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PARIS DREAMTIME

HELLO DEAR FRIENDS

NEW BLOG IS READY, I INVITE YOU TO COME AND JOIN ME AT PARIS DREAMTIME WHERE WE (Miss Doodle and the Metroheads, other Parisians and you and me:) HAVE SET UP A NEW VIRTUAL HOME!

La Grande Mosquée de Paris (or: back to color)

Time for another walk through Paris....

La Grande Mosquée de Paris, 6 rue Georges Desplas

on a sunny Sunday morning in October

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

click on the image to enlarge it

La Grande Mosquée de Paris, "the great mosque of Paris" is located in the 5th arrondissment, not far from the Place Monge.

You can go by metro n° 7 and take the stop PLACE MONGE then take RUE LARREY until the rue Georges Desplas. I went in this part of the town a couple of weeks ago to meet with friends for the visit of the exhibition in the Museum of Natural History and on my way there took some pictures with my little camera. The Mosque has a beautiful minaret but I chose to paint the other side of the building, cause there were no cars on that part of the road:)

The Mosque is the largest mosque in France, it opened on July 15th, 1926.

I love the pure white walls, and the hispanic-mauresque window and door decoration, the greenblue roofs and the tiles on parts of the building, especially the minaret. The sun helped me to put some attractive shadows into the painting...

Hope you enjoyed this Mondaywalk, have a great week,

much love

Andrea

Today, Blind Nucleus, All lies, Oyster and Musik

During the last couple of weeks the sky has been so full of rain, dark, wind blowing, certainly this leaves it's imprint in my drawings. Here are five of the drawings I did during this time, you can enlarge them by clicking on the pictures.

As I already pointed out in one of my previous posts, I'm not drawn to color right now, but love the simple things: a piece of paper and an inkpen. I use to draw with Staedtler ink pens on thick ARCHE paper 300g, mainly because I'm used to this paper, it's off-white color and grainy but still smooth surface, and I like that the drawings look a bit like etchings on this paper.

The process is always the same, I sit comfortably, and hold the ink pen loosely in one hand, either the right or the left hand, and draw while thinking of an idea, an experience, a feeling, a person, a situation. The emotions come from the heart, the unconscious, the body and then they travel through my conscious mind, into my eager hand:) while my eyes watch, harmonize and wait.

It's very exciting to observe what emerges on the paper....
"TODAY" - a day unwinds, meandering through my occupations, doing this and that, meeting other people, working, relaxing.
"BLIND NUCLEUS" - drawn with my eyes shut, I try to create a center, in which I can stay a while and meditate...
"ALL LIES" - Here I wanted to create some tension between different kind of marks, lines, dots, circles and slashes, composing a sort of map. The title popped up right after the last stroke:)
"OYSTER" - in need of protection (a side effect of misty, dark November?) and wanting to protect, but stay in contact with the surrounding world, a symbiosis too
"MUSIC" - I love this one, music floating through the air, like a gift from above, it's not really a substance, but you can feel it and almost touch it and play with strands of sounds...


I wish you a very pleasant weekend, we have mild temperatures here in Paris, sunshine and rain alternate, and France just scored a goal in the Eire/France match:)
love
Andrea

"Ausgeglichenheit" BALANCE

©estandrea 2009

Click to enlarge the picture

Seeking balance, this is what we should do, if we want a good world. When I look around me, I see that we struggle so hard, and don't easily achieve balance. Nature, if we leave it alone, does it all by herself. We interfere and create the opposite of balance for our earth, only to try to re-gain it afterwards. That's why I think it's so important to pay attention to the signals we get from the earth, to be aware of the things we can do to contribute to heal the earth and to avoid imbalance. Everyone can contribute on his/her own level, there's plenty of information out there to help us.

Walk when we can, share things, use public transport, avoid pre-processed food, use less plastic bags, the list is endless.

Ooups, when I began to write this post, I didn't know where it was going to. Now I'm getting aware of the fact that I am constantly reminded of how bad we treat our earth, so, out comes this longing for balance....in drawings and words.

