Early one morning in Paris

Photo of Montmartre courtesy of Wikipedia.

When I was ten I went on a school trip to France.  We went from Newquay in Cornwall right down to the south of France on an overnight train. What stands out most in my mind is the train stopping in Paris on the return journey. It was very early in the morning, about 5 a.m.. - a teacher knocked and quietly called at the cabins and asked if any of us wanted to go for a walk in Paris. Being the sort of child who never slept in a car, train or plane, I was among the few who went.

We walked through the misty, empty streets up to Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur. I remember the mysterious damp grey streets, the sound of our shoes echoing, a tramp sleeping in the gutter with a bottle of red wine by his side.  Climbing the endless crumbling old steps and the soft golden dawn sunlight shining on the white stone of the Sacre Coeur. It was like a miracle, and my first real taste of the spirit of France.  We then had to hot foot it back to the train before it left for home.

I can't remember which teacher decided to take a small group of kids from Cornwall through the streets of Paris at 5 am .... but whoever you are, it was brave and inspired and hasn't been forgotten.

Reading about Picasso

Click to enlarge.
Scan from Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man by Norman Mailer
ISBN 0-87113-608-2 The Atlantic Monthly Press. Page 232, 233.

One of the things I have time for now I live in France is reading. I have stacks of unread art books.

Most of our books are stored in our enormous French grenier (or Gauguin's Loft) which has no electric. I grabbed the first book I felt, and I've just finished it - Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man by Norman Mailer. Although not a novel, (or possibly it is? it's hard to tell as it's claimed to be an interpretive biography - another reviewer felt it was more about Norman Mailer's own life, but I digress), it's compelling reading.

The book centers around Picasso's great love affair with Fernande Olivier and quotes extensively from her memoirs. Mailer argues that she has a lot to say because after all she 'did live with a great painter through his most profound period of artistic transition'. For me, her memoirs bring Picasso to life. You can feel the life they had together living in the studio, the intensity of it all - creating paintings, discussing art and life, falling in love, evenings spent with friends and contemporaries - alongside the mess, dogs, smells, hunger and poverty. I find it amusing that Mailer says that Fernande is the only writer about Picasso who gives herself more attention than him! Oh, to have been a fly on the wall ....

They lived in Montmartre in Paris. Which reminds me of another story. More later.

Paintings of Scotland by Winifred Nicholson

Sandaig by Winifred Nicholson (1951 Sourced from www.studio-international.co.uk Trustees of Winifred Nicholson).


Over the Sea to Eigg by Winifred Nicholson (1952 Sourced from www.artnet.com).


The Gate to the Isles by Winifred Nicholson (1980 Sourced from www.studio-international.co.uk Trustees of Winifred Nicholson).


Cheeky Chicks by Winifred Nicholson (1950 Sourced from www.studio-international.co.uk Trustees of Winifred Nicholson).


Isle of Canna by Winifred Nicholson (1951 Sourced from www.studio-international.co.uk Trustees of Winifred Nicholson).

From a remote croft on South Uist, Winifred Nicholson wrote to her son:

This is a place after my heart. I wonder if you would like it. Not a tree, not a bush. But grey boulders, grey rocks. Grey stones, grey mountains. And bog in between - In the bog, lochs with waterlilies, and rare ferns that love the black peaty soil - The sea full of grey mysterious islands and rocks, seals and seabirds. White glistening beaches and transparent sea all the way across to Eriskay. Blue mountains of Barra to the west - and the Cuillins far away snow covered to the south - There are five other cottages in Glendale and no road nearer than three miles - one comes by boat and then walks… Peat fire, water carried from a well, everything as primitive as you want.

Captivated by 'Ring of Bright Water'

View from Gavin Maxwell's (Hebridean Flowers) by Winifred Nicholson (copyright Trustees of Winifred Nicholson - picture sourced from www.studio-international.co.uk)

Last week I watched Ring of Bright Water, the film based on the book by Gavin Maxwell. I googled it and found Kathleen Raine and Winifred Nicholson, and their captivating stories.

Kathleen Raine (1908 -2003) a poet, was deeply in love with Maxwell. In her autobiography she says that after she lost Maxwell's pet otter, also called Mij, (which accidentally lead to it's death), their friendship ended. Her love was an unrequited passion due to Maxwell's secret homosexuality. She wrote the poem, The Marriage of Psyche, from which the title for Ring of Bright Water came. She never forgave herself for the curse she uttered shortly before Mij was killed - 'let Gavin suffer in this place as I am suffering now'- and spent every night of her life alone after they parted.

Winifred Nicholson (1893 - 1981) was a painter. She was the first wife of Ben Nicholson who left her and married Barbara Hepworth. (Barbara Hepworth's studio is now a museum in St. Ives, Cornwall). I'm familiar with some of Winifred Nicholson's work because of the Cornish connection, however not her Scottish paintings. It's great to discover these works and see her vision of the Isle of Skye, South Uist and Eigg. Winifred Nicholson would paint while Kathleen Raine composed poetry.

First Scottish painting sold!

Click to enlarge.
Clouds Gathering, Southern Skye, Scotland 60 x 24 inches

Quite a cool thing happened at the weekend - I sold the first of my Scottish paintings!

Scottish Paintings

April Skies, Isle of Skye


Clouds Gathering, Southern Skye


Cottage Trotternish, Northern Skye


Lone Croft, Southern Skye

I've got an idea for an exhibition .... I'm keeping it under wraps.

August highlight, north coast Brittany ....