Diane dans le Métro.

Have I mentioned that I love the Paris Métro? With a wild, unfettered passion? Love it. Of course, I realize fully that my enchantment with its efficiency and scope would diminish considerably if I had to, say, ride it every day to work, or - God forbid - be at the mercy of RATP worker strikes in the middle of winter or some such. But for now, the Métro and I are still in a honeymoon phase.

Look, someone even left me a snack here on the train platform:

Apartments are pricey in Paris, but perhaps they could let me stay in this little room off the Metro platform? It appears to be empty, unused - completely unclaimed real estate, I say. Would make for convenient commuting:

On my way to the 20th, at Pelleport station:

Sèvres-Babylone station at night:

Hanging out with Kung Fu panda at Pigalle:

In which I sing the praises of Studio Escalier.

You know, I haven’t written much yet about the whole reason I’m here in Paris right now, that being the figure drawing class I am taking with the good folk at Studio Escalier. Part of the reason for this is that I’ve been so busy with the class that I haven’t really taken the time yet to reflect upon the class; the other reason is that my classmate Sadie Valeri has done a waaaaay better job of explaining, articulating and, to be frank, learning and absorbing the approaches being taught in our class, as you will see from her blog. So once again, I recommend going there...

Anyway, as for my impressions in a nutshell, allow me to say: these people really know their stuff. Better yet, they are extremely adept at communicating said stuff, and uncannily skilled at being able to go up to anyone’s drawing and having really insightful, helpful, constructive critique not only about the drawing but also about the way one is seeing what’s in front of them, and approaching the drawing. They are amazing. This, indeed, is heaven. I keep asking myself, why couldn’t I have found these guys 15 years ago? Damn.

As I feel as though I am still learning and still hopelessly clumsy with new approaches (old habits die hard), I don’t have any stunning examples of drawings from the class which exhibit the principles in action. I guess, though, I could show you a couple of short drawings from last week, sorry for the poor quality of the photos. Be prepared, the first drawing was done from the human nude. Look away now if you are easily embarrassed by such things...

here's one from class... the next one is from the Louvre, a sketch of a bust of 18th-century French painter Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun:

More soon...

In which I sing the praises of Paris.

Ah, this city, it just never stops being great. And by great, I mean Great. And by Great I mean beautiful, bustling, inspiring, dramatic, mundane, historic, contemporary, and everything in between. Just the other night I walked back to my apartment from the Concorde Métro station at around 10pm, and I was just bowled over by the dark, silent beauty of the walk home. Few people, little traffic, just a quiet moment between me and Paris.

Now for some photos of this city of supreme awesomeness:

the side of St. Eustache, near Les Halles

"Happy" is a great name for a flower shop... Rue des Martyrs, 9th arrondissement.

Sacre Coeur is visible peeking through the streets way above at Montmartre; here I am on the Rue Lafitte headed south.

On le pont de la Concorde, facing our old friend the Eiffel Tower. At night. Ah!

Ok, more soon.

L'appartement à Rue Dupin + Diane = contente.

My occasional Internet connection issues aside, I haven't mentioned much about the apartment I'm renting here in Paris, in the 6th arrondissement. And how much I love it. LOVE! IT! It's perfect, Diane-sized, and the only thing missing is one Mr. John Feissel. Otherwise, it's lovely. Did I mention it's located mere steps from Left Bank department store Le Bon Marché, along with its magnificent little sister next door, La Grande Epicerie? This provides much temptation, although I've managed so far to play it cool and not go nuts buying all manner of fancy foodstuffs/department store goods. It is hard to resist getting this water, though, and getting my fully hydrated bling on:
Hydramafizzation! Fo' shizzle! God, it is so unfortunate to find this in Paris. Do I need to mention that it's made in the U.S.? Probably not.

