Les Demoiselles de Rochefort

I seriously cannot get enough of Pinterest, nor of Kate Spade tumblr. Below is another GORGEOUS image I pinned. Unfortunately in this case I don’t know who the author is but the street looks like somewhere in Spain.

And as soon as I pinned it I knew I wanted to do this:

Umbrellas, 60s vibe, hmmm… Initially reminded me of Jacques Demy’s Les Parapluies de Cherbourg!

But then I remembered that, as much as I liked the film, I wouldn’t say it bursts out colour and happiness. And so, another Jacques Demy film I love came to mind, which is all colour, joy and just FUN really: Les Demoiselles de Rochefort.

It’s the story of  a pair of artistic twin sisters, born in the sign of Gemini, who live Rochefort. The film takes place over the course of a weekend when the fair comes to town. The wonderful music composed by Michel Legrand with Jacques Demy’s lyrics can linger in your head for hours, thus making you extremely happy and bubbly during that time. It’s like a happy pill! The colourful design throughout the film, cinematography and choreography just add to this burst of sheer joy of the senses.

The cast is also top notch: Catherine Deneuve and her sister Francoise Dorleac (who tragically died in car accident shortly after completing the film) play the twins. Gene Kelly (who was 55 when he played Andy in the film and is still incredibly young and athletic and overwhelmingly attractive), George Chakiris (who can forget him as Bernardo in West Side Story?) and Grover Dale bring a foreign element to an overall French cast.

I could talk about the film for aaaaaaaaaaaaages but it’s best you watch it – and later on agree with me, of course 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE: The picture of the umbrellas above was taken from Kate Spade Tumblr, via one of my Pinterest boards. The poster of Les Parapluies de Cherbourg is via Cinephiliaque  and the images of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort are via Lark About.

And the muse finally came to the rescue…

…on Friday night, by inspiring me to paint a still life. I’m not overly impressed by the final result, hence the filter on my camera and the distance: the picture looks a lot better if far away. HOWEVER, the fact that I started something like this, using casein, which I’m still trying to master, is a positive step forward. Also, when one has been away from brushes and pencils for some time, the first work produced is pretty rubbish.  Notice my new drawing table put to use? Back ache from sitting in an interrogation-mark posture be gone!

Any time that I go to the Workroom, an amazing gush of creativity blows me away. On Saturday I did the Sew a Man’s Tie course, which I cannot recommend enough. Plus, we all know how much it sucks to give presents to men at Christmas, and this has saved my sweet ass this holiday. Not even kidding. Ties are so versatile, they make an excellent “A”…

And look at the detail on the back, I’m so friggin proud of myself…

Best part is that it even looks great on!

I know for a fact that no man receiving any of the 3 ties I’ve almost finished looks at this blog. Even if I bribed with free vouchers to Home Depot/Hardware – or Leroy Merlin, the Spanish equivalent – to be downloaded from this site, they still wouldn’t even come close. So it’s safe to post these pics here just a mere couple of days before Christmas 😉

Speaking of the season to be jolly, I will be enjoying the holiday season with family and friends and away from my random blog world. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the very best for 2012!

Beacon Hill

I foresee this as one of many posts about Boston… Although I briefly mentioned my visit here, one small post is definitely not enough. In a nutshell, I fell head over heels in love with the city. Such elegance, amazing history, architecture, setting, food (I ate 2 lobsters in one go, mmm…), shopping, people… I could go on and on, so for the purposes of this post, I’ll talk about Beacon Hill.

Beacon Hill is a neighbourhood just north of Boston Common and famous for many reasons: distinctive red brick Georgian architecture, history and notable residents, both past and present. Louisa May Alcott lived in number 10 Louisburg Square:

John Kerry also lives in Louisburg Square:

Wikipedia tells me that Uma Thurman, Carly Simon, Michael Crichton and Sylvia Plath are also among Beacon Hill’s notable residents. Who wouldn’t want to live in one of these houses?

One of the key sites within Beacon Hill is Acorn Street. Famous because of its cobblestone pavement, it is apparently one of the most photographed streets in America:

Naturally, I HAD to do a painting of one of these lovely houses. Instead of doing it in my usual watercolour, I recently discovered casein thanks to this amazing book by Stephen Quiller. It talks in depth about the various watermedia (watercolour, acrylic, gouache and casein) and the latter just fascinates me. After buying the colours mentioned in the book yesterday, as soon as I got home I began to test this wonder media and here’s the result: