Gondola Fever

BEAR and I are too busy shipping out your chateaux to jump in a Venice canal and think about gondolas. But no reason YOU can't dream of gondolas.

'Gondolier Fever' has been going on since Canaletto and before after all.

It does look terribly relaxing.

Gondola dancing anyone?

Are there gondola parking lots?

Can you get a ticket for double parking?

Which would you rather have? ride in a gondola.

Or a pistachio gelato? I know my answer. Pistachio wins hands down.

I think I caught gondola fever from looking at this watercolor book by Jean-Louis Morelle. Though the only Venice scene is on the cover.

Please vote in the comments if you would like a gondola watercolor sale on Monday.

Oui or Non.

Chateaux are shipping out TODAY by Priority Mail not gondolas - too slow!

Artist's Journal Workshop

I'm awfully late posting today Darling PBers I know,
but you overwhelmed me with your enthusiasm for yesterday's Bordeaux chateaux watercolors.

On to the wonderful subject of sketchbook journals - they seem to be rampant these days. And why not? Travelers forever have been recording their thoughts, notes and doodles in journals/carnet du voyage. You don't have to be a so-called 'artiste' to join in the fun. Not at all!Cathy Johnson's latest, ARTIST'S JOURNAL WORKSHOP will tell you how if you have any doubts at all how to begin doodling in a journal.

Wouldn't you know some PBers are in this book! Rick Tulka, who has nothing to do in Paris but hang out all day, everyday in Cafe Le Select clandestinely sketching - his drawings are brill.

PBer Jeanette, Mistress of Longears Manoir, who mostly spends her time madly chasing rabbits off her estate/chateau in Kansas city is also well represented.

You don't have to be an artist to go crazy over tiny paint boxes (see above). I picked up another little one in Portland, Maine last Saturday though Gawd only knows why. These things are  addictive.

Cathy's book addresses important issues like overcoming first page jitters or how to draw your lunch or your sleeping cat or when you should journal. She has a blog as well devoted to sketch journaling.

At one point I used to make my own sketbook-journals...

There are piles of these things lurking in my closet...

Along with my 'Bordeaux chateau' period and 'Daffodil' period I had 'Gondolier

Fever' for a while... It's a pretty contagious disease.

You're bound to catch it at one time or another. You don't even have to go to Venice to get it but it certainly helps.

BIG MERCI PBers!

 

 

Chateaux in Bordeaux

Chateau Beychevelle Bourdeaux, watercolor, 9 1/2" x 13" Why not sit back, pour a glass and check out all the Bordeaux chateaux watercolors I found lurking in my closet. Champagne Moet & Chandon, watercolor, 9 1/2" x 13"
Terminee!
Chateau d'Yquem, watercolor, 9 1/2" x 13"
You love Sauternes

Chateau Margaux, watercolor, 9 1/2" x 13"

Chateau Mouton Rothschild, watercolor, 9 1/2" x 13"

I could use a glass of Ch. Latour right this minute myself...

...

I may have to go back to Bisoux to get some more Caneles.

MERCI for supporting Maine lobsters & Parisbreakfast

Adieu Maine

Adieu Lobster, watercolor, 9" x 11"
I'm hating to leave Maine just as much as you are
The last day of David's workshop is a half day spent close to his house so we can eat a farewell lunch together.
Crit before we eat lunch today.

Everyone side-by-side.

LUNCH and what I ate:

Watermelon Salad with Mint Leaves

1 (5-pound) watermelon
1 Vidalia or other sweet onion
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
6 whole mint sprigs

Rick said:

if you really ate all that food you posted, you must be stuffed!!!!!!

Yes, I ate:
1 Lobster Roll
1 clam roll
2 steamed lobsters
2 plates of steamed clams
1 blueberry slice pie
1 rhubarb slice pie
2 Haddock sandwichesToo much ice creamEverything tastes much better up there.
Now I'm on a mostly CARROTS regime

This is where I stayed on the left.

Saturday I went off to Portland. My plane was early Sunday morning.

Natch I had to see the John Marin exhibit at the Portland Museum of Art.

I loved the old photos of Marin almost as much as the paintings.

His wild and wooly watercolors of the Maine ocean

Made quite a splash in his time - he was ahead of his time really.

He certainly knew how to do a portrait shot

So it's finally Adieu Maine.

And tomorrow it's BONJOUR BORDEAUX!