year round, they are ready to share their secrets, especially during moments of exceptional events.
If you like castles in France, you will find lots of gardens and parks. One of my favorite is Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, a small private palace of the 17th century, located not far from Paris. Popular for its sophisticated architecture and large surrounding park.
The gardens and parks were in perfect harmony with the architectural complexes from which they were laid out. Spacious alleys were lined with flowering flower beds
…and of course irises. Did you know that the depiction of a lily on heraldry in pre-revolutionary France is actually a stylised image of a yellow iris?
For France, irises are not only beautiful flowers that are a symbol, they are also an industry. France is famous throughout the world for its perfumes and eau de parfum, and it is in them that iris essential oil is actively used to create aromatic compositions.
Bon voyage! Until the next travel:) Stay healthy.
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
Links
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto is DeSerred, address is 130 Spadina ave, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tools used for my painting. Watercolour brands Van Gogh and Cotman. Paper Canson Mix Media album 28×35 cm (11×14 in.) and Canson Watercolour album 25×35 cm (11 x15 in.)
Paris is always the city in flowers. This city breathes in the scents of billions of flowers. Every day it explodes with a firework of floral colors. Winter, or summer, the season does not matter for flowers in Paris. The Luxembourg Gardens is the most “French” of all city parks, because only here you can see the true purpose of the green towns in Paris, how Parisians spend their free time… If you would like to become one of them, you might try their …Vivre la vie:) Going to one of the city parks, maybe sitting comfortably on a chair near the fountain, breathing in the aroma of roses and enjoying the freshness of greenery, hiding from such a distant and at the same time immeasurably close city center from one side.
Bright flower borders with soft ribbons frame the green lawns, and flowerbeds amaze with volumes and colors. Petunias, daisies, rudbeckia, sage, cereals, dahlias, chrys…it is the long list of flowers. Their consistent and continuous flowering pleases grateful spectators throughout the entire spring, summer and autumn seasons. Luxembourg gardens in Paris is my favorite one, flower beds are especially good at any season. It’s impossible to stop looking at them! I am enjoying to visit again and again:) you might see my previous post about Luxembourg gardens, link is below
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
Tools used for my painting. Watercolour brands Van Gogh and Cotman. Paper Canson Mix Media album 28×35 cm (11×14 in.) and Canson Watercolour album 25×35 cm (11 x15 in.)
My favorite art store in Toronto is DeSerres, address is 130 Spadina ave, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Paris. In the city of love, all you need to do is go outside and look around – beauty and history surround you within architecture, monuments, street names, memorial plaques, restaurant signs … There is something unique to find at every street corner.
Do you think sometimes about a city as a flower or as color? I am continuing my series with flowers, even summer is over. This post is about a yellow thistle, bright and sunny flower with strong character that might survive in any location and condition. Why Paris represents this flower for me? Any artist might answer – just look at my paintings, they will explain everything:)
Thistle. Wildflower with colors of eggplant and gold petals. I would describe it as Parisian Luxembourg Gardens.
Thistle. Wildflower,sunny petals of colors pumpkin, orange and beetroot. Yammy, right? As traditional French cuisine itself, tender, homemade and is filled with flavor.
Thistle. Wildflower with petals of colors canary- yellow, spicy and burgundy. Reminds me about the Opera Garnier, one of the most elegant building in Paris:)
Thistle. Wildflower with petals of colors amber and purple. flower buds as big and small museums in the city center, Musée d’Orsay, Louvre, Musée de l’Orangerie, Musée Marmottan Monet.Musée Jacquemart-André,Musee de Cluny…
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission
Links
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto Deserres, Spadina Ave
I did some kind of surrealistic and impressionist ink drawing for prompt CONNECTion in between past, current and future worlds. The painting shows an imaginary door with floral plume of daisy petals that leads into another world, a parallel reality of times past. A curious mind will always find a path, a door, a way to explore others worlds.
How was it to live in previous centuries? And what will our future look like? And where is that DOOR that lets us peek into the other realities? These are among many questions one could ask in a question of finding interesting answers.
