PARISDREAMTIME - A European's Artist Life in the "City of Lights" » the neighbourhoods

I proudly present: Best Buddies watching the rain coming down

parisdreamtime art blog Paris — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:45:47 +0000

Best buddies Oskar and Knut (from right to left:)

This is one of my recurrent inner dialogs with my housewife conscience:

me: (apologetic!) “Sorry, little guys, I know I know……my windowpanes are dirty….:), well, you have to fix priorities in life. Either it’s going to dayjob and earning OUR bred, then painting in the evening , and also playing with you etc, …… or it’s cleaning the house…

my oppressed housewife conscience: “yeah, well, blame it on the cats, that’s right, why don’t you admit that you just don’t care about cleaning…mumble mumble”

Uh……

I also note that I still have to answer many questions which came up in your recent comments on my previous posts….concerning egg tempera etc. Please be patient with me, I’ll get to that very soon! (As soon as I’ll have cleaned up :):)

Have a wonderful Monday !

The Weeping Willow down by the river

parisdreamtime art blog Paris — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:43:37 +0000

I live by the river Marne now. 10 minutes train ride from the eastern limits of Paris. So, when I get home at night from my dayjob, I see different things now. I have lived in different locations within Paris, so before my landmarks where Sacre Coeur, then the Tour St. Jacques and the (brownish – depending the weather) river Seine. Then it was the Eiffeltower and after this the Notre Dame Church and the Panthéon (where all the important dead guys are burried lol sorry:)

Pavillon Baltard -Photo Courtesy of the official site Pavillon Baltard

Now, I see lots of trees, a 19th century Paris-Markethall

Pavillon Baltard -Photo Courtesy of the official site Pavillon Baltard

which has been brought here (saved, so to speak) around 1980.

When I take the little footpath behind my road, there is the river Marne, bluegreen and with wonderful big old trees on the riverbanks. There is even a little Marina, with nice white boats and a beautiful little mini-beacon. In the middle of the river, on both sides of where I live, there are Islands with thick trees too, and beautiful houses which you only can see in winter,, when the trees have lost all their leaves. The house owner have little rowing boats so they can cross the river to get to their homes. A friend visiting asked: “How would they get their washing machines into their houses?” – There are no cars on those Islands and you can’t go there unless you are invited by one of the residents.

The Little Red Boat - Moleskine watercolor study

I have always loved weeping willows, little rowing boats and rivers like that, bluegreen. When I grew up, I learned to swim in such a river, so this brings back a nice memories too. Everything is new and it’s a lot calmer here than in Paris. My perspective changes, and when I go out now to draw, it’s all about that water, and the landscape and the nature in general. Oh, I still draw metroheads, only now they should be called RER-heads (the suburb trains are called RER:), and I have to be even quicker than before as the ride only lasts 10 minutes…

Down by the River - Weeping Willow -Moleskine watercolor study

Never miss a nice view

parisdreamtime art blog Paris — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:24:26 +0000

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

L’Hotel du Nord – Door of a scrapped Hotel in Paris, 2nd Arrondissement

parisdreamtime art blog Paris — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:04:24 +0000

Door of the Hotel Du Nord - 2nd arrondissement Paris - Watercolor 9,5 x 12 inches / 25 x 32 cm

The other day I was walking through the 2nd Arrondissement in Paris with two friends, taking pictures for THE DOOR QUEENS PROJECT which Kim at Creative Influences originated.

This door caught my special attention. I was tempted to wring the bell (you can see there is one, at the left side) to see what happens. We thought it looked like what we call “Stundenhotel” in German, which means a hotel where you can rent rooms by the hour. Someone once had plants in flowerpots outside a now walled-up window….

