Friends and Relations and Weekend Vacations

This summer is full of exciting activities for us, beginning on the first of July with back-to-back visits from loved ones. Our first couple were an old friend and her daughter. Susan and I hadn't seen each other for forty years. We more or less grew up together, living in the same community, going to the same church, and our parents were friends. We were always close but somehow lost touch, as our lives diverged and we moved away from our hometown, Palo Alto, California. I was aware that Susan is a children's book author and poet. She also, as it turns out, wrote for Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion. She is quite a talented lady. We began a correspondence a year or so ago and, happily enough, life swept her through Paris, presenting a perfect opportunity to reconnect in person.

Susan's daughter Rudy is an incredible young woman. She's ten years younger than Emily, just finished with her first year of graduate school at the New School in NYC. She is in Europe this summer to attend two seminars, one in Switzerland, at U.N. headquarters and the other in Poland. She is interested in refugee issues. She is also a talented artist and blogger.

Even though they were scheduled to come stay at the Maison Conti for several days, I went into Paris early to join them there, mainly because I wanted them to meet Emily and her kids as well, and Emily wasn't free to come out here during Susan and Rudy's visit. We made a date to find one another at the sailboat pond in the Jardin du Luxembourg. Our rendezvous was wonderful, emotional and delightful in every way. We had the bonus of a ready-made activity for Quinn. He'd never sailed a boat in the pond.

One can rent sailboats right there. They come with a stick for launching. Quinn picked out the pirate boat with the skull and crossbones and black sail.

We were all somewhat amazed how the little boats would sail out into the middle of the pond, but always return to the sides where it was easy to snag them and bring them back to shore. None ever seemed to become marooned in the middle. Zinnie was just as interested as Quinn.

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Susan and Rudy spent four days with us, and we could have spent all of our time around the kitchen table just talking and catching up, but we did plan a few other activities as well... not that the conversations ever stopped for the briefest moment! We couldn't have grown tired of visiting after four weeks, let alone four days, but it's always nice to get out and about nonetheless.

We took a day trip to the Loire Valley, stopping by Amboise for lunch and afterwards the Château of Chaumont-sur-Loire where every year they hold a garden festival. We had not yet visited this season. The theme this year is "Gardens of Sensations." About 35 gardeners from around the world have planted and decorated plots to respond to the theme.

Chaumont also gives commissions for artists to create permanent or semi-permanent installations in the large park grounds. This year Patrick Dougherty has created this intriguing woven sculpture. It is a marvel. 

Wandering through the grounds of the château and through the garden exhibition is inspirational for sure.

The gardens, of course grow and develop over the months. The exhibition opens in April and lasts through October.

The variety and whimsey of the installations is impressive. I particularly liked this white garden and the water garden complete with tortoise.

Chaumont is a real center for gardening innovation. My favorite part, in fact, is the employees' test garden where all sorts of novel ways of growing vegetables and creating garden structures are tried out and tested. The vertical garden was developed here, where a variety of plants are grown on the face of buildings, creating fantastically beautiful living facades.

We also spent a day in the studio making prints which was lots of fun for all.

These ladies are creative to the core. In fact Susan writes poems on demand for her editor before breakfast. Give her a topic, say "the scientific method" and she'll come up with something brilliant before coffee. This is a real example. Etching is a piece of cake for someone like that!

Susan made a cat image, Rudy an ocean view and I made a river-scape.

I read this morning in the paper that spending time remembering the past is not a sign of depression, as was once believed. Nostalgia has been shown to have clear health benefits. Susan brought me this photo of myself from lo those many years ago. I didn't recognize me. I definitely have no memory of the hat and disturbingly, hardly even of the dog, but our visit, full of happy memories definitely did me a world of good! And besides, we made a few more.

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Almost as soon as Rudy and Susan left, my brother Gary arrived with his wife Marilyn. This is their third visit to France since we moved here and I'm always so happy when they come.

They were on their way back home after a short trip to Ireland and they stayed only a couple of nights, but we did manage to have an adventure with them as well. We started by going to Montrichard for a pleasant lunch on the banks of the river Cher. The day was very warm, which I did not complain about, although I did feel a touch of sunstroke.

The main feature of the town is the Donjon which was built in 1010 by Foulques Netra, known as the Black Falcon. He was an ancestor of Richard the Lion-Hearted, who in his day reclaimed this city after it had been lost to a competing duke. The Black Falcon allegedly bit off a morsel of the true cross while on a crusade to the Holy Lands, and brought it back to the church here as a scared relic, making the church of Saint-Croix one of the important pilgrimage sites on the route to Compostelle in the middle ages.

We sat on the banks of the river after lunch gazing over to the town and ancient bridge. Gary had a little nap on the grass. It was peaceful and pleasant.

Then we were off to the charming Château of Cheverny. The claim to fame of this castle is that it was the inspiration for Marlinspike Hall, the home of Captain Haddock in the Tin Tin books by Hergé. It has been in the same family for six centuries.

It is fantastically decorated with lots of painted paneling

and ornate ceilings.

It is still a private residence, so unlike many of the castles in the Loire, the furnishings are resplendent.

The back garden is beautifully planted and maintained.

But our favorite feature has always been the kennels with many good old hound dogs. They are hunters. After our first visit I made an etching of the animals sleeping on top of one another.

Now we're alone again, albeit with clients in the house but no long dinner conversations or excuses for trips to the Loire Valley, at least for a few more weeks. It has been such a pleasant way to begin this summer season.

Adventures with Wendy and Margot

snowman drawn by Quinn

Here in France we're still shivering. In Australia things are a bit different. Our printmaking clients and now friends, Margot and Wendy from Melbourne, like to come to France in January, leaving the hot Australian summer behind and heading right smack into the middle of European winter. They stayed with us the first year we were open, doing printmaking for a week in the studio, and they have come every other year since. This week brought them back to us again.

 

They certainly got what they bargained for, arriving in France on the day of the huge snowstorm.

photo by Wendy

Walking around the snowy village is very picturesque.

 

photo by Margot

Mid-week the weather warmed up significantly and the snow began to melt quickly.

 

 

There were blue sky moments, when one could take a genuine sunbath and really warm up. There were also moments of rain.

 

Throughout the week, Rick kept the home fires burning.

 

Margot's preferred occupation was reading next to the chimney.

 

Early in the week, Rick took Margot and Wendy down to the Loire Valley to have a look around. The goal was to gaze out over the river. Amboise has a lovely view.

 

Standing in front of Leonardo da Vinci's house in Amboise. Photo by Margot

View over the Loire River from the château at Amboise. Photo by Margot.

looking out the window at the château at Amboise. Photo by Wendy.

After these few more recreational days, Wendy got to work in the studio. She had it in mind to create a series of small plates inspired by the snowy landscape. She has a wonderful little notebook which she carries with her constantly, sketching ideas, thoughts, germs of projects. She uses her camera as a sketch book as well, just as I do, capturing fragments, reference material for images to come.

I really enjoy having printmaking friends in the studio. I love to see how other artists develop ideas and create their images. It was an extremely pleasant week for me.

 

Photo by Margot

Margot acted as consultant and sounding board for Wendy's ideas and images. Each one was thought through. They are a highly successful team!

 

Ideas began coming quickly. The only question was how many of them Wendy would have time to realize before the week was up. The snow became the overriding theme for Wendy's plates, but other sub-themes emerged, such as a very sparky little dog in a coat.

 

I really liked the rhythm Wendy got into. The plate size she chose was just 6 X 9 cm (about 2.5 X 3.5"). She would do her drawing in her sketch book, then transfer it to her plate, etch the plate and then take a proof. She would make any necessary adjustments at that point before going on to her next image. She was able to create 8 little gems before the week was out. 

At the end we printed up all the plates in a marathon session. Rick was obliged to go off to Paris for a day so he trained Margot as his apprentice and the three of us cranked out almost 40 prints in the space of a few hours.