“The most beautiful things we can experience is the mysterious” Albert Einstein.
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto Deserres, Spadina Ave
Do you like warm summer evenings when the moon starts to light up? It gives fresh, romantic and cozy look. A lunar path appears on the water surface, lighting up the landscape with its warm brilliance.
The link to my original oil painting Lunar track on the southern night is below
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto Deserres, Spadina Ave
My next Inktober ink drawing is about a Helmet, part of Armoury museum in Mougins, France. It has the huge collection of ancient helmets. Soldiers lived, fought, and died in this equipment, and much of it bears the scars of battle from ancient military campaigns in past.
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto Deserres, Spadina Ave
Next Inktober prompt is Roof. For this prompt I have some ideas, thank you to my husband’s photos of many places we visited:) I will add a link to his site.
Firstly, it is the Roof of beautiful Milan’s Cathedral with its graceful spiers and pointed turrets that are directed into the sky, and slightly pinkish marble walls are decorated with many sculptural images. Secondly, an ink drawing of extraordinary roofs in Provence, south of France. The warm and cozy brown, orange and yellowish shades of roofs with background of the blue water of the Mediterranean Sea are one of my coming art project:) Another option, the “roof” of yellow and red colours leaves’ trees in any Ontario places in Canada. The trees’ brushes are like ceillings for roads when you drive or walk. This nature “roof” looks the same in Canada and in my motherland Belarus or any place in Earth. And next idea brings me to the “decision” for this prompt that includes both Roof and Autumn, 2 in 1!:)
For the prompt Roof I am doing an ink drawing of lovely roofs of the pastoral town Rottenburg ob der Tauber in Germany we stayed once in the fall. Here, you can enjoy viewing of the little houses’ roofs with background of golden trees’ leaves that nature itself painted land in the Northen Bavaria. Rothenburg ob der Tauber is the place …its like you are in an alternative universe or you have gone back in time:)
This is the site with images belong to and can be purchased from Vlad Vitsenkou
And I am ready for tomorrow’s Inktober prompt – Pick
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto Deserres, Spadina Ave
I am doing an ink drawing of one of fascinating sculptute in Paris. It is completed after the book “The man who passed through walls”/”Le passer muraille” by Marcel Aymé. It tells of the adventures of a “little” person in a ministry who realized that he can walk through walls:). He became a powerful man, what happened next? One day, the man was stuck in the wall… The sculpture’s figure coming out from a high wall, looks very intriguing… I recommend to read this book and visit the Place Marcel-Aymé in Monmartre’s Paris when you travel to Paris next time:)
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto Deserres, Spadina Ave
My interpretation of this world for my Inktober 2022 is “choose something from a number of alternatives, typically after careful thought.” Well, I am chosing an ink drawing of … French charcuterie:)
French cuisine is not a collection of dishes, but a ceremonial, a feast is a moment of communication,it is a part of French culture. When people have lunch or dinner together, they share it with each other. The food we eat matters not only for the body, but also for the mind. I pick ballotines, pâtés, and confit, wine, a cheese,ham a baguette, as the maginicifient French charcuterie.
And I am ready for tomorrow’s Inktober prompt – Sour.
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto Deserres, Spadina Ave
For prompt Watch I was doing ink drawing of the interior clock of the D’Orsay museum in Paris. The clock is in between the museum building and sky, it looks out over the river Seine and garden Jardin des Tuileries. Looking through the clock, you can enjoy the magificient capital of France.
At first the Musée d’Orsay was a train station, the Gare d’Orsay built for the Universal Exposition of 1900. The clock is actually a reminder from the train station that overlooked the platforms of the rail station a century ago.
I love the D’Orsay clock because they’re so large, they also function as a window. How many important and romantic meetings have taken place under this clock, who knows?:)
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto Deserres, Spadina Ave
For prompt Raven I was doing ink drawing of a raven sitting on a street lamp next to the Louvre museum in Paris.
