A couple of weeks ago, sunset in Paris, looking over the rooftops…thanks little camera, for being there at the right moment

Le Pianiste Place de la Contrescarpe - Paris V. Watercolor Painting, 9,5 x 12 in - 24 x 30 cm

©estandrea 2010 purchase information: you can buy this original waterpainting, please contact me cestandrea at gmail dot com if you are interested!

Today, January 7th, 2010, snow has fallen during the night, all the cars in my street are white, a very unusual sight. It’s minus 6° C, which is very cold for Parisian standard. People have packed their Christmas-window decoration away (we did too), and you can see discarded Christmas trees in the streets, waiting to be picked up by the garbage removal. A friend of mine always says: “January is the longest month”, she means that it seems to stretch out forever.

Yesterday was the 6th, which means that many families celebrate Epiphany, buying a “galette des rois”, a fine filo pastry cake, with a filling of marzipan. This cake traditionally comes with a golden papercrown and hides a “Fève” which means “bean” but is not a bean. Probably it has been in former times, but now it is a little ceramic figure, representing the miniature holy Mary, or a bottle of wine or a little animal or whatever. So,the person who picks the part of cake with the “Fève” in it, will be the king. King of the day.

Yesterday was also the start of the winter sales here in Paris. So, again, the metro is crowded with people on a shopping trip, hunting for their favourite designer clothes at a reasonable  price. In my favourite little boutique “Cinabre” on Boulevard Voltairebought a calf-long plum colored wool skirt, and a fine black wool top, made by a Japanese designer, plus two bonnets (hats), one rasperry colored and flowerpotshaped:) , the other grey and more like a “casquette”, oh and a pair of earrings, all at a very reasonable price. I’m wearing this now, and will soon brave the cold outside. Waiting for spring already….. Have a wonderful week!

PS: just an information which might interest you, if you also promote your art via Zazzle: I stop working with Zazzle as one of my readers ordered postcards with my prints, and was very disappointed about the bad quality of the paper.  I then decided only to sell my original art or original prints on demand, do the printing myself on first quality art paper and deliver a certificate of origin with it.

Vide Grenier Place Monge Watercolor Painting 9,5 x 12 in - 24 x 30 cm

click on image to enlarge it

Yard sale means “vide grenier” in French, which means “empty the attic”:)

There are always still lifes to discover when you visit yard sales. All those objects people have loved for a time before getting too used the them. When you get too used to an object, you have to make place for another one? I loved this composition here, positioned on a corner of the street.

I’d love to know the Wooden Native American Chief’s thoughts about all those people passing by, some see him some don’t. And the owl, made of wood too,  looks as always, beautiful and wise. Peculiar:  those two ceramical objects, the brownish car with the soldier and the two women and the green solder in uniform who holds one hand up, “victory”. Nostalgic: the three  red wooden little Oldtimer cars, , the white porcelaine swan and the mauve dog, a Spitz. A puppet or kind of clown with a red nose, a pair of brown suede shoes (had no place to paint the pair of them:), (empty) picture frames and old yellowish books. Perhaps one day this year’s Christmas presents will end up like this? Then I guess they will be lucky, cause they hopefully don’t end up in the waste bin…

Happy Holiday Times to you all.

copyright ©estandrea 2009 / watercolor on Arche Paper 300 g – 23 x 28 cm / 9.1 x 11 inches