Those Crazy Bohemians (Suzanne Valadon)

One doesn't hear much about the women artists who painted during the heyday of Montmartre. Life was rough for those bohemians, and the lifestyle didn't bode well for females. Still the same, there were a few. In fact, one of them, Berthe Morisot, is considered one of the original impressionists and part of the inner circle of those great artists. That will be a later post.

For now, I want to tell you about another, named Suzanne Valadon. Although she was far from perfect,Valadon was a person that I admire. She came from nothing, struggled her whole life, refused to be put in her place sexually, socially, or in regard to her painting career. She didn't just color outside the lines, she refused to acknowledge any lines existed!

Suzanne was born Marie Clementine Valadon in 1865 to an unmarried French laundress. It is unknown who her father was. By age 11 she was working in a milliners workshop. She had many jobs from then on, including making funeral wreaths, selling vegetables, and waitressing. Life was anything but easy for an unwed mother and her illegitimate daughter.

As a teenager she made friends with some of the artists in Montmartre. They in turn helped her get a position as an acrobat in the circus. When she fell from a trapeze and hurt her back, that career ended. She recovered, but couldn't work as an acrobat anymore.

Next she became an artist's model. It was Pierre Puvis de Chavannes who first painted her. Later, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and other artists did the same. Everyone assumed she also had sex with the artists who painted her, as it was common knowledge that the artists believed they had the right to make love to their models. Their assumption in regard to Suzanne was most often true. It was widely known that she had affairs with de Chavannes, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and others. I've seen photos of Suzanne and she was a beauty. It isn't hard to understand why men sought her attention.

She also became notorious for her daring stunts. It was not unusual for her to come home in the early hours of the morning, drunk and screaming obscenities. On occasion she washed clothes outside while topless, and one time she slid down a staircase banister completely nude except for a mask at a popular club! She also frequented Au Lapin Agile and Chat Noir.

At eighteen she was pregnant and gave birth to a son: Maurice (who would become a famous painter himself). Unsure who the father was, many speculated it was Miguel Utrillo, Renoir, Puvis, or another artist named Boissy. Utrillo later on gave Maurice his name, but no one knew if he was really the father—including Suzanne. She turned her son over to her mother to raise, and she continued her bohemian lifestyle. When she did take care of Maurice, she would give him whiskey in his bottle to get him to go to sleep. Later on she did become a better mother, but motherhood was not her strong suit. That is not a part of her that I admire.

What made her different from most sleep-arounds during that time? Well, she dared to dream. During this whole time she was studying the techniques of the artists she posed for and she began painting. In 1890 she became friends with Degas, who admired her budding talent and worked with her, teaching her how to hone her painting skills, buying several of her paintings, and getting her career started. Because of him, she became the first woman to ever show in the prestigious Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

Her work before Degas was all in pastel or pencil. In the 1890's she began using oils.One of her portraits was of Eric Satie, a famous composer. They had a brief, but very intense affair, and he asked her to marry him. She turned him down. Next she became even more heavily involved with a stockbroker named Paul Mousis. They married, and that gave her the financial freedom to paint and draw full-time.

Her style was frank, raw, and full of energy. Because she had no formal training, Suzanne was unfettered when it came to style or technique. However, they left the city and she struggled to find balance between being a proper wife and being a painter. Her painting suffered even more when her son began to develop an alcohol problem, along with mental illness.

In 1906 she met a friend of her son named Andre Utter. They began a torrid affair. She was 44 and he was 23. Utter encouraged her to paint more, and her career took off. Her painting titled "Adam and Eve" was a portrait of herself and Utter. It was the first painting to show a fully nude male and female together done by a woman. Suzanne wasn't careful about the affair and Mousis found out. He divorced her in 1910.

