Apollo was a great warrior and said to him, “What have you to do with warlike weapons? Leave them for hands worthy of them. Behold the conquest I have won by means of them over the vast serpent who stretched his poisonous body over acres of the plain! Be content with your torch, child, and kindle up your flames, as you call them, where you will, but presume not to meddle with my weapons.”

The petulant Eros took two arrows, one of gold and one of lead. With the leaden shaft, to incite hatred, he shot the nymph Daphne and with the golden one, to incite love, he shot Apollo through the heart. Apollo was seized with love for the maiden, Daphne, and she in turn abhorred him. In fact, she spurned her many potential lovers, preferring instead woodland sports and exploring the woods. Her father, Peneus, demanded that she get married so that she may give him grandchildren. However, she begged her father to let her remain unmarried.

He warned her saying, “Your face will not allow it’.”

Apollo continually followed her, begging her to stay, but the nymph continued her flight. They were evenly matched in the race until Eros intervened and helped Apollo gain upon Daphne.

Seeing that Apollo was bound to catch her, she called upon her father, “Help me, Peneus! Open the earth to enclose me, or change my form, which has brought me into this danger!”

Suddenly, her skin turned into bark, her hair became leaves, and her arms were transformed into branches. She stopped running as her feet became rooted to the ground. Apollo embraced the branches, but even the branches shrank away from him. Since Apollo could no longer take her as his wife, he vowed to tend her as his tree, and promised that her leaves would decorate the heads of leaders as crowns, and that her leaves were also to be depicted on weapons. Apollo also used his powers of eternal youth and immortality to render her ever green. Since then, the leaves of the Bay laurel tree have never known decay. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_and_Daphne)

The metamorphose of Daphne – ink drawing on paper

Wall Art Anonymous Rue du Chat Perché

La Maison de Serge Gainsbourg - Graffiti

La Maison de Serge Gainsbourg - Graffiti Hommage

Skulls are Chic / 1

Famous Ladurée, Rue Bonaparte (famous for the macarons and more)

Pays de Poche – Pocket Land

Chez Mai – Chinese? Thai? Vietnamese?

L’Eglise Saint Severin

GUINESS !!!! MYAMM!

I brought the flowers home, put the in a vase and water, then I headed out again to the local DIY shop and got three big and two middle-sized canvases.

I spent the whole afternoon and part of the evening setting up a still life with the peonies, taking photos, trying to prevent the cats from adding their two cents…:).

This is work, and this is fun. To have fun at work, what could possibly be better?

Still Life With Cat Knut

Set up for Still Life

Setting up a Still Life in my studio

Still Life For Painting Without Cat:)

I am in the creative process, researching with watercolor and egg tempera and other techniques. In the meantime I am trying to understand my camera so that I can shoot photos and make them look like I want to…. Automatic is ok, but not always.
My camera took these pictures, not me:) On Automatic mode. I mean, I did nothing but look for the things that inspired me. The light that day was incredible, so that was a main help too, and the charm of this colorful place. A walk in Palma de Mallorca on an early December morning….

House in Palma de Mallorca

16 x 22 cm egg tempera on canvas

Work in Process. Kim, Verena and I have begun to paint for our exhibition in July. I haven’t done much yet, two big canvases, and one little (above). The two big ones I cannot show you as they are in Germany. Or wait, perhaps I have a little snapshot of the first one:

Whale’s Head – Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 80 cm

I had to work with Acrylics because I did this painting in a workshop and it had to dry quickly. That’s the thing with the egg-tempera, the painting needs more time! That is why I like it, too.

Using acrylics and using egg tempera, these are two completely different ways of painting. With the egg tempera, I take the time to ground the pigments myself, I mix the medium with linseed oil and eggs, sometimes I add resins, then I mix the fine powder of pigments with the medium. I begin with white, on a glass plate. I clean the plate every time I begin to mix a darker color… you end up grounding for hours, and you haven’t yet touched the canvas:)

That is why I don”t paint right now, I have still to do my day job for one month, and when I come home in the evening, I don’t feel ike paint, I just want to relax! Everything has it’s time. The paintings’ time will come, soon!!:) I’m excited!

Love from Paris

People on the Train

Serge Gainsbourg’s Hôtel Particulier, after his death his family left this exterior wall full of graffity just as it is. Hommage to the great writer and singer and songwriter, provocateur par excellence.

Art Material – Everything you need if you want to paint, 57 Quai des Grands Augustins in the 6th arrondissment

My heart beats faster when I look at this

I didn”t buy anything, I resisted.