It was an old and wise raven who was looking down on all the tourists queuing up at the museum. Perhaps this bird remembers events that happened in France 300 years ago, who knows?:)
And I am ready for tomorrow’s Inktober prompt – Spirit.
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto Deserres, Spadina Ave
Suit is very important part of appearance of any person, it is showing the epoch when a person lived, their gender, society status, etc.
Well, my favorite 19 century and the city of Paris as a place will be my story’s drawing.
I need a time machine to go there and to do my drawing from their real life’s elegent suits, frock coats and cylinders for men and wearing long flowing dresses with high collars and puffed sleeves, skirts with layer upon layer of lace for women.
…It was an iconic era for France and fashion . Yes, France is famous for is fashion forever:)
For this drawing I chose using ink and Fabel Castell markers to add some vintage atmosphere.
And I am ready for tomorrow’s Inktober prompt – Vessel.
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto Deserres, Spadina Ave
For Inktober I bought two new albums and tested both, Rhodia and Clairefontaine Goldline. Both have great quality of paper,hmm not easy desicision..:)
I chose Rhodia ink album, Noodler’s ink and Lamy pen for my Inktober 31 days maraphon 2021. Let’s start FUN!:)
The October 1st prompt is Crystal. I choose our daughter’s souvenir from Denver, USA as my reference to draw a crystal. A little iron horse is standing on a postament made from ametist.
Crystal of ametist has interesting option to refract light and its dark view has magical power to this stone, looks like very fregile and light but it is strong and beautiful. Did you know that crystals were used by some medieval poets as a way to question desire and the wonder of love?:)
My discovery that ink drawing is easy to do with Lines and Spots and enjoy the process:) And one more thought, next time during my travelling I will buy more souverirs, they are the best memory:)
I am adding my stamp with logo of Travel and Art that I did by myself and date for my records.
And I am ready for tomorrow’s Inktober prompt – Suit.
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto Deserres, Spadina Ave
This is the 1st time I decided to participate in the famous global challenge Inktober 31 days maraphon 2021. Let’s start FUN!:) Here is the official site with 2021 prompts and rules https://inktober.com/
My drawings Inktober 2021 will be based on some little stories about travel, happened in past and planning future ones. It will be about my favourite places in France, Italy, Spain, motherland Belarus and my current home country Canada, maybe I will discover new places with my virtual travel and art.
Who knows it will be an easy or hard journey for future 31 days or after couple days my regular full time job tasks will stop my optimism to do daily drawings and posts and move it away with Toronto fall windy weather.. will see:)
My goal is attempt to learn something new and be part of my colleagues artists in all countries. I am inviting everybody to join our community:)
I am planning to use watercolor paper and black ink, maybe will add some light tones with other ink’s colours or some watercolours, will see how it goes. The October 1st prompt is Crystal, until tomorrow:)
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto Deserres, Spadina Ave
Giverny. address 84 rue Claude Monet 27620 Giverny
Bon voyage! Until the next travel:) Stay healthy.
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
Links
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
Shopping in open markets (marché) is one of the most popular and fun ways to find the freshest food in a city. Paris and its suburbs has lots of food markets. One of my favorite is on Rue Cler , just next to the Eiffel Tower block.
Pomegranate is deservedly called the king of fruits – and not only because of its unique composition and healing properties. There is a legend that the “design” of the royal crown was copied precisely from a garnet with its crown of sharp cloves. Interesting idea… who knows?
Another legend about pomegranate is the Abduction of Persephone by Hades. This is one of my favourite ancient Greek myth where a pomegranate plays a central role.
The goddess Demeter had only one daughter, her beloved Persephone. The god of the afterlife Hades fell in love with Persephone. On black horses in a golden chariot, the lord of the kingdom of shadows Hades appeared from under the ground, who grabbed the young, unsuspecting Persephone, and in the blink of an eye disappeared with her on his horses into the bowels of the earth. Horrified, Persephone only managed to cry out … However, apart from Helios, the god of the Sun, no one witnessed the kidnapping. Demeter was yearning for her daughter to return so much, and from het great sadness, the earth ceased to bear fruit. Then the great Zeus sent to his gloomy brother Hades the quick Hermes.
