Dans mon jardin de roses

Dear creative friends,

When the weather's gloomy 

I've just come back from the garden where the wind is blowing today and it's downright chilly. Summer in Franche Comté means both heatwave and autumn in the same week! I wanted to show you the latest paintings from my new collection, ‘Un jardin de roses’, so my shots are quite dark and windy. But for an artist, it's ideal weather for painting in the studio without suffering from the heat. And anyway, I don't like drought and blazing sun. My favourite season is autumn, when the colours change a lot and the sky is always in motion. My studio gets the morning sun and I have powerful lighting so I can work in good conditions.

Painting is always full of surprises

July is flower month, isn't it? Since I started painting roses, inspired by the roses in my house, I've been rediscovering those that have surrounded me for decades. The red rose at the back of the house, the more recent ones on the west side and two more yellow roses along the garage. I'm constantly observing and learning about their shapes and colours. It's fascinating, and now my eye can spot them everywhere. 
Then, as stormy skies are my favourite (yes, my favourite season is autumn), I paint these roses and other garden plants as if blown and lifted by the winds. A time like today when the windows are rattling and the leaves are flying. 

I hate paintings of flowers

Honestly, I hate paintings of cut flowers in a vase. They make me uncomfortable. Except, of course, those by Berthe Morisot or Mary Cassatt. Their luminosity, their energy, that touch that's so full of life, their flowers radiate and catch the eye. They give back the energy of life and radiate an incredible presence. In some of my recent paintings, I sometimes have the impression of echoing the painters of the 18th century, and I'm the first to be surprised by this. The decorative side of my triptych, in particular, is something I wasn't expecting. 
That's why painting is an adventure. When I start a painting, I always begin with the background, which will determine the contrasts and luminosity, and provoke a certain emotion. Then the plants I choose, whether they're left over from a faded bouquet or picked in the garden, start to float and together they begin to form a composition, like a dance. 

Love