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Painting France: the Bois de Vincennes
April in Paris…this is a truly magical time when the days begin to warm, the flowers bloom and you can feel love in the air. My destination that day was the flower gardens at Bois de Vincennes, which lies in the southeastern part of the city, in the 12th arrondissement. To reach the park, take the métro to Porte Dorée and then transfer to bus 46.Philippe II Auguste enclosed the forest for hunting in the 13th century, and Louis XV presented the Bois to the people as a public park back in 1731. Landscaped during the time of Napoleon III, the park has several man-made boating lakes, paths, a zoo, a 15th century-château, and flower gardens. There are several cafés, and the park is very popular with French families. Each April the Bois hosts the "Foire du Trône," a mammoth amusement park that is considered France’s largest county fair. The Foire originated in 957, when merchants met with farmers to exchange grain and wine.
I soon found a lovely spot where irises were in full bloom--and as luck would have it, a park bench was close by. So I set to work on a pastel of the flowerbeds. I was about halfway done with the piece when a woman and little girl sat down on an adjacent bench. I just love the way the French outfit their children--they always look as though they just stepped out of a children’s Vogue magazine. And this little girl was no exception. She was decked out in a baby blue dress, matching stockings and black patent leather shoes.
I could hear her asking "Maman" what was I doing…she was very curious. Bravely, she approached me to have a look for herself. She was so delighted by the richness of all the beautiful pastel colors and ran back to "Maman" to ask whether she could be an artist like me. Because of her delightful enthusiasm, I decided to take a break and show her how to make the paper come to life. Her "Maman" was most agreeable to this idea; our only dilemma was how to protect little Giselle’s beautiful ensemble. I found a plastic trash bag in my backpack, and we tore three openings for her head and arms and slipped it over the outfit and voila! Giselle had an art "smock."
For the next half hour we painted. Giselle was a quick study; soon her strokes were bold and colorful. She tried very hard to copy everything I did, and her painting began to take on a life of its own. Clearly this six- or seven-year-old girl had artistic talent, I told "Maman". I found myself seeing my pastel medium for the first time through Giselle’s eyes: how refreshing. But soon "Maman" announced that is was time to leave.
As we were helping Giselle out of her smock, she babbled non-stop about how much she enjoyed her painting session. And could they please stop at an art store to buy some beautiful colors? I rolled up her painting and found a lone rubber band in the bottom of my backpack. When I presented the painting to little Giselle, she held it so tenderly and lovingly…almost as though she was afraid it might break.
Watching them walk down the path, I could still hear snatches of Giselle’s excited voice. I felt "warm and fuzzy" inside thinking maybe, just maybe, I had introduced this little girl to her life’s passion. This little "teaching" experience took me to another level on my art as I realized that giving this gift of imagination is priceless….and I decided to make room for this new facet in my personal development.
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As a young girl, all Debbie ever wanted to do was go to Paris; she thinks perhaps the movie "GiGi" might have had something to do with it. Her art has won many awards and been accepted into many juried shows and competitions. She's completed two pastel series, "The Gardens of Paris" and "The Flower Markets of France" (12 pieces in each series). She is contemplating an upcoming series, perhaps about the gardens at Versailles.
As a young girl, all Debbie ever wanted to do was go to Paris; she thinks perhaps the movie "GiGi" might have had something to do with it. Her art has won many awards and been accepted into many juried shows and competitions. She's completed two pastel series, "The Gardens of Paris" and "The Flower Markets of France" (12 pieces in each series). She is contemplating an upcoming series, perhaps about the gardens at Versailles.