Hades agreed to let Persephone go to her mother, but previously gave her some pomegranate seeds to swallow – a symbol of marriage. Smart and prudent decision… pomegranate seeds played the important role in the story.
Persephone ascended the husband’s golden chariot with Hermes, and in the blink of an eye they reached Eleusis. With great joy, Demeter rushed to meet her daughter, wrapping her in her arms, and returned to Olympus with her. Then the great Zeus decided that two-thirds of the year Persephone would live with his mother, and one-third in the kingdom of her husband Hades.
The mystical role of the pomegranate affected the Goddess’ decision to travel between her husband’s world and the parents’ one:).
Anyway, I just love pomegranates, these huge, sun-like fruits with delicate, large, crimson grains and juicy flavours.
Bon appetite..
and Bon voyage! Until the next travel. Stay healthy.
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Toronto is DeSerred, address is 130 Spadina ave, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tools used for my painting. Watercolour brands Van Gogh and Cotman. Paper Canson Mix Media album 28×35 cm (11×14 in.) and Canson Watercolour album 25×35 cm (11 x15 in.)
In the centre of Paris there is Luxembourg garden that contains over a hundred statues, monuments, and fountains, it is one of the largest green spaces in the center of Paris. In addition, you might read about Luxembourg gardens in the memoir “A Moveable Feast” by Ernest Hemingway.
It was originally owned by the duke of Luxembourg, then purchased by Marie Medici, the wife of King Henry IV. The Queen requested that the garden should be in Italian style. The Jardin du Luxembourg features several noteworthy fountains. Fontaine Medici is the most famous romantic Baroque fountain.
Fontaine Médicis. It is located at the end of a small pond at the north east side of the park. A central sculpture group shows the Greek mythological figure of Polyphemus who observes the lovers Acis and Galatea. It is flanked by allegorical figures depicting the rivers Seine and Rhône.
The central niche is occupied by a marble group depicting Acis and Galathea lying under a rock at the top of which appears the colossal bronze figure of Polyphemus preparing to throw at his rival the stone that is to give him death. Galatea, in Greek mythology, a nereid who was loved by the Cyclops. Galatea, however, loved the youth Acis. When Cyclops discovered Acis and Galatea together, he crushed Acis to death with a boulder.
Above is a composition of three sketches. Left side is two men in office suites are spending their lunchtime, behind them the statue of Sainte Geneviève, she is the patron saint of Paris in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. Right side is a man jogging in the park, behind statues from Greek mythology. In the middle a tourist is enjoying statue of Marie Stuart, the French Queen. Surrounding the central green space are twenty figures of French queens and famous women standing on pedestals.
Relaxing in the park during lunchtime, people are reading books, handing together, listening to the music, lots of students. This is also one of the parks where you can simply get hold of one of the many chairs and take it to the exact spot where you want to sit next to elegant statues around the park.
The park is popular with chess players and petanque players. I did some sketches on location.
In the middle of the park is a large octagonal pond Grand Bassin. Jardin du Luxembourg boasts many attractions such as pony rides, a large playground. Around the pond are nice lawns, paths, and some of Paris’s most beautiful flower beds. There’s also a tennis court, a music pavilion and an orangery in the park.
Next, just 15 min walking from Luxembourg garden might visit very famous restaurant La Coupole. It was one of my teen’s dreams to visit this famous place. Certain scenes were carried out at the legendary restaurant La Coupole with Sophie Marceau and Denise Grey, actress who played her grand-grand-mother. The Art Deco style, the massive counter and the chic brasserie spirit of the places is still in place.
La Coupole brasserie, it is one of the famous one and exist from 1927. On wall, you might see photos of their famous visitors Édith Piaf, Leger, Zadkine and others celebrities
I recommend trying some house specialities. And yes, I asked staff where is the table in the movie “La Boum” actresses were sitting; it was just next to our table 🙂
The painting was done during one of cozy pleasant summer evening in Paris’ bridge Alexander III with its chic street lumps. The gold, relaxing colours of evening’s sunset sky invited me to add some imaginary air balloons for my art.
