Backjoy etc.

 The only other time I painted in a bathroom was in Paris iat Hotel la Louisiane. The great thing was I could run around the block for still life subjects like French tea cups, macarons and chocolate boxes.

 My setup in Maine was pretty terrific since I had wi-fi handy, just no French chocolate boxes around the corner.

*Warning: the 1st part of this post is a bit of an infomercial...

 You may not have noticed but I have a new seating thingie..

 I discovered Backjoy in Real Simple magazine and since I had sciattica last year I investigated further.

 I watched the videos

 and read the reviews bla bla

I decided to give Backjoy a whirl.

One of the hazards of painting watercolors all day is you sit too much. You curl over like a caterpillar, which end-of-day doesn't feel so great.

 Backjoy feels like my spine is a stack of pancakes straight up instead of the usual curled over position. No negative after effects I'm aware of so far. I can even sit on the floor and sit up straight. The only disadvantage, after taking it with me to Maine (it's light weight) on and off buses/cars, is I left it on the Boston Megabus to New York. Lost and Found can't find it.
Someone is sitting pretty.

I ordered another - this one I'm adding RED stripes so it's easily visible on the AirFrance seat. 

(end of infomercial)

 What I painted in my Maine bathroom/studio:

 Guerlain perfum bottles ...

 More Paris blobbing...

 Les chateaux...

 Encore...

FYI - I'm having a 3-day sale next week of French coffee watercolors I found lurking in the closet (just in case there's any room on your kitchen walls, ahem).

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Guerlain Ode de la Vanille

 Guerlain Shalimar Ode de Vanille, 9" x 11"

 Back in a May I got a request to paint several Paris pet portraits from the gals up at the New York branch of Guerlain.

 Shortly before I went off on my last trip a little surprise showed up at my door - Guerlain Shalimar 'Ode de la Vanille'. Addiction set in and I didn't even know it.

 I haven't worn perfume for ages. You can't when you're shooting around chefs and food - it interfers with their cooking aromas. But after daily hits of Ode de la Vanille I was hooked. Everytime I saw a tassel a certain mysterious scent  would waft over me...

 I stopped in Anne Maisonneuve's shop looking for another macaron T-shirt. When I spotted her tassel earrings I had to have them!

 Did you know Anne makes jewelry along with her adorable macaron T-shirts? I bought these tassel earrings even though they kind of clash with my red glasses, ahem.

 I am maybe the world's worst baker but when I saw lush tubes of vanille at G.Detrou patisserie shop I swooned. I have no idea what I'll do with them but they are vanille like my new perfume...sigh

 Everytime I passed an Amorino gelateria and read the words 'parfums' I couldn't resist.

 It was the parfum dragging me in there against my will and forcing me eat ice cream everyday in Paris

 Often you'll see little macaron 'maps' and they list the flavors as parfums. What choice did I have? munch munch munch

 *Disclosure: FOUR macarons were eaten while preparing this post. What's a girl to do? Monkey see..monkey eat.

 Fortunately I'm back re-united with my Guerlain Ode de la Vanille so I'm eating somewhat less ice cream, less macarons and stopped enhaling vanilla beans. I only have to give myself a spritz. Et voila. Guerlain's La Petit Robe Noir will be coming out this Fall. If you're now addicted too (it's contagious isn't it?) and you can't, wait try out their nice cologne on Amazon.

 I painted this bottle several times today...

Remind me to do my thumbnail sketches 1st please so I can post earlier, ahem.

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Paris Silhouettes

 Silhouettes are an integral feature of French graphics.
You can't miss them.

 Silhouetted French bulldog as window decor.

 Signs for La Grande Epicerie are almost illegible but stunning none the less.

 French children get a good dollop of sophisticated graphics on their mother's knee. This ABC book of onomatopoeia (snif, ouf, miam, woofs) could not be more witty.

 A children's hair salon gets the black and white treatment.

 Inside Bonton's childrens store more graphic treatments.

 A kids eyeglass shop, Lafont pour les Enfants display.

 Clin d'oeil/wink of the eye lunette shop sign.

 No wonder the French like American artist Alex Katz' artwork.

 Viewers at the exhibit look like they hopped out of a painting.

 Silhouettes cover a building in a state of la restauration/repair or under construction

 L'homme des affairs blends right in.

 An older French girl toute en noire.

 This puff of a white dog matches older French Girl's white puffy hair.

 Silhouette ballerinas on the bus.

A chocolate bombe makes a delicious silhouette indeed.

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Guerlain - Petite Robe Noire

 This is a much loved Parisian pet. His owner contacted me for a meetup to commission some pet portraits.

 He lives in the 7th arrondissement so naturalment he wanted to be painted by a patisserie.

He eats macarons when no dog biscuits are handy.

 After our photo session we went inside Maison Guerlain.

 The special La Petite Robe Noire exhibition by graphic designers, Kunzel and Deygas was on.

 Have you seen the video for La Petite Robe Noire?

 It's Guerlain's nouveau addition to the perfume collection (formerly only available to private clients). I promise you it's delicious. I loved seeing the designer's work-in-progress sketches.

 If you'd love to have a super GLAM photo portrait of yourself shot in Paris, fabulous fashion photographer, Carla Coulson is now doing private portraits.

 You can see before/afters here thanks to a little help from makeup/hair/lighting artists + Carla's arts.

 Carla is shooting her divine portrait sessions at tres luxe Hotel Lancaster on the Champs-Elysees and around Paris. I peeked in just before my meetup.

 French Girl will go Shanghai for 2 weeks so I'll be Paris house-sitting end of April. I hope to catch a glam photo shoot with Carla (croise les doigts/cross the fingers). If you'd like a glam portrait of your pet painted in Paris email me.

HAPPY HOLIDAY PBERS!

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