It was a humid week in Paris. Although the temperature didn’t get scorching, the heavy air made exercise unpleasant. We spent a few days indoors, painting, with a few short walks to the market or to one of the neighborhood parks. One day we walked to Place de Voges where the homes of many famous people are, including Victor Hugo and Dominique Strauss-Kahn. However, for the most part we stayed close to home until venturing to Musee d’Orsay yesterday.

Our return visit to this wonderful museum was marked by the arrest of a gentleman of about my age as we were arriving. He looked like a tourist and the woman with him complained bitterly, but the police took him down, cuffed him, and stuffed him in a van without explanation. Welcome to Paris!

The museum was a bit of a disappointment because the Van Gogh room that we especially wanted to visit is closed for a week for some work on the floors. There was no Van Gogh on view! We contented ourselves with a return visit to other impressionists and the wonderful pastel display that was still on.

Upon leaving Musee d’Orsay we got ice cream cones. As we were leaving the square a young woman stooped in front of us and “found” a gold ring on the concrete. You may recall that this happened to me a few weeks ago, but Jean hadn’t seen the scam before. The young woman asked us to verify if it was gold, but we both said No firmly and kept going. I’ve been thinking that I need to learn how to say, “Ask the gendarmes” in French for the next time someone asks me if the ring is gold. I’ve included a few photos from our walk from the Metro to the museum.

Anyway, we have been painting so I thought I would include a photo of my Paris “studio” for my artist friends. My Alla Prima Pochade box that I bought last winter is working out wonderfully for both acrylic and watercolor. I use oil with it at home, but don’t have them along. As you can see in the photo it mounts on a camera tripod and takes up relatively little space. That’s good because our kitchen is tiny and Jean’s pastel easel and boxes are on the other side. I’m looking forward to using this setup for some plenn aire painting in the country in a few weeks.

Au revoir!

Paul

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