Well, why I invite you to one of my favourite places in Paris? There are 5 reasons to visit the Luxembourg gardens: enjoying over a hundred sculptures in a free open air museum, read a book on a chair in any space you might choose to put it, jogging in the centre of Paris, enjoy French cuisine in any nearby cafe or have a snack with your colleagues or friends during your lunchtime and do urban sketching of local architecture and other many things…
Bon voyage! Until the next travel:)
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You might visit my personal website pages and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
Tools used for my painting Watercolour used Charvin and Van Gogh brands, Pastel GrayPas Expressionist, Derwent watercolour pencils and Faber Castell artist pens. Paper Strathmore Watercolour and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.)
Luxemburg Gardens. Address Rue de Medicis | Rue de Vaugirard Paris
La Coupole brasserie. address 102, boulevard fr Montparnasse, Paris
My family loves Paris, it was our tenth vacation in Paris for last decade, and my suggested itinerary is for advanced travelers and art lovers. In my post I will share information about 5 museums: Maillol, Orangerie, Modern Art and Palais de Tokyo and D’Orsay museums. All five museums are in the centre of Paris, from one to another will take approximately half of hour of walking or using public transportation.
Later, I will go back to previous trips with other museums in Paris, there are plenty of options with everybody’s interests.
The first museum in the itinerary is the Maillol museum, with permanent and temporary expositions.
Small house-museum of sculptor Maillol; he met the famous sculptor Rodin when he was already 40 years old. Rodin recognized the talent of the man and provided some support to Maillol. Address of the museum is 61, rue de Grenelle, it is just a couple of blocks from d’Orsay museum.
Three beauties that actually represent the same woman, the model was the artist’s muse Dina Vierny. She was depicted in different poses, running, standing, sitting and relaxing. Especially interesting is a small hall on the second floor. You should stand in the middle of the room and you get into a round dance of feminine sculptures made from black granite.
Museum’s one of relaxing sitting statue… Grace itself lives here!
In the museums you might see people copying paintings. It is artists who learn to work in the manner of great masters. This is my view of this piece of art.
A small cafe of Museum Maillol with some green cozy armchairs; I did the sketch while we had lunch. This time we started our visit to museum from attending the museum’s cafe. There are couple funny sayings such as “Theatre starting from a hanger” and “hungry belly is deaf for learning”:) I do recommend this cafe’s local food meals, salads and quiches, quietly enjoying not just the process of eating but also looking at the celebrities’ photos on its walls. The site of cafe will be provided at the end of this post.
Visitors in museum, mostly Parisians, not tourists, at least I think so…This hot July’s evening, on Friday, after long work week, these people went to the small museum, standing in quite long line to enjoy ART!
Some tips for artist. Try to do quick sketches on location, people and exponents are showing how close interests are matching and represent the museum itself, plenty of ideas… museum sketching is like taking a photo, only instead of a phone or camera might be a notebook and pencils or markers, and your own interpretation.
The museum’s temporary collection of Emil Buhre in 2019 represented non-typical paintings by famous artists such as Cezanne and Van Gogh. Some temporary exhibitions might surprise even sophisticated art lovers.
Next is Musée de l’Orangerie. The museum is famous with two Claude Monet Water Lilies galleries.
On the ground floor there is a permanent collection of Impressionist artists. One of my favourite artists is Marie Laurencin who painted Coco Chanel in a relaxed pose in blue and black with one shoulder bare, the flowing lines, delicately changing colours and Chanel’s dreamy expression are distinctive of Laurencin’s style. The legend says that Coco Chanel, already rich and famous, turned the painting down, saying it did not look like her. The museum bought the painting. I bought a silk scarf with this panting, but the version without the famous figure on it:)
I made a few sketches of visitors. One interesting couple of an elegant lady explained about the piece of art to her granddaughter about famous painting, and a tourist from Japan who is standing very close to painting and trying to understand how Monet was using the indefinite strokes of a brush, on the painting it makes such an organic picture from some distance.
