Painting in Saint Girons

My last entry in this diary was about “painting in Saint-Bertrand de Comminges”. Unfortunately, we had been obliged to leave the town faster than planned, as it was raining all the time. So we drove a little bit farther on our way towards Andorra, entering the department of the Ariège, and decided not to stop again before the rain itself would stop. Well, this happened quite soon, in the beautiful town of Saint Girons. Based on photos I had seen on the net, I thought it might be a good painting motif, with the coloured houses, the river attractively meandering through the town and the old bridges.

We spent the rest of the day wandering through the town. My first impression was very positive, exactly corresponding to the beautiful motifs I had seen on the net.

But gradually I started feeling less and less comfortable there. Perhaps because it was quite chilly and I had a big coat on and and felt trapped in my clothes. Or perhaps because the sky was still quite menacing and I was expecting some new rain all the time. But for whichever reason, something was wrong, with the consequence that I was not in the best painting mood. Unfortunately my painting moods are quite sensitive to outer parameters, the tiniest inconvenience being able to make me want to never paint again! But I still managed to do some rough pencils sketches in my watercolour travels carnets, to which I added the colours later on in the Boomobile. Some became quite coloured, like the one above.

Others do reflect my sad mood, almost monochrome, very unlike me

This painting is certainly very unlike me, apart probably from the dancing houses!

But the grey sky, the cold and the coat were not the only reason for my awkwardness. Despite the beauty of the scenery and townscape, there was something else in the air there, which made feel uncomfortable. A feeling of imminent danger. Difficult to explain, and also I don’t want to offend anybody, but there were so many groups of “weird” people with big dogs hanging around, drinking and smoking and being loud. Homeless people, but others too, probably jobless people. I am certainly not judging them, perhaps they really had no other choice in their life, but I don’t like the way they were looking at us, unfriendly, with obvious signs of provocation and defiance. As if WE were the “abnormals”. And these looks, yes, they were the result of a personal choice…

And me who was expecting peaceful people walking or jogging along the shores of the river, as so often happens in such a beautiful setting! Never mind, I invented and painted an old guy walking along the river!

In the evening Kevin was wandering around trying to find an unsecured internet connection hanging in the air, and did find one next to our parking, by the Peugeot Garage. Next morning we were speaking about the differences of finding unsecured net connections from country to country, (France being apparently quite at the top of the ungenerous places in that sense!) as he suddenly mentioned a bike shop nearby. The bike I had with me on this tour looked wonderful, a bold red fancy mountain bike with loads of extras. But to be honest, a crap bike, heavy and not willing to roll. As much as I loved its appearance, I hated its disfunctionality in equal measure! Unfortunately I often shop that way, going by the appearances, very sensitive to aesthetics and colours…

Anyway, I am a woman of fast decisions. After the traditional morning café au lait, we went to the bike shop and I said to the seller:

“I want a new bike. It should not cost more than 400 euros, should be very pretty and have mud guards.”

The guy looked at Kevin with a weird expression on his face. I would have loved to know exactly what he was thinking at that instant, probably something along the lines

“Good luck with that bird, mate!”

I guess he was not used to clients approaching the subject in such a straight, short and untechnical way! The whole shop and the guy himself looked like a place for pro bikers, somehow. Consequently he had not many bikes fitting my description, only 2 in fact. One minute later I said

“I take this one!”

It was not exactly very pretty, not purple or pink or yellow (I had seen such a pretty yellow one in the Tour de France online shop and was dreaming of it since then!) as I would have wished, but I had no choice. It had to be now, I did not want to wait to come across another shop. But it did have a nice shape, was white and red, beautifully matching Kevin’s bike.

Then I decided, with an heavy heart, to get rid of the red beauty and leaved it by the shop. I got a free bike basket for it: it was not worth more in the professional eyes of the shop owner who looked at it with such a disdain as I brought it, and spoke such bad words about it… did break my heart!

One hour later I would try it, on a little trip to the neighbouring town of Saint Lizier. But this is stuff for my next journal entry!

So people, see you next time on my way to Saint Lizier on my new bike and… under the sun!

These land- and townscapes, as well as many others from France, are currently available as Giclee prints in different dimensions, on paper, canvas and metal, as well as greeting cards. Just click on the painting above to access my shop online.

The Giclee prints from the above mentioned Online shop are manufactured in the USA and sent directly to the client from there. For personal or financial reasons it might not be appropriate for everybody to order their prints in the USA. Also, you might prefer to purchase my Giclee prints hand-signed. If so, you can alternatively order directly from me. Simply contact me indicating in which size. Go to Goodaboom Boutique to see a guideline of pricing for different dimensions.

I also sell A3 posters (297mm x 420mm) as high quality digital prints on a Heavyweight White 350gsm paper, each packed in cello with card stiffener.

Poster Price: 50 euros.

They are a great alternative to the Giclee prints, to a more affordable price.

(the price does not include packing&shipping)

Cats and Tourists in Paphos

As I said in a previous post “Living among Gods in Paphos”, where I published some artworks inspired by the wall paintings in our hotel, we stayed only 2 days in Paphos. A pity, as I loved the place, there was so much great stuff to see there. But well, we still managed to have a very interesting time, starting  with a lovely walk along the seaside promenade and to the castle, followed by an intensive visit to the fabulous open air archaeology museum and, the next day, to “The Tombs of The Kings”.