Have a nice day,
Andrea

Portrait of a dear friend

©estandrea 2009

click on the picture to enlarge it

This drawing is called "Portrait of a dear friend". I sat down on a comfortable chair in the morning, everything still quiet, and set my mind on drawing lines thinking of my dear friend.

I looked at the drawing but with an introspective look, cause I didn't want my brain to interfere through my eyes, no judgement while drawing.

When finished, I sat and wondered. It's an interesting experience to draw while thinking of something and keeping your drawing just lines, marks and graphs. Still no color, I just mixed a sort of purple black with watercolor and tinted the drawing with this.

Try it, it's so interesting to watch how feelings mingle with ideas and you let that translate into lines...

Have a wonderful day, we are celebrating my dad's 81st birthday here today, yummy cakes and "Torten" (layered cakes with fruits and cream and almonds etc):)

Travel between there and here

©estandrea 2009

Click on the picture to enlarge

I'm in Germany, it's a quiet November day, a little misty. The trees are half-bold, and yesterday evening I heard the cries of cranes flying over the house on their way South. For now, I seem to regularly travel between Paris, the big sparkling nervous and bright city, and this quiet country here.

Is it the fall? I don't know but right now I am not feeling drawn to color. I do not want to put color on paper, canvas, textile. I wonder, if you have the same experience sometimes, not wanting to play with color, just graphs, ink, pencil, black and white and their nuances.

Also, I find that I need to work with the word, too. Graphs /marks may be abstract, but there is always a word or even a sentence, dropping out of my mind and onto my drawing while drawing it or at the end of the process. The word can be abstract too, though.

We, you, I, need to say something, isn't that why we paint, draw, sculpt? I really like to think of these drawings as illustrations.

Have a great week,
Andrea, sends you love from a quiet place

FALL

click on the image to enlarge

I draw in the evening, before going to bed, cause there are so many non-art related things (or perhaps they are related!:) going on right now, that I have no time to do anything else than these late-evening drawings. This is a selfportrait, drawn with my left, non dominant hand, I'm glad cause right now this apparent frustration and feeling of a "crammed head" is transforming into renewed energy.

Paris is getting a bit stressed, as always in the Fall season, many people in the metro, everybody is busy doing this and that, a lot of running around and doing, you know?

While I just invite you to sit down, and watch a cloud in the sky passing by, or an ant walking towards a blade of grass, or (if you are in the city), a pigeon find a nice big grain...:)

love
Andrea

The Parisians - LES PARISIENS

©estandrea 2009 click to enlarge the picture

This is how it goes here, people everywhere, always something to see.

And I have been kissed by a probably homeless man today. When I was on my way from the Metrostation to my afternoon job, I had just bought a sandwich for lunch) a homeless man, shuffling along, he seemed to be slightly disabled, and asked me if I had some coins. I gave him some money, and before I could hurry away, he hugged me and planted a kiss on each cheek. I wasn't so keen on that, but I was so flabbergasted, that I just let him and then I said OkOKOKOK (about a hundred time) awkwardly and then hurried away. After a while I turned and saw him standing there, still smiling at me, and I waved. He waved back.

While I am writing this, I have a "déjà-vu" , the impression that this has happened before, I mean me being kissed by a homeless man, and that I have written on it on my blog, but I'm not sure....

Have a great Thursday,

love

andrea

Good Day from Paris and the Iron Lady

©estandrea 2009

Hello hello, I'm preparing the "100 views of the Eiffeltower"....
no, that's a joke, but wait, why not?:)


But I thought the Iron Lady would be the perfect thing to start my new project. You know....new blog, new website....

I'm working on both, and have fun to imagine what could interest you in Paris. I better not start a survey cause I wouldn't be up to the task. So you will have to do with what I'll give you, tee hee. And it starts here with LA TOUR EIFFEL. I will transfer everything to a Wordpress blog in due time, but for now, we'll stay here, cozy and warm, don't worry too soon:):)

By the way, today is Guitar-Day, I LOVE IT
Have a wonderful Day, !

Andrea