Next museums are Museum Modern Art and Museum Palais de Tokyo.
Well, it is a special museum for people who like modern art. One of this museum’s painting I really liked was a picture of some human hands. They were painted from darkness and reflecting its true mood, temper and feeling. At this moment of this person’s character. I love Stefan Zweig novella “24 Hours of a Woman’s Life” that tells about one memorable day in the woman’s life. On this day she was watching only hands of the players in the casino. People might make a blank face, “mask” behind, however their hands will show people real emotions … if you are watching the hands, you might find some discoveries.
The Museum of Art’s only temporary exhibitions and their visitors are extravagant, similar to the paintings in this museum.
Museum Modern Art and Museum Palais de Tokyo are next to each other. They both have a stunning view to the Eiffel towel. Also, I might recommend having some rest in the museum’s very comfortable chairs, it’s one of the benefits of the museum after long day:)
And the last museum in this post is my favourite museum, D’Orsay. Every vacation we are visiting this museum. This year it was the exhibition of Berthe Morrisot.
Building of Museum D’Orsay is ex-train station, it looks like a boat from another side of the Seine river.
Temporary exhibition in summer 2019 had paintings of Berthe Morisot, one of seven main first impressionists. It was a vast selection of paintings; some were from art museums, some were from private collections. Berthe Morisot was born in rich family and produced art works the way she felt and enjoyed the process itself. One of Mme Morisot’s discoveries was painting of ladies’ private from high society, showing for example a morning of a lady with very delicate colours of paint. Some art works show ladies and children with a view from balconies; a space is neither at home nor outside.
Famous clock in the museum’s building, elegant and beautiful, it gives grace and style and matching with impressionism art in D’Orsay museum.
The sketch was done in D’Orsay museum’s restaurant. This museum has three options if you are hungry. The restaurant on the 2nd floor is the most elegant one. When you are sitting in museum’s restaurant and around you classic paintings and statues…you are enjoying life NOW:)
After long days, it is so nice to return to the original Parisian hotel de Varenne. Sometimes you might open for yourself an interesting art in relaxing atmosphere of a local garden, just in between two buildings in the centre of Paris.
Hotel garden’s sculptures of some little Cupidons:)
Sometimes we cannot explain what exactly is happening to us, but the soul seems to sing, and in the stomach “butterflies fly”. This feeling is usually called falling in love, or they say: Cupid’s arrows hit me, maybe this magic place might help you:)
Sketch of hunting dogs’ emblem on walls and cozy street lamps are in the hotel’s garden.
Lion statue in Paris. It seems like the Lion is floating above the city of Paris, sees everything and enjoys city’s sunrises and sunsets along with its residents and visitors.
And at the end of the post about my favourite city, Paris, I would like to confirm that life is what you make it!
Bon voyage! Until the next travel:)
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You might visit my personal website pages and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
My favourite art store in Paris Un Jour Un Artisan. address 31, La Motte Picquet Grenelle, Paris http://www.unjourunartisan.fr/
Tools used for my painting Watercolour used Charvin and Van Gogh brands, Pastel GrayPas Expressionist, Derwent watercolour pencils and Faber Castell artist pens. Paper Strathmore Watercolour and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.)
In this post I would like to talk about some one-day trips from Antibes or Nice. For me, sitting in one place and swimming in the sea, enjoying sunny beaches and cuisine is fine for a couple days, then I need more. Provencal cities are so close to each other by distance and are so rich in history, art and architecture, it would be a “crime” not visit some of the local small towns in the neighborhood.
Provencal ceramic tableware with sun-drenched harmony of Provence in single handmade plates with vibrant colours found in the South of France and Italy
Our Provencal Itinerary. This trip was started in Nice – Grasse – Mougins – Moulins d’Opio – Waterfalle sur Loup -Tourrettes du Loup- Gourdon.
We always travel by train or bus… but this time we decided to save our time and travelled with a tour operator.