Suzanne continued to paint, living with Utter and her son, Maurice. She did have some shows. However, she was becoming less noticed than her son, and some other artists in the area, like Picasso. When Utter went off to war in 1914 he married Suzanne so that she could get an allowance from the military. When Utter got injured in the war, she left to be closer to him. When the war ended, they returned to Paris, where Utter marketed him own, Suzanne's, and Maurice's work. Maurice's work sold the most.

Suzanne had several showings at different galleries and always received positive critical acclaim, but only moderate sales. Finally, in 1924 she signed a contract with an art gallery. She had enough now to live comfortably and buy a country estate. She spent a lot of time there. However, things were getting ugly between the three of them. Mostly it was because Maurice was overshadowing them professionally. Utter began drinking and womanizing.She continued to paint and had two major retrospectives of her work shown.

Her health declined throughout the thirties. In 1935 Maurice married and moved out, and her husband also left. He and Suzanne never divorced. During the next few years her life remained filled with friends and with doing art. One day in 1938 she was painting at her easel when she had a stroke. She died only hours later at age 72.

Although there was an increased appreciation for women artists during the later twentieth century, it has always been the men that took center stage. Yes, those men were great—and, yes, they deserve recognition even now. Yes, I admire them greatly.

Still, I can't help but feel as a women myself that part of the reason Suzanne wasn't (and isn't) talked about as much was because she dared to live life as fully as a man during a time when that was deeply frowned upon, even in Montmartre.  It was one thing to "let loose" once in awhile, but living full-time like a bohemian was highly suspect! When Valadon is brought up, more about her sexual life with artists is mentioned than her almost 500 paintings (not counting those destroyed or lost). In fact, none of the females that painted during that time are ever discussed as much as their male counterparts and that's unfortunate. Suzanne, and others who dared to "paint with the boys" were important contributors to the bohemian art era.

Today I say "Thank-you, Marie Clementine Valadon aka Suzanne aka simply Marie. You had balls, girl. I'm proud of you. And, by the way, your work ROCKS. One of my dreams is to someday do a historical fiction novel featuring you. It will take a lot of research, but perhaps in the future I'll have luxury of taking that amount of time to create your story. May you rest in peace and live on in "the color".

Caddy Rowland is a novelist and painter. Her social media links follow.

To find out about her novels (including The Gastien Series, a story that begins with a bohemian artist in France) visit http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005FW8BZE

Sign up for New Release Newsletter by Email: http://eepurl.com/rfjaX

Gastien Fanpage: www.facebook.com/Gastien.Beauchamp

Author Blog: www.caddyrowlandblog.blogspot.com

Author Email: caddyauthor@yahoo.com

Twitter: @caddyorpims

Those Crazy Bohemians (Drinks and Drugs)

Disclaimer: This indie author is in no way advocating the use of drugs or abuse of alcohol by posting this. I am simply reporting the facts that contributed to the wild, crazy bohemian era of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Montmartre.

That said, partying was every bit as serious of a business as painting for most of the artists of Montmartre during that aforementioned heyday. For one thing, there was a nunnery in Montmartre that produced a cheap vin rouge (red wine). Can one blame the artists for wanting to contribute to the local economy? Besides, they were contributing to the church, right? :)

Even though vin was popular, the drink most of us think of when we think of those artists is absinthe. Green fairy. Ah, yes. Riding the green fairy was a frequent pass time for most of these creative artists. If you look closely at many of the paintings, you will see a glass with green in it. Ever wonder what that was? Absinthe on its own tasted horrible. It is made from wormwood and had a very bitter taste. That's why a slotted spoon was placed across one's glass and a sugar cube placed on the spoon. Then, if you were doing it the classy way, water was slowly poured over the sugar, melting it into the absinthe.

If you were in a hurry, you bypassed the class, poured alcohol on the sugar and lit it on fire. Then you turned the spoon over and dumped the flaming cube into the absinthe. Either way, the clear liquid became cloudy. But not as cloudy as the mind of the partaker. It has a chemical in it called thujone, which was blamed for all kinds of behavior. This is unlikely, however. Today we know the thujone in absinthe just isn't that strong. What was more likely is that dishonest bottlers were putting rubbing alcohol in the bottles and less absinthe. That could account for all kinds of problems, including death!

