Along the Seine

The sun finally made an appearance, and my painting colleague, Marie Sand, suggested that we head to the Berges de Seine (banks of the Seine). I met Marie at a workshop several years ago, and we struck up a friendship and have stayed in touch. She is a very talented artist, and you can see her wonderful paintings and drawings here.

Marie and I chose the location pictured above, because it allowed us to get out over the river a bit and to have a water-level view of the bridges. Marie chose to paint Pont Alexandre III, and I turned the opposite way to paint Pont d'Alma. Here is Marie setting up:

Marie Sand

At first we had a little interference from the guards who monitor the area. I was very thankful to be with a charming Parisian, who could reassure the guards that we would not get in the way of other visitors, and that we would not allow toxic fumes from the paints to spoil the atmosphere!

So far so good. I was working diligently on my painting when I suffered a strong dizzy spell. I had to grab the chair next to me to keep from falling over. Just when I thought the dizziness had passed, it happened again. Imagine my surprise when I (finally) realized that my vertigo was due to the fact that we were standing on a floating barge--not a fixed pier, as I had thought. Yikes. No wonder the waves of the passing boats were rocking my foundation! I had to move to solid ground in the middle of my painting--a change of location, yes, but I could still see the same view. Thankfully I headed off the vertigo, and was able to complete the painting.  

I did not originally intend to include the boats (Bateaux Mouches) in my painting. But I fell prey to one of the oldest pitfalls of the plein air painter: I listened to the guard when he told me I MUST include the boats, it would not be Pont de l'Alma without them! When Marie and I ended our session and had a short critique, we both agreed that the boats weakened my painting, so I removed them after I got back home. Here is the painting as it currently stands. (Sorry I can't crop the photo with my temporary set up here--but you can see where I lined off the canvas at the bottom when I composed my painting). Stay tuned for future painting adventures in Paris!

"Pont de l'Alma"

8 x 14