Old Train station in Nice was recently renovated – it seems to beinviting to join one of the most beautiful cities that is conveniently located near the sea.
Our tour started from Nice. You might be picked up from your hotel by the tour operator. In our case we lived in Antibes. As an option, a driver could pick you up from your city, with an additional cost. We decided to take a train from Antibes to Nice, just 10 -15 min, cost 4 Euros and another reason to visit Nice.
Blue train brings people to Mediterranean Sea every day
The 1st stop was in Grasse, the capital of perfumery. According to the legend of the 17th century, the city had numerous leather shops and the skin was soaked with flower essences to remove an unpleasant odour, and thanks to Louis XIII and his beautiful wife Anna of Austria, a Spanish-born queen… she provided some Spanish and Arab secrets of perfumed skins. So perfumes came to us from the city of Grasse. You might want to visit Parfumerie Fragonard.
The whole city is covered in flowers; a local perfume factory acquaints visitors with its spirits. During our previous visit to Grasse several years ago, we walked several times through the local central square near the town hall to admire the views of the mountains from a huge cliff. It was blooming with floral aromas, the local fountain freshened the air with water. And only then I realized that the fountain was spraying perfumed water.
Sketch of our excursions perfume factory and olive store at Le Moulin D’Opio, Opio. Legendary Fragonard was the mayor of the city. The city has the Fragonard Museum is located at: 14 rue Jean Ossola, Hotel de Villeneuve, Grasse
Some interesting facts about Fragonard: he was the artist and pioneer of the Rococo style. There is a famous painting “The Swing” by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Fragonard was a distant relative of my beloved impressionist artist Bertha Morisot. We visited museum D’Orsay in Paris this year, Morisot’s personal exhibition in the museum. Stay tuned for more information on it in my future posts.
The next town we visited was Mougins, is a city of art galleries and artist’ workshops. On a small plaza, I saw a mysterious lady in a beautiful hat near the city’s legendary museum.
The city has a famous Mougins’ Museum of Classical Art; it’s a private museum and costs14 Euros (2019) but it’s worth it. Address: 32 Rue Commandeur, Mougins. The Mougins museum has the world’s largest private collection of antic helmets. I never would have thought that there was such a variety of helmets.
In the museum, the lighting was dark so my sketches reflect the overall impressions of the gloom. I like to observe museums’ visitors; it shows the general impression of direction of exhibits in museum. We visited the museum on Monday when there were no visitors so the whole museum was ours. I was surprised to see such a rich collection outside the Louvre or British Museums.
One of my artistic goals is to paint the combination of houses, people, café, streets, landscapes, food, Provencal ice creams: everything is in one bottle of flavour that brings together the image of a city or place.
On the way to the city, our tour operator told us about an interesting annual festival ‘International Gastronomy Festival of Mougins’, or ‘Les Étoiles de Mougins’. The festival used to be an event that brought lots of tourists and media attention to the town of Mougins. However, effective this year it was decided to hold the festival in other cities in the world and send Mougins’ Michelin chefs to the festival to demonstrate the culinary art of the city’s chefs. So, understandably, the residents of the city are disappointed and would like to return the tourists to their city. To get here, you can take a train/bus from Antibes or Nice. At the end of this post, I will provide instructions on how to get to this town.
Our next visit was a small place at Moulin d’Opio mill, with its olive grove and a small store. When you visit this place, you will immediately remember Van Gogh’s painting. Its owners are the fifth generation of this family; they were telling us how olive oil is produced for many centuries and we tested different varieties of olives, French oil, tapenade on toast and drinks.
Stroll through the medieval streets and admire the stone façades and fragrant flowers of some of the prettiest settlements in France.
One of local legends says that the English Queen Victoria was driving through on a donkey with her staff, and after this uneasy journey, she ordered to build a road to this town so that everyone could see the beauties of this place. And it was completed, so now you can enjoy them too. The main square of the town is named after the Queen.
As you walk around town, you will notice violets everywhere: painted on the asphalt in the ice cream… Violet ice cream was a pleasant discovery for me, it’s worth coming to this mountainous town just for its sake!