Hard drugs were not only widely available but legal. At one point there were over 1,500 legally operating opium dens in Paris. The French Navy even looked the other way when sailors used it...until they caused a submarine accident. When The Moulin Rouge opened there was a fake elephant on the property. Inside, a gentleman (?) could partake in opium and prostitutes.

Heroin became legal once doctors began realizing opium caused problems. In fact, the same makers of Bayer also made heroin - and they decided aspirin had too many dangerous side affects so they kept that from the public and marketing heroin!

Yes, at different points during this era one could buy heroin or opium candy, cough drops, smoke it,do whatever they wanted with it and even gave it to children who were sick. Hashish was plentiful and also legal. Smoked and eaten, most artists were either high or drunk a good majority of the time. Perhaps that helped them see things in a new way!

It's interesting to read about how many of these artists went to insane asylums periodically, tried to commit suicide, became alcoholics, and actually did end up taking their life. It had to be sometimes caused by drugs and alcohol. Other times it was probably caused by the paints themselves. No one yet understood much about the toxic qualities of many mineral based paints. In fact, Paris Green (the most popular green for Impressionist painters) was also being used as rat poison in the Paris sewers. Hmmmmm. Nobody could figure out that perhaps that wasn't good to have on your skin?

Then there were the solvents and sometimes poorly ventilated surroundings. Inhaling turpentine for hours at a time couldn't do much for the brain cells. No wonder they drank and got high. They probably usually felt like hell.

Heavy partiers, yes, but at a very heavy price. On the surface, it appears like a fun, crazy time. Dig a little deeper and one finds that many people paid for the fun with their sanity and their lives. Oh, you crazy bohemians. You were so decadent, and yet so innocent. If only you knew the heavy price you were likely to pay for all of that pleasure. And perhaps you still would have done it. Live wasn't easy and being numb for awhile was quite likely a blessed relief.

Caddy Rowland is a novelist and painter. Her social media links follow.

To find out about her novels (including The Gastien Series, a story that begins with a bohemian artist in France) visit http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005FW8BZE

Sign up for New Release Newsletter by Email: http://eepurl.com/rfjaX

Gastien Fanpage: www.facebook.com/Gastien.Beauchamp

Author Blog: www.caddyrowlandblog.blogspot.com

Author Email: caddyauthor@yahoo.com

Twitter: @caddyorpims

Those Crazy Bohemians (Party at Au Lapin Agile!)

One of the two most popular places for artists to hang out during the whole bohemian era was a notorious, raucous  cabaret named Au Lapin Agile. Au Lapin Agile was located close to Place de Tertre in Montmartre and had been in existence since around 1850. It had always been a place where people gathered for sing-alongs. Sounds innocent enough, right?

The Au Lapin Agile attracted all kinds, however. Wagoneers with their knives stuck in the table tops as they drank, local villagers, artists, writers, pimps, down and outers, and anarchists all gathered there.In fact, the original name was Cabaret Das Assassins because a band of assassins broke in and killed the owners son.The songs sang were often either political and inflammatory or sexual in nature.

In 1875 an artist named Andre Gill painted a sign that hung outside the building showing a rabbit in a chef hat jumping out of a saucepan; a tribute to one of the dishes served there. People soon started calling the place Le Lapin a Gill, which meant "Gill's Rabbit". It evolved into Cabaret Au Lapin Agile (The Nimble Rabbit Cabaret). Most simply called it Au Lapin Agile or Lapin Agile. Once the name changed it became even more popular with artists, still drawing the same questionable crowd in addition to well off bourgeois slumming it for an evening of ribald fun.