Unfortunate the castle by the harbour was closed at that time and we couldn’t go inside. Instead I sat on the top of the little amphitheatre in front of it and made a quick sketch of the 4 English tourists sitting there and enjoying the beautiful view, the sun and obviously the togetherness! I must say that I understood very well all these old English people spending the winter or even their whole retirement time in Paphos: it is surely a place where it is fun to live!

Together Old in Cyprus 06 – watercolour and ink travel sketch by Miki

A wonderful motif for my series “My dear Old People”!

We were told by a musician friend of Kevin that there is a wonderful pelican by the harbour, earning his living by gigging for the tourists on the street. We searched for it, but could not find it… I did regret it a lot, as I would have loved to paint it, it would have made a fabulous motif for my “Street Musicians” series!

But well, it must not always be pelicans… cats do the job too!

Romance in Paphos  – watercolour and ink travel sketch by Miki

As I had mentioned in a former post, cats are omni- present in Cyprus. One day I even saw a T-Shirt featuring “All The Cats of Cyprus”: .

big mouth cats, stoned cats, seriously pissed-off cats, horny cats, romantic cats, wicked cats, shy cats, confused cats

Well, the two cats on my sketch belong obviously to the romantic sort! One might argue that tombs are not the best place to start a romance, but on the other side, these places do have a kind of romanticism, I find. A romanticism full of gravity and dramatic of course… like love itself!  I don’t know for certain though if these two cats were having a true romance or if they were playing an act for the tourists!

En Catimini  – watercolour and ink travel sketch by Miki

I can’t find in the list above any category for that red and blue cat lurking behind my back. Well, humans and animals are not that different in many points: people always try to look behind my shoulder when I sketch on the site, and like that cat, they always think that I can’t see them. But I have very sharp eyes in the back of my head, you know… and when they have seen what I do, they often go some steps further away to take a photo of me, still thinking that they are invisible to me. I understand them of course. Not that I look especially great, but an artist painting on the site is always a favourite photo motif for tourists. When they are back home and show the holidays photos to family and friends,  these photos  somehow send the message

” look everybody, we were in such a great place that artists painted it!

Window to Life – aquarelle and ink travel sketch by Miki

It was interesting to see that many tourists, who, judging by their appearances, probably hardly move at home, were ready to make much more efforts here to visit the places. But it was indeed fun to jump and climb all over and around these old stones. And concerning the woman above:  I don’t know if the people buried in the Tombs of the Kings ever reached the sky after their death, but that little woman up there was apparently trying to do it in her life time!

Old and Lonely in Paphos – aquarelle and ink travel sketch by Miki

Funny, when I look at all these sketches, they are all in a kind of cartoonish caricatural style, and in fact totally the contrary of the ones I painted the evening before in the hotel. I didn’t choose this style on purpose. I just seem to change my sketching and painting style everyday, according to my moods and the motifs. Well, in Paphos that day I must have been in a light superficial mood, weird, considering the serious ancient backdrop.  Although I must say that I didn’t find these places sad, not even the tombs. Perhaps was death not that sad in the old days?

I also need to say again that these frequent changes of style are NOT a sign of me not having found my style., as most of the art critics so wisely pretend. They are just a sign that I don’t want a style!!!! The BBC’s Sherlock Holmes would understand me so well: one style is SOOOOO BOOOORING!

These paintings are available directly online as Giclee print in many different dimensions, on paper or canvas, and also as greeting cards. Just click on the widget below to access my FAA Gallery

When The Saints go marching in Ayia Napa

There were not only restaurants, night bars and strip clubs in Ayia Napa, there was also a beautiful main square with an impressive church and monastery. Unfortunately I was not tuned into serious stuff, so I missed that occasion to paint the religious side of Ayia Napa. Not totally though…  even in these sacred places, one guessed there was some playful soul at work: was it God or the Devil? I don’t know, but  at the monastery, which was just being restored, somebody had placed 2 of the saints statues, outside, high on a walkway overlooking the monastery patio …by the way.. Kevin says it was actually Mary and Jesus, but I hadn’t got my glasses on, so Saints they must be! They were both wearing bright red togas and were so huge, so even if it was hard to recognize them, it was impossible to miss them! It was really an incredibly funny sight as the two saints did look as if they had come out of the church to supervise the restoration works! I could not resist making a very fast sketch of them, but sorry, it is not a good one: I really hurried up, scared that my saints may raise some objections… 

Saints in Ayia Napa - Watercolour and ink sketch, by Miki

My fantasy didn’t need more food to imagine these saints coming to life again and having a walk through the gardens  of the monastery… I wished this would be real, these places would be much more fun… although who knows? there might be saints already walking around there, incognito, more discreetly probably, not wearing red togas…

Monastery in Ayia Napa - Watercolour and ink sketch, by Miki

At some point in one of my painting trips, I started a series called “Street Musicians”, I think it was in Memphis, USA, with the fantastic Big Jerry. the best motif ever! Anyway,  I hoped to see some street musicians in Ayia Napa too, but I didn’t. What I did see was some cute little sculptures of musicians in a souvenir shop, so I took these instead and painted them in the street. I know, it is cheating, but if the saints’ statues get a life in Ayia Napa, why not the shop musicians? And anyway, as I always say: I have all the artistic freedom in the world!

Street Musicians In Ayia Napa - Watercolour and ink travel sketch, by Miki

These paintings are available directly online as Giclee print in many different dimensions, on paper or canvas, and also as greeting cards. Just click on the widget below to access my FAA Gallery