Parisian Arrondissements

Today, here at Albany Creek in Brisbane it's 30 degrees C.  In Paris, it's -7 degrees.........I really can't imagine how cold that is.

But in just 7 weeks we'll be bunkering down in 'l'appartement trés charmant' in Paris. So...where is l'appartement?  Well, before we get to that I thought you might be interested to know the arrondissements' orginal old names - some of them are trés cute!

1. 1st................Louvre
2. 2nd..............Bourse
3. 3rd...............Temple
4. 4th...............Hotel-de-Ville
5. 5th...............Pantheon
6. 6th...............Luxembourg
7. 7th...............Palais-Bourbon
8. 8th...............Elysee
9. 9th...............Opera
10. 10th.............Enclos-St-Laurent
11. 11th.............Popincourt
12. 12th.............Reuilly
13. 13th.............Gobelins
14. 14th.............Observatoire
15. 15th.............Vaugirard
16. 16th.............Passy
17. 17th.............Batignolles-Monceau
18. 18th.............Butte-Montmartre
19. 19th.............Buttes-Chaumont
20. 20th.............Menilmontant

I haven't visited all of these arrondissements............but they're all on my Paris 'to do' list.

1st arrondissement - the Louvre...will have to find a way to jump that long queue 

1st arrondissement - a stroll through the garden of the Palais Royal is divine.

2nd arrondissement - Galerie Vivienne and home to a really fab wine bar

3rd arrondissement - courtyard of the Musée Carnavalet

4th arrondissement - the medieval Marais district

5th arrondissement - just strolling around

6th arrondissement - Jardin du Luxembourg

6th arrondissement - soaking up the sun in the Jardin du Luxembourg

7th arrondissement - what is that in the background?

7th arrondissement - guess where?

One of our favourite spots in the 7th arr.

9th arrondissement - le fleuriste on rue des Martyrs
And this is where we'll be living this year....the lower part of the 9th arrondissement.

After lots and lots of searching, we settled on a lovely apartment in the lower 9th arrondissement, known at St Georges.  The apartment ticked all our boxes - Haussmannian building, parquet timber floors, fireplace, large windows allowing lots of light into the apartment, 3rd floor with lift, lovely view of the neighbourhood, 80 square metres and a modern, well equipped kitchen.

This quartier is quiet, safe, central with great Metro connections and gorgeous architecture.  

Did you know that this piece of central Paris was known as La Nouvelle Athenes during the 19th century for its classically styled architecture and the Grecophilia of the many artists and writers who lived here?

Just down from l'appartment is the Musée Gustave Moreau and around the corner is the lovely Musée de la Vie Romantique.  And of course, there is the great Opera Garnier in this quartier.....the place for the world's best in music and opera, and now the home of ballet and dance centre.  A visit to this wondrous building, which is also the site of Chagall's colossal ceiling in the main hall, is on the top of my Paris 'must do' list.

There are fab restaurants close-by and rue des Martyrs, our local street market, is only a short stroll away.  

So.......this will be our home for most of this year and into 2013......for April and May however, we'll be in Montmartre as the St Georges apartment was already rented.  Never mind.....we'll get to experience two Parisian quartiers each with their own charm and style.  I'll tell you more about Montmartre once we arrive on 1 April.

Now only 51 sleeps to go!

You might also like my post on:
http://parisallons-y.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/just-beginning.html

French, Matisse and Impress

As well as continuing to wrap the contents of my entire house in bubble wrap (well almost) I managed to do some of my favourite things this week...............like practise French, and practise the 'less is more' principle in my printmaking after visiting the beautiful exhibition,  "Matisse: Drawing Life" at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA).

1.  French
Classes resumed this week and the focus this term will be on extending our vocabulary, particularly in relation to  "Food" and "Directions".  Couldn't come at a better time really!

With only huit semaines (8 weeks) before we arrive in Gay Paree, it's comforting to know that Pierre and I will be able to take ourselves off to the local marche and shop for le pain complet, les gateaux, les legumes, le fromage, un poulet roti etc etc confidently.   And with all that 'directional' vocabulary we shouldn't get lost either.  We're really looking forward to exploring all the Parisian arrondissements - more on this in my next post.

Alliance Francaise de Brisbane

2.  Matisse
Henri Matisse was a master of elegant, simple lines (among other things)..........and the GOMA exhibition brings together an extraordinary number of his working sketches, drawings, etchings, lithographs, linocuts, screenprints et al.

His portraits are simply beautiful - spontaneous, fluid lines......so simple and direct....and often executed as simple line drawings or completed with a just few brilliant brush strokes of Indian ink.   Parfait!

I marvelled at his restraint....his works exhibit the principle, 'less is more' parfaitement.   Malheureusement (unfortunately), I have trouble remembering this principle and have ruined many prints by not following it.