There is conflicting information on who owned this cabaret for a time. Some information shows that a woman owned it for awhile (in fact during the time the sign was painted). I can't recall her name, but I believe she was a singer in another venue for awhile. Other references indicate that the artist who painted the sign (Andre Gill) actually owned it for a time. Whoever owned it did little to discourage riffraff from frequenting the place, but they were also very kind to artists.

Paintings were sometimes accepted in exchange for a meal. There was also an unspoken rule that at the end of the night any artist who had no money to eat would be given soup. Artists also had total freedom to become as drunk as they wished, fight, and pass out in a chair at one of the tables. They were not to be disturbed when they did so. Police were not to be called, either. In the morning they would simply wake up and stumble away.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century it was constantly packed with painters, writers, comedians, sculptors, poets, musicians and singers who all thrived on the energy and sharing of ideas there. Also, ownership had changed and a man named Frédé ran it. He had owned a previous cabaret and also pushed a wagon of goods around town. Because of that he owned a donkey, who would often ramble around the various tables in front of the cabaret, along with a flea bitten dog. Many nights Frédé played his guitar or cello as patrons sang.

In the early 1900's Picasso made Au Lapin Agile a favorite haunt of his.  He did a painting titled Au Lapin Agile in which he was represented as a harlequin and Frédé is shown playing the guitar. It belonged to the cabaret and Frédé sold the painting in 1912 for $20! In 1989 it was auctioned for $40.7 MILLION dollars.

Just think about how many drinks and dinners that would have bought all of those crazy bohemians! (More to come later on this era of artists)

Those Crazy Bohemians! (What is Impressionism Anyway?)

Impressionism. We have been talking about it for awhile now on this blog. Most people have heard of it even if they aren't particularly into art or painting. But for many it remains just a word.  What defined Impressionism? Why was it so different from previous painting style?

We already established that artists knew they had to do something different in order to still be valuable.  The camera had seen to that. Impressionism was essentially freedom. It had started a few years earlier, but it's first "launching" was in 1874.  The Cooperative and Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptures and Engravers decided to have a showing at the studio of Felix Nadar, a journalist who was also a photographer. Thirty artists (among them Monet, Degas, Pissarro,Cezanne, Renoir, Sisley, and Morisot) exhibited together eight times between 19874 and 1886.

It was a rebellion against Academie des Beaux-Arts. The Academie was considered the authority in the realist styles of French painting. If you didn't paint like they insisted, you were nothing in their eyes. The Salon de Paris was their annual art exhibit.  For new artists and struggling artists it was extremely important to get into this show. They could win prizes, earn commissions, get reviews, and become a known artist with a good reputation.

The Impressionists were painting with different brush strokes, using brighter colors, and paying much less attention to detail.  Instead, they were interested in how light affected a subject during different times of the day or season. They also were painting landscapes and community life instead of religious, mythology, or family portrait types of paintings. Some of them also decided to stop trying to give depth to a painting.  A canvas was two dimensional and so they painted their buildings flat. The artists mentioned above were routinely getting rejected over and over again. Can you imagine Monet or Cezanne being seen as "not good enough"?!

In 1863 the Academie rejected Manet's painting Luncheon of the Grass because of the nude woman in it. This rejection was considered ridiculous by Manet's fans, even those who were traditional arts patrons. That year so many artists were rejected that Napoleon II decreed the start of the Salon of the Refused. The reviewers, however, were rabid. Cezanne and Monet got verbally beaten up the worst. Their work was called "unfinished sketches" and "impressions". Here is what one said:

I"mpression—I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it ... and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape."

Regardless, these painters kept painting, accepting the name Impressionist for themselves and Impressionism for their work.  This style of painting would go on to affect not only painting, but literature, photography, and film making. This avant garde painting style, and the artists who worked in it, were eventually embraced  widely by the public. Unfortunately, for many of them it would not be until after their death.

Don't let the word Impressionism fool you.  There are a wide variety of art forms that were born from this style of painting, making it more diverse and stylistic than at first glance. I dare say that all of modern art owes its existence to those crazy bohemians who embraced the term "Impressionism" and painted as they pleased, regardless of the consequences.

