My last post was a witch carved out of a pumpkin brewing a potion over a cauldron. Today I go for the opposite : a very charming lady from the 1920’s inspired by a vintage photo. I hope you will fall under her seductive spell !
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Have a “Spooktacular Night”
I “Witch” You A Happy Halloween !!!
Mistinguette- Moulin rouge – Paris
Inspired by a black and white vintage photo from “the Roaring Twenties “, I decided to make a colourful portrait and name it “Mistinguett”.
Starting in 1907, Mistinguette dropped the final ‘e’ and became Mistinguett ‘the woman with the divine legs.’ She performed the Apache Dance with Max Dearly in 1909 and then both created spectacular revues one after another for almost 30 years, with feathers, tinsel, glitter and chorus girls and boys. A concept which still rules at the Moulin Rouge!
Am I becoming potty?
Rest assured that I am not becoming potty…what I mean is : I painted recently 2 pictures about pottery :
The first one is about 2 charming “potty”characters on a stall which caught my eye during “le marché potier”held in Antibes last Summer.
The second one was painted during a watercolour class with Marina who brought an old basket and filled it with earthenware.( http://aquarellista.blogspot.fr/).
Odiham village Hampshire
This is a very quaint village in Hampshire where I like to go to check a good art gallery with always on display, an interesting selection of watercolours from local artists. This particular house is right at the centre of the village opposite the church. I did not paint all the cars parked outside as they would have dampened somehow the vintage atmosphere of the scene.
Jane Austen’s house
Jane Austen spent the last eight years of her life in this unpretentious cottage in Hampshire from 1809 until 1817. It was in this house that Jane’s genius flourished and where she was free to write. It was a lovely day painting outside the cottage but at the end I was too cold so I finished the watercolour at home…
Oscar Wilde
While in the train I sketched this picture of Oscar Wilde, subject of an exhibition in Paris which starts this month at the Petit Palais. The opportunity to draw with a black ink pen and create a lot of textures with different marks was very appealing.Also I quoted one of his best aphorisms which for me was very much representative to his character.
A perfect French scene…
We were having coffee at “chez Christine” in Provence and a friend who joined us said : “look Agnès, wouldn’t that be a perfect scene for your sketches with two symbols of French country life, the 2CV and a cyclist in one go!” “Yes of course” I replied, all is missing is someone appearing with a baguette and wearing a béret !
Cannes “a two horse town”
I was in Cannes yesterday waiting for a train and had half an hour to kill. So I went to a square next to the Palais des festivals where the stars come for the film festival. This time the stars were 2 beautiful horses mounted by policemen having a drink in the local fountain square.I noticed that each horse was wearing at its rear a bag to prevent the manure to fall down on the pavement : I had never seen a horse”nappy” before!
Market day in Valbonne today
While waiting to meet my friends at the market this morning, I drew this scene from the benches next to the café in Valbonne square. I completed the drawings with colours at home as I did not have enough time to finish it off.The 4 standing characters where looking intensively at something I could not see from where I was sitting; and the mother at the table came around and sat next to me to use the bench as a changing table for her baby ! Not the scene I wished to paint…
Hobby Sketcher 