There's a Chinese restaurant right next to our front door, actually located underneath our building. Haven't tried it yet, but I'm a bit dubious as it offers not just Chinese but also Vietnamese and Thai food... their sheer lack of focus is a turnoff for me. So is this guy, he scares me a bit:

Here's some more from the apartment interior and building. I'm enjoying myself immensely and want to stay forever.

there's the space right outside the apartment, belongs to the neighbor across the hall

the stairwell/l'escalier

miroir

my feet on the ground.

Les Puces.

Spent Sunday doing social things around the city, and it was damn fine weather to do so. Fortunately. Went to the Marché aux Puces at St. Ouen with Susan and Linda from class... glad we went but it was something of a disappointment. Lots of lame/crappy/cheaply made/gangsta clothes and then beyond that lots of pricey antiques – little in between. Maybe I’ll try the one at Montreuil in the future, or some of the brocantes. Anyway, here are some photos nonetheless:

Diane et les mecs:

At Les Puces:
Les Puces:
Doll at Les Puces with a rather disturbing inner movement curve:
The view from Susan and Linda’s apartment in Montmartre:
Later I caught up with cousins and aunts and went out to dinner on the Ile St. Louis. Somehow it seems one cannot go wrong with the Ile St. Louis. That’s a good île.

La famille:

Playtime in Paris.

On Saturday I had time to explore a tad, both in my neighborhood and elsewhere. I made a Tati run for some things I needed at a plus bas prix, and I came upon these lamps:

Surely these specimens belong to the same species as the leg lamp from "A Christmas Story."And therefore... they must be Italian.

Have you heard of this restaurant "Dans le Noir"? The idea is this: one eats one's meal *completely* in the dark – that is, "dans le noir" – and one is served by waitstaff who are blind. Blind! In other words, they are able to navigate about in the dark and so forth. Presumably a large part of the appeal is the increased dependence on (and enhancement of) one’s sense of taste while deprived of another of one’s senses, i.e., sight. Weird, huh? Neat, huh? I’ve been too chicken to try it though. What makes me even more frightened, though, is the thought that they have a company car, as pictured… one can only hope the blind waitstaff do not drive it. But who knows? They do things differently in France:

Okay, I know someone who will appreciate this one: guess what’s in my neighborhood, about a block and a half away? This is clearly a sign that the stars have aligned:
By the way, has anyone been looking for Oscar the Grouch? Yes? OK, I found him.
Maybe he's been hanging out with Waldo?.

Saturday night, I met with our cousins for dinner in the 6th arrondissement, at a place called La Boussole (the compass). Good stuff. Here’s the lovely C., on the way to the parking garage after dinner:

Fred explained the following sign to me, it's a sort of jeu de mots, a play on words which I didn’t understand at first. Though it's hard not to love any play on words which involves the infancy of lard.
More soon.

Timing is everything.

So. I was planning - planning, mind you, despite my cold - to hear a concert here in Paris Friday night by my cousin-in-law’s band, Greenhouse Effect. Planning. So, apparently I missed the boat on exactly *when* they were due to play… I had the info that it started at 10pm, but thinking that, as with most concerts, there would be some time before they went onstage, I ended up arriving at the club at 10:30pm. Stupidly. Only to miss Greenhouse Effect by mere minutes, it seems. GAAAAHHHH. You see, what was scheduled was a sort of “battle of the bands” format, where each of 8 bands competing performed for exactly one half-hour from about 7:30pm until 11:30pm. Greenhouse Effect? 10pm to 10:30pm. Diane arrival? 10:30pm. I have such great timing. So, alas… however, they tell me it was videotaped, this performance… I shall stay tuned to their MySpace page for updates. And, the good news: despite my absence for the post-set audience voting process, Greenhouse Effect was the WINNING BAND!!! WHOOO! Behold, les gagnants (with serious redeye, excuse the flash):P.S. One of the other band contenders that evening - listed as being of the genre "Death Metal/Hardcore" - was a band called "Corpse Division". Hahahahaha yesssssssss.