Thank you for reading this. We will learn more about these artist's lives in future blogs.

Those Crazy Bohemians (If you can't join 'em, beat 'em!)

The rise of Impressionism didn't happen easily. Paris was known as the capital of the art world, and the powers that be of that great city were not happy that a bunch of "misfit" artists had the gall to paint outside of the lines. The art schools and the people who sat on the committees for art shows in Paris had very strict rules.

Those rules dictated how one painted. They expected - no, demanded - that an artist followed those rules if they ever hoped to get in a public show. From how to apply paint on a canvas to subject matter and style, these people governed how art should be made. When the Impressionists began ignoring those rules it was not seen as a good thing.

In fact, these powerful people made sure they did everything to squash Impressionism from the start. No artist that painted in this style was allowed in any of the highly renowned public shows. This hurt the artists quite a bit. Without the public becoming aware of their work, how were they supposed to make a living?

No matter. These bohemian rebels started their own shows. Finally Napoleon II gave permission for a show of the misfits. This was known as a show for all of the artists who had been rejected entrance into the more prestigious shows. Not a very enticing advertisement! At first, not many came to their shows; and those who did came to laugh. The term Impressionism was originally a slam to the movement, a derogatory term.  The journalist and critic Louis Leroy looked at one of Monet's works and snorted "Impression!" and then went on to say, "Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished." Thanks to him, one of the greatest movements in the art world was given its name.

Impressionists were interested in landscapes and contemporary life, not religious, mythological or historical scenes. Capturing light and how the same scene changed during different periods of the day was an important part of their painting. Many of them also refused to try to make a painting look three dimensional.  Since the canvas was two dimensional and they were not trying to "trick" people into seeing their work as real, but as a painting, they painted the scenes flat.

Yes, a new movement in art was born, thanks to those misfits. Things would never again be the same in the art world. We will continue to look into the lives of those crazy bohemians in future blogs here.

Those Crazy Bohemians! (Place du Tertre)

As an indie author, I can appreciate the new found freedom the Impressionists found when they started painting outside.  How nice to be able to get out of the confines of a studio and be out in the fresh air! I know that I enjoy writing outside during the months that weather permits.  There is just something about being outside that inspires me. Regardless of if the Impressionists were in a busy city setting or out in the countryside, I am certain that they found it to be inspiring, too.

The most popular place to paint outside in Montmartre became Place du Tertre. Sitting in the heart of Montmartre's elevated area, this tiny cobblestone square became a hub of artistic activity. Men painted frantically, new ideas coming faster than paint could dry. Those ideas were shared and tested, sometimes to great success.

Place du Terte had some trees, but was surrounded on all four sides by village life going on about its business. Many people would stop and watch those bohemians, shaking their heads either in wonder or in confusion as to why anyone would try to paint a street scene in "those" colors! What the villagers couldn't know was that history was happening right before their eyes.  This era is now seen as one of the most influential, if not the most, periods in art history. Oh, you crazy bohemians. You were just trying to find a way to keep eating.  In the process, you set the world of art on fire.

It didn't hurt that Place du Tertre was only a few blocks away from the infamous Au Lapin Agile, a favorite watering hole for the artists. Au Lapin is so steeped in history that a future post will be devoted to it.

Artists still gather to paint at Place du Tertre every day.  In fact, it grew so packed with artists that one now has to apply for a permit to paint there.  The permit, of course, costs you money. The day is divided into two parts, with some artists jealously guarding their extremely small space until lunch, and others coming in after lunch to claim those small areas. Dining tables have also been crammed in, taking space away from artists.

Now it is commercial.  Now, many of the artists overcharge and - quite frankly - don't paint nearly as well as they should in order to ask the prices they seem to think they are entitled to.

