Memories of Paris

"Distant Pantheon"
30 x 24, Oil on Canvas
(c) Lesley Powell 2018

It's been a while since I posted about the new work on my easel. Time to remedy that! Most recently, I have been working on a new series of paintings based on my time in Paris last fall. I am working from sketches I did on location, as well as from notes I took on site. I have also used reference photos I shot at the time. Granted, a photo doesn't give me the same information that "being there" does, but it helps fill in the gaps when I get home.

"Pont Neuf, Toward Place Dauphine"
18 x 18, Oil on Canvas
(c) Lesley Powell 2018

This trip, I stayed in a new location: the Ile St. Louis. I had never stayed there before, and found it to be wonderfully convenient to all of Paris. Best of all, several of my favorite
bridges are right there at the Ile, and of course the Seine surrounds the Ile.  

"Toward the Right Bank"
18 x 18, Oil on Canvas
(c) Lesley Powell 2018

Time of day is very important to me in my paintings, because of the way the color of the light and the position of the shadows shift with the hours. It was a real luxury to be so close to my motifs that I could step out and evaluate my them at different hours of the day, and in different weather conditions.  I'm illustrating this post with paintings based on my on-site sketches and notes. 

"Notre Dame, First Light
36 x 24, Oil on Canvas
(c) Lesley Powell 2018

The last painting is a scene on which I could feast my eyes for hours. The beautiful apse of Notre Dame never fails to amaze me. Its shifting reflections in the waters of the Seine are always beautiful, but never the same. I got up quite early several mornings to catch the scene at first light. I can still smell the cool fresh air of that morning! Enjoy! (All of these paintings are now available at Huff Harrington Fine Art in Atlanta--you can get details here).