CMAppleton

New Paintings

Line Dancing I
Line Dancing II
Line Dancing III These are my most recent paintings. I am doing a series (sold all so far) of paintings that are created using many layers.... paint layers, drawing layers, some collage. I start with a loose unstructured texture (washes, splatter, drips, whatever) and then on top of that do detailed drawing or maybe collage. Then more loose texture, unstructured line and color shapes, then more structured line and images. Repeat, again and again. It's a long process but fun. I put a layer on, go do something else while it's drying, another layer, etc. They've all been either diptych or triptych, but not exact....they are loosely connected and can be hung in any order. Getting ready to move on soon... maybe landscapes, but not literal landscapes. Spring is here, sun is here, loving the growth that's going on right now. May need to do something that expresses my elation with the fact that, thank GOD, winter is GONE. Bailey ate Dan's brand new (bought yesterday) beautiful Pendleton wool hat this morning. Bad dog.

The Brown Dog

We adopted a new dog "Bailey" because our sweet old Riley seemed lonely and needed a pal. I will try posting a picture of him here but I haven't tried to do that with my iPhone yet so I don't know if it's going to work. Dan can't seem to remember his name so he calls him "Brown Dog" or "Mike." (?) He's a one year old chocolate lab with a lot more energy than we (or Riley) have. He's very sweet and is absolutely in love with Riley. He ate a brand new pair of shoes yesterday (haven't even worn them yet). He does absolutely nothing I tell him to do unless I'm holding a snack ... and then he sits, lays down, rolls over ... the whole bag of tricks comes out for a tiny square of cheese. Each day I get more attached to him and so does Riley.

Last Bath

As I was mopping up the flood around the mini-tub after my bath this morning (30 days and still haven't figured out how to avoid the flood) I was thinking "one more time." One more bath in Dinan. One more night sleeping in the cozy little bedroom. One more cup of strong coffee with creme fraiche from the red pot. Tomorrow we drive to Paris to spend our last night in France near the airport (where I will take a long shower and maybe a bath too.) We fly home Friday afternoon. Today we had our last walk up the dreaded hill, and it was still hard, but maybe just a little less hard. We packed today and have two more suitcases than we came with...the art supply suitcase is so heavy I'm not sure how we will lift it to the trunk of the car. So much stuff. What will I miss about this place? Everything except the tub really. The food is the best and most consistently wonderful food I've ever had anywhere. I will miss the people of Brittany . . . so warm and friendly, relaxed. The pretty river with the sailboats floating by. (Above are photos of the Rance River in Dinan, about two blocks from our cottage. The boat in the top photo takes tourists up and down the river. The bottom photo shows some of the old houses and their reflections into the river). I'll miss sitting at one of the green plastic tables in a green plastic chair on the lawn of the Rossignol B&B (across the street from our cottage) drawing the people at the other tables. (And eavesdropping on their conversations, though only the Brits, my French is too poor to eavesdrop on them). The comical waiter who came by and asked where he was in the drawing and I told him he just moved too fast . . . "You're there, but just a blur because you move too fast." The butter, the bread and the coffee, will miss them. The sweet cows, love them. They walk up to the fence and say hello and look so pretty standing around in little clusters on the rolling green hills. I am going to stop eating beef, for sure. I will not miss the cars that go a bazillion miles an hour past the cottage. Or the nasaly whine of the Vespas. Won't miss Euros and having to do the math in my head. I will be happy, also, to get back to normal food that isn't fried and isn't loaded with butter and filled with ham. I LOVE the food here, but also love my arteries and I don't think the two are good for each other. How are so many of these people still alive, the way they eat and smoke . . . must be the stress factor. They are so relaxed and seem very happy, joyful. The only thing I don't like about the French is the fact that they eat horses. Yes, really. I didn't believe it either....saw it on a menu, looked it up on the internet and it's true, they eat horses. Sad. One more thing, if you are an artist and you want to spend an amazing month in this wonderful medieval village, send me a note, I have the info. (chris@dacom.com) The only cost to you (besides your travel and food, etc.) is that you must donate a painting to the Yvonne Jean-Haffen Foundation. The deadline for applying for the next selection period is November 1st. I have looked through the material from past artists and they are abstract, traditional, every medium, some very good, some not so good, some are portrait painters and others do still lifes, landscapes, every kind of artist has been here. When the ladies from the foundation visited us they said they need more applications and they "love Americans." Yes they actually said that! They didn't say why or if they did I didn't understand. It's been a wonderful experience that I will remember always.

Yvonne Jean-Haffen Musee, Dinan

This is a photo of the back of the home of Yvonne Jean-Haffen who was an artist living here in Dinan until she died in the early nineties. She left her home to a foundation so that her work would always be available for viewing. She also established a fund for "La Vignette" which is the cottage on the property that is used by a different artist each month, as the guest of the foundation. Cheryl and I feel very fortunate to have had this experience, to have been able to stay here for the entire month of September, it's been truly amazing. (Only one week left.) The main house is quite large, and has expansive surrounding gardens that are maintained beautifully by the foundtion. The house sits high on a hill overlooking the Port de Dinan and the Rance River and valley. I spent an hour or so in the house a few days ago looking at her paintings, she was very talented and prolific. She painted in oils, watercolor and gouche and did beatufiul drawings as well in pen and ink. The house is furnished as it was when she lived in it. A large studio on the top floor has wide sunny windows, her desk, and large empty areas where she may have had easels. There is also a canopied bed....it looks so cozy in the studio...I wanted to crawl into it. As I left I noticed a guest book and scanned the pages to see if there were any entries in English....I found one. It said "I find that these paintings arouse me... sexually." After this sentence were some tiny drawings, one at first glance looked like a flower with a fat stem, then at second glance it was not a flower. Why is the only entry in English about sex? I wondered if it was an American or a Brit.