But back then?  Ah, back then they painted for the love of it.  They painted because they had to, and only hoped they would sell a piece before they went hungry too many nights. Overcharge? Hell, some would  give a painting away in exchange for a small piece of cheese, a baguette, and a small bottle of the cheap red wine the nunnery in Montmartre produced.

And if they got those things, they usually didn't hesitate to share with their friends. After all, what is a good glass of vin worth, if not shared in the company of others?

Those Crazy Bohemians (Why Impressionism?)

The period of Impressionism saw artists begin to paint in new and exciting ways.  For centuries artists had been painting realism, making paintings exact reproductions of the subject matter.  Strict rules had been followed and subject matter often was religious or portraits of family members of the upper class.  There was also still life and landscape.  Every painting had been done to "perfection" rendering an eternal picture of how a person or place actually looked.

What changed artists and their visions in the nineteenth century?

The answer was simple.  It would be romantic to think it was all about artistic vision and the desire to always create something new.  While those things were definitely part of the equation, the main driving force behind artists painting in a new way was one of the most basic: survival.

You see, the camera had been invented and was becoming more and more effective at taking photos. What use would there be for artists who took weeks and months to finish a portrait when a photographer could be hired? True, the photographs were not in color.  But artists realized that it was only a matter of time before that would no longer be true and, if they did not change their style, they would become obsolete.

Another problem compounded the dilemma. Class structure had changed.  Now there was a middle class.  The lower middle class was called proletariat. The lowest of these proletarians were the artisans. All of a sudden, more and more artists who painted found themselves on their own and struggling to put food in their mouth.

You see, for centuries artists had been employed by the very wealthy to paint family portraits and history, many times staying on permanently as a staff member to continue to paint that history over the years.  They had a place to sleep, food, and sometimes were even treated like a family member.  It really depended upon the family how the artist was seen.  Some families considered the artist another servant, and provided minimal lodging, food, and a small wage.  Others loved their artist and had them sit with them at family meals, gave them a room in the main house that was luxurious and paid them quite well.

The trade off? The artist had no freedom to paint what their soul cried for them to paint.  All of their time was taken up painting for the family. Many artists mourned the fact that they spent their life painting things they would rather not be painting, just to make a living.  Still, the fact that they had food, shelter and a wage was nothing to turn one's back on.

Then the camera came. All of a sudden, it became more and more rare for an artist to have permanent employment with a family.  Sure, they could be hired once in awhile for a painting, but even that was not guaranteed. Now they had the freedom that all people blessed with artistic ability long for...but no money! No place to live and, very often, nothing to eat. Artists began living in squalor, sometimes going door to door with paintings begging for buyers at any price, just so they could eat. Even Renoir and Degas had to peddle their paintings just to make rent at times.

It seemed there was no happy medium. Artists today still struggle to make it.

These artists began gathering and talking with each other. Ideas fed off of each other and soon the images that were talked about began to appear on canvas. They knew everything that they painted going forward had to have something different about it or it would never sell.

I, for one, am happy that all of this change occurred.  Realism generally bores me. Look, anyone who can paint can do a vase of flowers exactly how it looks. All artists can create a still life in exact replica of the items places in front of them.  So can a camera.  If you want a reproduction, for God's sake just take a picture.

The new mantra for these bohemians was "Show me something different".  And did they ever! We will talk more about those crazy bohemians in future posts.  For now, I will just end by saying this: If you want real art hanging on your walls, go for the piece that shows the ordinary in an extraordinary way. As those bohemians realized, THAT is what art would and should be, moving forward. Once art becomes stagnant it ceases to be the driving force it is meant to be.

Art should always be fresh and alive. Art should always strive to reinvent itself; to be something different. Anything less tarnishes the very definition of art.

Those Crazy Bohemians! (Why Montmartre?)

What made the artists of Paris leave the city and move to Montmartre in the nineteenth century? The first answer is the most common reason that artists are always on the move.

Napoleon III wanted Paris "beautified" and so he gave most of the prime land in the city to wealthy friends.  It was their responsibility to develop it. Develop it they did, and rents soared. The original inhabitants had no choice but to leave.

