La Bonne Etoile Blog

Kippy Hammond

Here are Day 3 & 4 of Margaret Dyer’s blog from her stay at La Bonne Etoile, June 2010.  As the posts from her blog become more numerous, they will be ordered like a typical blog with the newest posts showing first. So, if you are looking for an earlier posts…just scroll down and you will find it.  Margaret and I are already discussing dates for 2011, so give us a shout if you want to be on the mailing list for details at kristina@labonneetoile.com

Master Pastelist, Margaret Dyer conducted her “Figure in Pastel” workshop at La Bonne Etoile June 2010. Join Margaret as she shares her three week experience in France on her day-to-day blog by signing up to receive notification of new posts on the La Bonne Etoiile Blog with one of the methods displayed in the right hand column of this screen. The following is reprinted with permission

Friday, May 28, 2010

Day 3 in France

This morning we went to market. I am proud to say that when a gendarme came up to me and asked me (in French) why I was taking so many photographs, I was able to relpy, “Je suis un artiste. Je suis américain. Je ne parle pas français très bien.” She then asked me if I was using my photographs for the papers (which I understood), and I told her no, I pulled out one of my picture post cards and gave it to her. “C’est bon. ?” I asked, and she said “C’est bon..” And she left me to continue my shooting. Kippy was impressed, she later told me, that I was able to communicate like that. I got hundreds of photos, some of which will make beautiful paintings.

Back to La Bonne Etoile, lunch on the patio with friends. What a tough life they lead here.

I’ll be glad when Sunday arrives and I can actually work. I’m feeling very guilty being non-productive. Sunday evening we hope to have an audience to watch me demonstrate painting a pastel from a nude model. We’re hoping there will be quite a few locals there, filling up space. Then there will also be a reception. Monday, students and I get to work. But until then, there’s some serious eating to be done.

We had dinner at Caroline’s and Serge’s, about a 20 minute drive from here, in a home which has been in the family for generations. It was a family gathering with about 20 people; I definitely felt like a fish out of water, not understanding what anyone was saying, and not knowing anybody. My sister Catherine says you can drink as much French wine as you want and you won’t get drunk. I don’t know if that’s true, but it certainly helps you understand French a whole lot better. By the end of the evening I was laughing and getting along just like family. I suspect it may have been the gracious people who made me feel at home, moreso than the wine. And OK, some of them did speak English.

Some more French things I’ve learned:
After dinner Caroline came out with what looked like a huge cheesecake. It was cheese, brie. So soft, it almost spilled when you cut it. Mmmmmmm. I was told that cheese has a ripe time. There are people who know how to gauge when it will be ripe for special occasions.
French men are incredibly polite and considerate. The people are soft-spoken and gracious.



It’s way too late for me to be up. Kippy and I go to the airport tomorrow to pick up a student, then to PARIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Master Pastelist, Margaret Dyer conducted her “Figure in Pastel” workshop at La Bonne Etoile June 2010. Join Margaret as she shares her three week experience in France on her day-to-day blog by signing up to receive notification of new posts on the La Bonne Etoiile Blog with one of the methods displayed in the right hand column of this screen. The following is reprinted with permission

Saturday, May 29, 2010

la fromagerie, le bucherie, le pain et les amis

The first student has arrived: Asti from Germany. Kippi, Asti and I spent time photographing some Parisian streets. It’s been heavily overcast all day–not ideal for our photos. Ideally, I’d love to have bright sunshine, later in the afternoon or early in the morning, with long cast shadows. But Paris doesn’t think we need that, so we’ll find other contrasts in our imagery.
The model has arrived: Eva has lived in Paris all her life. She’s an actor and has modeled for Parisian artists and art schools for years. She’s got some totally cool costumes to wear for us, some totally cool music to play while she poses, and I suspect some totally cool stories to tell.

Here are Asti, Kippie and Eva at La Rotonde.

I think I may be experiencing jet lag. That or I’m just not used to late evenings and so much wine. I crashed early today, as soon as we arrived back at the house, I told Kippie not to wake me for dinner if the aromas didn’t wake me, dragged myself up the stairs and climbed into the bed. Woke only to post this; everyone is asleep right now. I hope I can get back to sleep.

Master Pastelist, Margaret Dyer conducted her “Figure in Pastel” workshop at La Bonne Etoile June 2010. Join Margaret as she shares her three week experience in France on her day-to-day blog by signing up to receive notification of new posts on the La Bonne Etoiile Blog with one of the methods displayed in the right hand column of this screen. The following is reprinted with permission

Day 2 (Thursday, May 27, 2010)

Le Boudin

Master Pastelist, Margaret Dyer conducted her “Figure in Pastel” workshop at La Bonne Etoile June 2010. Join Margaret as she shares her three week experience in France on her day-to-day blog by signing up to receive notification of new posts on the La Bonne Etoiile Blog with one of the methods displayed in the right hand column of this screen. The following is reprinted with permission

Petite chou

I am in Fontaine Fourches, France. About an hour from the Charles de Gaulle airport, past fields of winter and spring wheat, young sugar beets and miles of the yellow flowers of canola beans. I’ve spent the day with Kippy Hammond in her home and studio, resting from my trip overseas, and planning for the workshop which begins Sunday. Kippy and Jerome have friends staying over, two couples and two 10 year old twin boys; they’ll be leaving by the time our class begins. We dined this afternoon on the patio on grilled pork kabobs, cucumber, tomato and green pepper salad (OK, those of you who know me know that I only ate the tomatos), fresh cheeses from the region and French wine. We spent the evening with a fire in the fireplace to take the chill out of the thunderstorm outside, a candle lit dinner and lots of wine. Some of the topics of conversation: French table manners–bread goes on the upper left side of the plate or on the table cloth next to the plate; wine and water glasses are side-by-side at the top of the plate, not at the upper right like ours; forks are placed face-side-down when setting the table. I learned how to fold a huge piece of lettuce in my salad with a fork and knife, and how to properly cut different kinds of cheese. And there seemed to be great confusion over the phrase ‘petite chou,’ an affectionate phrase which the Americans at the table could not understand. Chou is cabbage.

The surprise at dessert was petite chou, a sinful pastry filled with cream. I ate the entire thing.

Rhett Butler comes to mind tonight, when he said, “I want to see if somewhere there isn’t something left in life of charm and grace.” I found it, Rhett.

o

Kippy Hammond

I am not sure if the French have this saying, but I grew up knowing that just because someone appeared to be asleep or dead…they were just “playing possum”.  The La Bonne Etoile Blog has just appeared to have died….it has just been playing possum.  Quite a few alums have stepped forward to become contributing authors, so you will be seeing new faces with new posts.

To kick off our new life we will be reprinting the blog Margaret Dyer published while staying at La Bonne Etoile recently. We have received many emails from those that followed her entries and know you will greatly enjoy her experience. Three new workshop photo albums have been added too.

Soon, you will be meeting Astrid, Warren, Rosemarie, Candy, Marsha, Kathryn and David among others.  To come along on this journey be sure to subscribe…this is free…and you will be notified by email when new posts are up.

We are still experimenting with formats of slide shows, but will be featuring the photos from a past workshop each month. Using Google Earth we will be plotting our memories by location on the globe and attaching photos and journal entries. Who wants to help?

In the meantime, here is a slide show that was prepared by Durinda Cheek, Summer 2008.