I also liked the use of vivid colour in his Jazz series screenprints....scarlet, fuschia, cobalt, lime,
 etc etc punctuated by intense, deep black.............Jazz absolutely 'zings' with colour!

Matisse's colours are repeated in the 'drawing room salon', just outside the exhibition.

This space is furnished with similar props as Matisse used in his villa and studio in Nice.    Here, people can linger in one of the comfy chairs, draw, enjoy un cafe au lait or just gaze across the river to Brisbane city.   Bravo Matisse et GOMA!

As we were leaving we walked through Yayoi Kusama's midnight flowers.  Wow!!!!!!!  This is great impact colour - you can't help but smile when you see these works.

Yayoi Kusama - as you can see, Yayoi is no shrinking violet!

3.  Impress
And lastly, I took myself off to Impress www.impress.org.au (a fab place to print) to proof some new collagraph plates.  

Lots to develop and think about here.......but I enjoy working with collagraphs - they're cheap and safe to make, give rich, textural marks when printed and are a lovely piece in their own right.

Voila!  More on Parisian arrondissements in my next post.

Paris Coundown

Not long to go now before we touch down in Paris.

It's just under 9 weeks and still so much to prepare.

Actually I've been delaying the inevitable with this blog..........a good excuse not to do the packing I think........but now it's time to knuckle down and get things done.

Here's a shorlist of the jobbies (not in order of importance) that I've yet to complete:

1.  Pack everything for storage - approx. 20 boxes already packed.......but there'll be double this I'm sure.

2.  Organise the storage facility.......somewhere close by if possible.

3.  Learn French...only joking!  I've been taking a couple of courses with Alliance Francais here in Brisbane....so hopefully, with this grounding,  I'll be able to make my reservations at Le Meurice and ask "Mon dieu, c'est combien?"   I'm also OK at "Je suis australienne........je m'appelle Robyn" but not much else malheureusement!

4.  Pack for Paris........well, I like to travel light....but not for an extended period - a girl has to have her coats, boots, scarves, hats for Paris and, of course, Pierre will want to take his stuff too.  So I'm going to organise Fedex to  deliver 100kg for us.  Then there's all my art 'stuff' (journals, crayons, inks, etching plates, brushes, pencils, wax seals, xuan paper etc etc) that I'll be taking to Paris.

5.  Organise travel money etc.  Wow.......that exchange rate is looking very healthy at present.

6.  Check that passports, other documents and reservations are in order.

7.  Find the perfect passport wallet.  Any suggestions?

8.  Sell our Tigra gris.

Our little silver convertible Tigra is up for sale.

9.  Find the perfect tenant for our home here in Brisbane.

10.  Buy a new laptop and install Skype.   L'appartement in Paris provides free internet and phone calls back to Australia so we'll easily be able to keep in contact with family and friends.

Voila!

So.........as you can see, quite a few little things to take care of in the next 9 weeks.  Oh.......and of course, I have to do some printing and take a workshop before I leave Australia.  My wonderful addiction needs a couple of fixes before I leave!

Now.......as I'm going to be a little busy for the next 9 weeks, I'll probably post just once a week on the blog.............but, hopefully, when I'm settled in Paris I'll extend on this and do more regular Parisian posts (and I've already got a few exquisite ateliers, exhibitions, wine bars and restaurants to tell you about.)

A bientot.

You may also like my post on:
http://parisallons-y.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/difficult-decision.html

Parisian vert, orange et gris

I love the Parisian green of chestnut leaves and the chalky verdantique and verdigris on Paris' sculptures and monuments.

Rusty gold/orange/bronze and gunmetal grey (and all the variations in between) can be seen on the architecture of Paris.

These are the colours that I seem to be drawn to subconsciously.

I prefer these colours when printing too (they just seem to suit my work).  I've decided to keep 'colour boards/journals' when I get to Paris - I think they'll be useful resources for ongoing inspiration.

Here are my favourites in all their variations - Parisian vert, orange et gris.

La Couleur Vert

Chestnut branches outside our apartment window

The tranquil garden at the Musee Rodin

Rodin's verdigris lovers outside Musee de L'Orangerie

Living botanical wall at the Musee de Quai Branly

La Couleur Orange

Modgliani's orange flesh tones at the Musee de L'Orangerie

The polished and gleaming orange tones of the Musee Nissim Comondo

Apricot peony from the rue Cler flower market

Miro's vert, orange et rouge

The elegant Art Nouveau wrought iron at the Grand Palais

La Couleur Gris

I love walking through here - the Buren Columns in the main courtyard of the Palais Royal.

A beautiful example of trompe l'oeil in the 7th arrondissement

Mon appartement???? I wish!

Gris et verdigris at Musee Cognacq-Jay

You may also like my post on:

http://parisallons-y.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/paris-and-lheure-bleue.html