Montmartre was officially made part of Paris in the 1850's but the city did not develop it, and the village considered itself very much separate. It was free of Paris taxes and had a nunnery that made cheap red wine. Those alone were good reasons to move to Montmartre.  Add the facts that Montmartre sat at the top of a hill that overlooked the whole city of Paris, and there was an abundance of light (hard to find in the city) and you had the perfect location for painters to gather.

Johan Jongkind and Camille Pisarro were some of the first artists to inhabit the area in the mid-nineteenth century. It was not until toward the end of that century and the beginning of the twentieth that artists really began to flock there.

 Vincent van Gogh, Pierre Brissaud, Alfred Jarry, Gen Paul, Jacques Villon, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Henri Matisse, André Derain, Suzanne Valadon, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Maurice Utrillo, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Théophile Steinlen, and African-American expatriates such as Langston Hughes worked in this village and found artistic inspiration there.

Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and other artists living in poverty worked in a commune, a building called Le Bateau-Lavoir, during the years 1904–1909. Composer Satie (who was a pianist at Le Chat Noir), also lived in the area.

The last of the bohemian Montmartre artists was Gen Paul. He was born in Montmartre and a friend of Utrillo. Paul's calligraphic expressionist lithographs, sometimes memorializing picturesque Montmartre itself, owe a debt to Raoul Dufy.

In fact, many of these artists painted scenes of the village. More and more artists flocked to the area in order to draw inspiration from each other. It must have been quite a scene, and one that I would have loved being part of.

Stay tuned for more information about the bohemian artists of Montmartre and Impressionism.

Painting a Place I Have Never Been, But Used to Live At

As an artist,  I have started a journey.  I am painting the largest painting I have ever done, in a style I have never painted, of a place I have never been. Confusing?  No.  Scary?  Yes. Impossible? No. Challenging? Definitely.

I have started to paint a street scene in Paris.  Specifically the Montmartre area, where Impressionism started.  As an indie writer my first two novels take place there, in the nineteenth century.  In fact, the main character, Gastien, is an artist.

I love Impressionism, but have seldom been a painter of that style.  I usually paint from one extreme to another: realism or abstract. So, why the change? Welllll.....because I happen to believe that change is good for the soul.  It keeps the mind fresh and forces one to think in new ways.  It will also force my painting hand to work in new ways!

I also do not paint street scenes.  At least, not in the past.  Yet, here I am with the underpainting done of a street across from place du tertre (the park where Impressionists often painted in the late 1800's and many artists still paint today). 

I have not been there once.  Not in this life.  That place, though, it is so familiar.  I have lived there before.  It is the place that my soul cries for.  I know I will live there again.  My beautiful, now over commercialized Montmartre.  I hear you calling me back.  I have not forgotten you.  I never could.  Somewhere deep inside I remember every street, every building, every tree, every dirt road.

I don't know if I will get there in this lifetime, but I promise you I will try.  And, if I don't, I will do my best to return the next time.  I know nothing will be the same.  Yet everything will be familiar.  Your true home when visiting this planet always feels right to you, and you will know where it is if you take the time to listen.

For now, I will pick up my brushes, mix some color and make a poor attempt to capture some of that love that I feel for that place, that home I had long ago.  I don't know if I will have a masterpiece or what others will consider a piece of junk.  But this I do know: the final painting will carry part of my energy back to my earth home and help me connect to the place I am always meant to be.  At least while I am here on earth.  For me, it is the closest I can get to my real home; that place of eternity whenever I am not visiting here.

Oui, now you know.  If you read this carefully and know me at all, you will know.  If you don't know me, chalk it up to being slightly crazy, and extremely open minded.  A soul who embraces the "what ifs" and knows when some of them are true.  I have lived many times.  Once it was in Montmartre.  Been there, done that...will do it again.  Je t'aime beaucoup, mon Monmartre.  Je t'aime.