Better Butter in Brittany

The butter is so much better here, how could that be? The cookies above are almost 100% butter, melt in your mouth. I bought them for Dan but have eaten half of them, sorry Dan. Even the butter that comes in the little foil squares is better. You just want to put it on everything...(heaven on fresh French bread...ah the bread!) but then there's the arteries to think of. I don't even use butter at home, but here, can't resist. Yum.
Typical cafe table. I sat here with a pot of tea and drew stuff. This was at the top of the hill in Dinan where there must have been a high school as there were a lot of teenagers hanging around a particular stone planter, acting goofy like teenagers do everywhere. Smoking. Everyone seems to smoke here, even saw ten-year old boys smoking. You just have to get used to the smell of cigarette smoke wafting under your nose while you eat your mussels or sea bass or whatever fabulous meal you may be having. They smoke inside and outside, before, during and after meals.

More Drawings from Dinan

This drawing was done at one of my favorite cafes near the cottage. It is right on the River Rance -- boats sail by. Some stop and the people come ashore to have an ice cream or a beer at the cafe. Not crazy about the drawing but had fun doing it and listening to the conversations from the other tables, almost everyone British on this day. The table in the front on the left was a woman, her husband (right) and her mother-in-law (center of the table). The woman barely cracked a smile the whole time they were there, even when the mother-in-law told a joke (something about a woman staring at a man [didn't catch why]...he says "Golf balls" and she answers "Oh, is that like tennis elbow?"). The mother-in-law did most of the talking. The husband was very nice and seemed to be trying to please everyone. The only thing I heard the mother-in-law say directly to the woman was "I thought you were going to tour around Australia in a motor home?" The people behind them, about six of them, all ordered gigantic fluffy chocolaty desserts. The teenage boy with them never stopped texting (he was thin as a rail, his obsessive texting maybe never allowed use of his hands long enough to eat).
A drawing of my bed and night stand, Kindle, headphones, cell phone, etc.
Boring drawing but good practice. This is the cafe where I sat after walking all over the village trying to find the farmer's market. One would think you could walk most of this tiny village in an hour, I felt like I did but the market stayed hidden and I went full-circle ended up where I started. Had a really nice salad here -- the only thing you can order that doesn't include 'frites.'

French Kitty

This cute little cat was lounging in a spot of sun on a stone shelf on Rue du Petit Fort, part of the steep hill up in to the village of Dinan. I've walked this daunting hill a bunch of times, and it's always nice to have a reason to stop (petting the cat) so that the others around you who are charging up the hill don't think you are a total wimp for stopping. Some run or ride bikes up this hill, I hate them. Many are struggling, huffing and puffing which is why, I suppose, there are little stone benches along the way. There are shops and cafes as well where you can stop if they're open.The hill is about a mile straight up, well not ninety degrees obviously but very steep...and cobblestones.
This 'half timber' house is on Rue du Petit Fort (though the hill doesn't look as steep here as it actually is). The street is lined with houses that look like this one, like Mr. Toad's house in Disneyland. Along the one mile or so stretch of hill, there is one contemporary house, just one. It is quite beautiful, simple and in keeping with the color palette of the houses around it. Wonder if the neighbors got upset when they saw the modernizing renovation materializing....they really like their centuries-old villas here. I don't know if I could cover up something that's been there for five hundred years. Like it was sitting there, perfectly preserved and safe and beautiful for all to see...and then this person came along in 2010 and decided five hundred years was long enough....gone!

A Few Drawings from Dinan

This drawing is a compilation of stuff from the past couple of days. My sketchbook is in the background, in front of that is the book "Accidental Masterpiece" that I recently read. A little tin of ink cartridges that I bought here to go with my new fountain pen that I bought here (in a tiny art supply store in Dinan, the woman there is so nice and wears a necklace made for her by her daughter, who must be grown up since the necklace is very complex with silver and crystal beads and charms. She speaks no English but she says "goodbye" to me in English and I say "au revoir" to her in French, though I always feel I've said it wrong. Wonder if she thinks that about "goodbye.") There is also an artichoke in the drawing, the keys to our cottage, a few tubes of acrylic paint, my right tennis shoe, a mouse, and a portable hard drive. All stuff I am using regularly.
This is a drawing of a church, or it may be an abbey .... I should probably know I suppose. Should not be drawing things I don't even bother to find out about. It could be a five hundred year old landmark of great historical significance but I just wanted something to draw while sitting in front of the "lavarie automatique" (laundromat) waiting for my clothes to dry. Once I started I wished I hadn't drawn it in such detail....but having set off down that path I needed to finish in the same way.....what a pain drawing those little stones on the walls and all the iron grating.

I digress, a few comments on books

Loaded a ton of books on my Kindle so I wouldn't run out while here in France. The first I read in France was Pat Conroy's "South of Broad." I hated for it to end... I love all his books and this one is almost as good as his "Prince of Tides." Then came "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave and it,too, though sad, was beautfully written and a joy to read. Then I read David Wroblewski's "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" and wish I hadn't. The writing is truly beautiful, the story mesmerizing for sure. But I was just so in love with the characters, all of them... human and canine, and I have a bone to pick with the author. To lead me along, make me fall so in love with the characters, half of them sweet smart innocent dogs, and then to gradually, slowly, take all of their lives apart .....nasty. I finished the book at six am, read all night long hoping against all hope that things would get better. I won't say more for fear you may (against my strong suggestion against it) plan to read it. My advice, think again, especially you Bonnie.