Guarding Dragon for new website

parisdreamtime art blog Paris — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:01:52 +0000

Guarding Dragone for my new website

NEWS: NEW WEBSITE IS UP AND RUNNING – ANDREA HUPKE DE PALACIO – painter, illustrator, textile artist – AM BUSY WITH LAST PREPARATIONS FOR TONIGHT’S OPENING OF OUR SHOW – WILL BE BACK WITH NEWS AS SOON AS I CAN – HAVE A GREAT WEDNESDAY – LOVE – ANDREA

SHOW OPENING THIS NIGHT

A Wintermorning in Paris (Saturday January 9th, 2010)

parisdreamtime art blog Paris — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:30:57 +0000

Love to play with snow

Olives, cheese and snow

A Cold Business

Our Favourite Fishstand

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

On My Way to the Metro

First thing we did on Saturday morning was going to the Market, to get some fresh food. I took my camera to take pictures of the snow and the market for you.

The market is a 15 minute walk away and I always take my bagpack with me cause I don’t like those “Rollsters”, as you always roll over the feet of the other people on the market and they on mine:)

After the market, I grabbed my Metroticket and headed to my favourite place, the Place de Trocadero, where you have this wonderful view of the Eiffeltower, and where you can see some horizon:) I absolutely had to get pictures of the Iron Lady in this cold, snowy and also wet weather, and I like this open space betweet the two monumental buildings which form the Palais de Chaillot. There were still lots of tourists there, considering that weather was a bit ugly, wind blowing icy snowflakes into your face and grey sky. But the Tourists don’t fear bad weather, neither do I, hey, the world is beautiful in Winter too…That is what the bride and the groom must have thought too, to come out here on their wedding day, in their wedding gowns and with an umbrelle:) They made all the people around smile:):)

Their most beautiful day

Sweatheart, can you believe it?

Did they follow us?

There were young couples, taking pictures of each other, Paris really is the perfect place for romance, even in January:) There are those who work, they sell little Eiffeltowers, or belts and watches, or caps and sunglasses, according to the season… and those who take their children for a walk, must be nice to see the world from a comfortable buggy. This view is always spectacular, come rain or shine, don’t you agree? I wish you a wonderful Sunday (for me it’s almost over) and a great week, love, Andrea

Smile Baby Smile !

Souvenir Salesman

Look, that's the Eiffeltower!!!

Champs de Mars

Icy Trocadero Gardens

Le Pianiste Place de la Contrescarpe

parisdreamtime art blog Paris — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:51:51 +0000

A sunny cold Sunday afternoon in Paris in late autumn, 5th arrondissement, Place de la Contrescarpe. People are sitting on the “Terrasse du Restaurant Delmas”. Listening to the piano player, chatting with friends, looking at the passersby. Is there a better thing to do on such a fine day?

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.

YARD SALE AT PLACE MONGE, Paris, France

parisdreamtime art blog Paris — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:29:23 +0000

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.

Dogs are ubiquitous in Paris

parisdreamtime art blog Paris — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:09:37 +0000

Eventually I got around sending those Paris Souvenirs out today, to Elizabeth, Christina and Mirela (and an additional little thing to Cris in Oregon because I knew she already wanted to win this in last years giveaway:). Debra hasn’t “claimed” her’s yet, I hope she’ll send me her address soon….

This weekend I plan to visit an exhibition in the Musée d’Art Moderne, I’ll talk about that next week. In the meantime I have other nice topics waiting for me to be processed into a watercolor painting, a blogpost and words:), for instance pictures of Luxembourg, pictures of a yardsale “vide-grenier”in the 5th arrondissement, pictures of famous “Berthillon” icecream boxes….

For now, here a little illustration of Parisians and their dogs, you know, dogs are ubiquitous in this city and so is their poop! When I put the name of the street in the painting, “Rue de Rivoli” and then filled it out with blue, the blue deleted part of the R from rue (=street) so that it read Pue de Paris which you could translate with: stink of Paris, but I shouldn’t say this here cause sometimes there are also nice dogowners who remove the unwanted item immediately and with grace…Have a wonderful Weekend!

LesParisiens2

What I see “Vis-à-Vis”

parisdreamtime art blog Paris — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:11:52 +0000

Look out of my studio window into the vis-à-vis neighbor’s flat…

on 30 x 40 Canson Watercolour paper