The next stop was Mountain waterfalls that called Cascades du Saut du Loup. From French language saut du loup means the mouth of wolf.
I don’t know what kind of mouth of a wolf it is; I personally saw a huge muzzle of an orang-utan in the rocks.
The highest town of our trip was Gordon and its magnificent castle perched 750 meters above sea level on rocks.
A little comment regarding the tour. Part of our goal for this trip was to see Provencal lavender fields but our tour operator, driver and a cheerful guide in one, dashingly driving a car along the mountain spiral roads of Provence, said that there was a mistake and it would take another hour to get to the lavender fields from this town. There are 2 similar cities- Gourdon and Gordes, there are 2 different places and tour company made an error … well we have a reason to come back! It was our joke throughout this long day; we were looking for lavender bushes or small patches of planted lavender saying “Well here’s lavender! “and laughing.
The locals told us that in previous years the lavender fields really bloomed around the town, but one year it was a cold winter and lavender bushes could not survive. And after that, they were not planted again, what a pity!
Serpentine mountain road that leads to mountain towns Gourdon and Tourrettes-sur-Loup, the medieval town…and in the sky we saw a cloud “goose”.
And then on another direction, the second trip was a separate one-day independent trip from Antibes to Cannes and Le Cannet.
Provence is famous for its art museums in every small town or village. Le Cannet is a small suburb of Cannes. In North America this suburb would be part of a big city, for example GreaterToronto or GreaterVancouver.
The Central Train Station in Cannes is located in the heart of the city. To get there, take the bus # Bus Palm’Express n°1 and within 10 minutes, you will reach Le Cannet’s famous museum Bonnard. Address: 16 boulevard Sadi Carnot, 06110 Le Cannet
House-museum artist Bonnard. Bonnard lived in Le Cannetfor25 years and created his Provencal paintings, saturated with sunlight, light and air. We were waiting for an exhibition that just opened during our vacation in Antibes. The temporary exhibition of collection Nahmad (De L’Impressionisme À Bonnard et Picasso) represented the Impressionist artists and organically blended into the permanent collection of Bonnard museum.
The city Cannes we visited on our way back to Antibes.
We were planning to visit Cannes’ famous Red Carpet
in my picture the celebrities’ prints go to the sky like a road up
The topography of the area is a mountainous terrain and if you are not a fan of renting car in a foreign country, there are a few alternatives to driving.
The first option is the train. They are convenient, quick, comfortable, inexpensive, and all trains have an efficient schedules with small gaps in between 2 trains. For example, from Nice to Grasse the train’s cost was 10 Euros (2019). However, this option has a disadvantage that you rarely can get to see small towns by trains.
The second option is the bus. The advantage of buses is that their routes are reaching even the smallest mountain towns, and this is the cheapest option. The inconvenience is that sometimes you have to take a transfer between interregional buses and local city’s buses and most importantly, the bus trip will be longer than any train.
The third option is a combination of the first two OR a travel company. If your goal is visiting several small mountain towns within 1-2 days then local or international tour operators might be a good alternative for you. At the end of this post a link to Viator as an example of a tour.
Tools used for my painting Watercolour used Charvin and Van Gogh brands, Derwent watercolour pencils and Faber Castell artist pens. Paper Strathmore Watercolour and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.)
Bon voyage! Until the next travel:)
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
You can visit my personal website pages here and find out more about the artwork I am offering in oil and watercolor paintings; purchase canvas prints, framed prints, and more artwork.
How to get from Antibes to Le Mougins. Take Train to Cannes, then bus to Mougins. Lines 25-27. Cannes – Ranguin <> Gare Routière des Messugues <> Collège Eganaude – Sophia Antipolis, par Mougins
How to get from Antibes to Le Cannet . Take train Antibes to Cannes, bus #1 and 4(?), 15 min =10 stops to Musee Bonnard, Bus Palm’Express n°1, arrêt « Mairie du Cannet
Art and travel club 