Wendy inked up the plates.

Margot managed the paper.

One of Wendy's images required a great deal of patience to prepare. She had cut out small strips of thin metal which she arranged on one of the plates before it was printed to create an emboss.

Margot, like Rick, is meticulous and exacting, which is what is required to create a clean and well registered image.

 

The press is cranked.

And here's what rolled off: 

First a snowy hillside with trees on the horizon. One version with blind embossed areas in the snow, one version without.

 

Next, a snowy little village under a night-time sky.

Here's where the little dog begins to appear - a woman holding an umbrella walks by some shops in Paris. They are each making little tracks in the snow. It was hard to photograph these images in a way to really show their charm, which was in the tiny details. Can you see the falling snow? The sausages hanging in the butcher shop window?

Here's another woman walking through the Tuileries with a dog very much like the one above. Obviously these images are printed in one color, but I swear I see the little dog's coat as red plaid.

The pièce de résistance was this last set of four plates, developed separately, then put together to become an enchanting view out a window onto a snowy Paris street scene. Do you find the dog again? Each one works individually but it was entirely magically when we carefully arranged them together and ran them through the press for the first time. This was the original idea, of course, but no one really knew how well it would look until the very end. 

What a successful week!

Margot and Wendy left this morning for the next part of their French adventure. This time they are staying for 11 weeks on the continent! It was such a pleasure to have them here, they're very easy to have around. There's some talk of them returning before they to go back home. Wouldn't that be nice?

Printmaking Fun and Fellowship

After a couple of weeks of the bitterest of winter weather, pre-spring has sprung again. All this week we woke up to the glorious singing of blackbirds outside and sun streaming in through windows.

This weekend my friend Mariann Johansen-Ellis came to do some photo etching with us. She brought her sister Monica. Mariann runs a printmaking school in a beautiful historic village in southern Spain. Her sister runs a Bed & Breakfast in central France.

It is such a great treat for me when I have the opportunity to work with someone I enjoy so well. We share ideas and laugh a lot.

I hadn't met Monica before, although I had heard all about her adventures from Mariann. She and her husband have taken a derelict building and turned it into an incredible holiday destination. We can hardly wait to find a time to reserve a room.

Mariann is going to be offering photo etching courses at her school but she hasn't as yet built the exposure box. She wanted to come try out ours to see if the process suited her. It is wonderful to work with someone with so much experience. She came prepared with lots of photos to work from. She was very well organized and knew exactly what she wanted to discover and she answered a lot of her own questions by experiments she made with the materials.

One critical element to the success of a photo etched print, is the choice of the proper photo to work with. An image like the one below, with a range of values nicely balanced over the entire picture works very well indeed.

Like myself, Mariann learns much more easily by doing, rather than by reading. Rick showed her all the steps once and after that she was off and running.

My favorite part of photo etching is the development process, done in a plain water bath. It seems rather magical to gently brush the plate and have an image begin to emerge. It reminds us of the movie Blowup.

Mariann is a really excellent printmaker and generous teacher. She has several videos on various aspects of printmaking on her site. I never fail to get some new insights from working with her.

We had one intensive day in the studio. Mariann produced 5 plates. Some worked better than others. She specifically brought various kinds of photos to experiment with the process and push it to its limits.

The first step is always to make a transparency of the photo which is then used on top of the photo sensitive plate. Mariann immediately thought of adding marks on top of the photo with sharpie pens. What a great idea!

Some of her images were quite mysterious and abstract. This, a close up of a cactus plant, looks to me like something Georgia O'Keefe might have done

The time passed quickly and before we knew it the ladies had left, heading home via the Loire Valley. I would really like to live much closer to Mariann, as I enjoy her fellowship and company so much.

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I have decided to keep this blog as it has been over the last few years, a kind of report on our lives. I created a new space for my artistic endeavors. You can visit it via the link in the right hand sidebar if you would like.