First full day

1 Place Charles Felix, Matisse Residence 1920s-1930s

Interiors of Place Charles Felix

View similar to my view from a building near where I am staying

My view near where Matisse Painted in 1916

International Museum of Naive Art

We went and had omelettes in the morning at Pain and Cie.The French are not big breakfast eaters. We strolled along the outdoor market of antique dealers and went by Matisse’s residence in the 1920s-1930s. He came to Nice in the winter at  a similar time we are here. He stayed in his rented apartments and painted all day and night. We went to the International Museum of Naive Art in the afternoon,  We waked along the Mediterranean back to our apartment and settled in for the night. 

Arrival in Nice

We left Paris at 10:30 am and arrived in Nice at 4 pm. We settled into our apartment and relaxed for the evening. Tomorrow we will explore.

 

Packing

 I visited Ulrich, a German painter. We talked for hours and it was time for me to go. Becky and I went and visited the Pantheon. The rest of the day was making arrangements for our trip to Nice in the morning.

End of the road

 We went tot Sainte Chapelle and viewed the magnificent chapel. The history of France is fascinating and I now have a better understanding of the evolution of a country that was ruled by a monarchy then went thru various transformations of a republic to a more inclusive government that provided for the people. Today the effects of a government that protects the population from an unbalanced distribution of wealth is apparent. The French grump but you can see and feel the equality in the contented way people interact. In America, you see a working class that is stressed and not able to provide for their families. There is this attitude that you can make a lot of money if you work hard. That is not so for the masses that have limited resources for education, health care, and who live in an entrenched social network within the boundaries of their community. 

Near the end of the Journey

We spent most of the morning getting ready to leave. We did laundry and packed. In the afternoon we went to the Pompidou Centre and later to dinner near the Cite at the Les Fous de L’ile.
 

The last few days

Matisse

Matisse

Cezzane

Monet

Looks like my view from my atelier

Foundation Louis Vuitton

Dubuffet

Open Studio

We are spending our last few days sightseeing. We visited the Foundation Louis Vuitton in the morning and went for an walk. We took the Metro to Avenue Matigon to see the galleries. We ended up at the Cite and saw the Open Studios of Chinese, Mexican and German Artists.

Art Consultant visit

I went to an appointment at Jane Roberts Fine Arts Consultant but when I arrived it was closed. Jane had tested positive for COVID. I will try to reschedule but time is running out for making new connections. I met Becky at the Musee D’Orsay and we looked at paintings. We walked and  walked and returned to the Cite.

 

Tomorrow never comes

I worked all day in the studio. I have returned to abstraction. We went to dinner at Jacque Mallon’s studio. We were early so we stoped in a local bar. It felt like somewhere in everyman’s “outside of the city center” place. It was a neighborhood place that played American soul music from the 1960s. We enjoyed the evening company and saw a new part of Paris. It is technically my last day of work but I think I have one more painting in me. 

 

Full/Empty

The creative spirit comes and goes. I work thru the times when there is nothing pushing me. I stayed in all day.
 

Messages

Jim Morrison’s last residence

I got up late. Becky went to the market. I worked until 6 pm. We walked around the Left Bank and La Marias. We pasted Jim Morrison’s last residence. He “didn’t die here” the sign on the exterior of the buildings reads. I can imagine this 27 year old poet during the “French New Wave” cinema era soaking in Paris. We stopped and got pastries and a falafel. On the Left Bank we saw another ancient church. The cafes were full and there was music in the air. What is left in my work are forms that reads as things. I will continue to arrange the shapes into messages.

Figures

 I need to work each day. My work is a diary or journal. It connects art, life, memory and whatever is going on in the moment. Unlike a language record of the simple day to day activities, the art record records the mystery. It is about the known, imagined and unknown which intrigues me. I work through capturing something until there is no new information. The day was gray and for the first time there was a substantial rain. The wind and gray were present but by evening the sky was blue.   In the evening, Becky and I went to La Petite Dakar for dinner and walked around the Marais. 

Seeing Angels

I worked in the atelier in the morning. I met Becky at the Louvre in the courtyard at around 4 pm. We walked over to the Rue de Seine and went gallery hopping. We ate dinner at the Le Pre Aux Clercs, an apparent place frequented by Ernest Hemingway. We walked to the Left Bank back to the Pont Neuf and caught the metro back to the Cite. Thursday is gallery night openings and there were plenty of people to see on the streets attending openings.