"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

Le Musée Jacquemart-André: Who was Nélie Jacquemart André?

©estandrea 2009 - click to enlarge
Watercolor on Arche Paper, 26x36cm - 140 lb / 10 x 14 in

In my previous post I told you about my discovery of a painting of Anton Van Dyck in the Musée Jacquemart André here in Paris; Today I'd like to talk a little more about this beautiful place and the people who lived in it and later made a museum of it.

Nélie Jacquemart André was a painter, and one of the first women of her time studying at the prestigious "Ecole des Beaux Arts" in Paris. She became a "high society" portraitist.

She met her future husband, Edouard André, a very very rich banker, because he comissioned his portrait from her. At first, they met in the presence of a "chaperon". When she married him, she was 40 years old, he 8 years older than her. So being a woman at that time meant that even at 40, you needed a chaperon to stay alone with a man in a room!

As she was a painter, she was allowed to use her maiden name as well as her husband's.

They both were passionate about art, travelled a lot and together they decided to create a museum in their beautiful home on 158 Boulevard Haussmann. After her husband died in 1894, Nélie travelled to the Middle East and later to Japan and India. When she died in 1912, their entire estate was donated to the "Institut de France" and the museum opened in 1913.


This is a view of one of the elegant interior staircases. I quickly drew this sketch on barkpaper with inkpen and Gouache and a bit of oilpastels. The sketch gives you a good impression of the
"ambiance" of this place, it is awsome!

Also, I wanted to talk about some changes that I am working on, I am planning a new blog and a new website, both things that take time to set up. During this time I'll switch to my new subjects here on CESTANDREA.

IT'S ALL ABOUT IMAGINING, LIVING AND PAINTING PARIS. ILLUSTRATING PARIS !

Places I imagine you'd like to see and hear about, a bit of fashion too perhaps, stories about places and people here in the city of lights. METROHEADS too, of course. MISS DOODLE TOO, of course:)

Parisian Places full of inspiration, which will make it easy for me to communicate my passion for this city for you. The style of the paintings will be mainly like those presented in this post. Little sceneries of "real" places, spiced with what my imagination comes up with.


I would love to know what you think about this new project, perhaps you can let me know when you have a moment?
have a wonderful weekend
love
andrea

HAS TIME CUT THE WINGS OF YOUR LOVE...?

Postcard www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com -Click on the image to enlarge it!

"Le temps coupe les ailes de l'Amour"
Anton VAN DYCK (1599-1641)
Musée Jacquemart-André - Paris

Did you ever stumble into an exhibition and got completely absorbed by one painting or object?
You see all the other paintings and/or object too but this one painting gets to you? First the title, then the subject then both. It's cruel, brutal and I can't accept the message. Or can I?


An old man with a muscular body, naked but a cloth over his loins, he holds a chubby little angelbaby on his lap. The baby is fighting to get off the old man's lap, mouth open, crying, contorting itself. The old man cuts into the babyangels right wing with nasty looking pliers, he is cutting off the upper third of the angel's wing. On the bottom, beside the old vital man's left foot lies a scull. Blackened and already half eaten by time. Death. There is also the scythe.

Oh, this old man has wings too! Bright, beautiful, feathery strong wings. So, TIME never gets it's wings cut, but LOVE does, as early as that? There is also a vessel carrying some arrows lying on the ground, probably the arrows LOVE has been hunting with. I can see big withered flowers, which must have been so beautiful once, and everything except the old man and the angel, has the "color of night", there is only one glimmer of light in the upper left background, but I don't know if it means sunset or dawn....


Before seeing the temporary exhibition at the Musée Jacquemart André here in Paris: Flamish masters (Bruegel, Memling, Van Eyck and more) of the 15th and 16th Century,
I went through some of the rooms of this "hôtel particulier" (wikip.def.:In French contexts an hôtel particulier is an urban "private house" of a grand sort.), incredibly decorated, and stumbled upon this huge painting. I wrote the text in my notebook while standing in the dark, under this painting which measures at least 80 x 60 in. and it's a pleasure to share with you what I saw and felt!

"Tweedledum", hit the magic button....

click to see it big

©estandrea 2009

Just as I hit the "insert a picture" button, the button hit me back!!!!!!!

WOW...

I mean, I hit this button, then a picture I painted appears on a screen by I don't know what means, and then, right there, YOU can see it!!!! Something I will always marvel at, but often I forget how magical this is and that I'm lucky to be able to communicate with you out there. And you with me. Aren't we lucky?

Tweedledum could be the dance we dance with modern life:)

Have a wonderful weekend,
love
Andrea

Like a watergod out of water- Frick Collection New York City

Found this page in my notebook, a souvenir of a visit in a NYC museum. There was this little statue, (as an interpretation of a greek legend, but I forgot which:), a water-god with his lover), and this golden grandfather clock, with rich ornaments. I cut the sketches out of another notebook and scotch-taped them into the moleskin.

I'm feeling a bit like this water-god there, sitting on my chair as if I'd left my element which would be the water, where I would be much more nimble and elegant than here, on the land, where I shlep like a walrus today.....

Well, tomorrow I will draw myself an eagle:)