Le Marché, The Spirit of France

Having just joined a new group of Francophiles, I was asked the question of whether I preferred gourmet dining or sandwiches à pied when traveling in France. Though I wouldn’t refuse an elegant meal, my primary dining source is the French open air markets. Not only do I eat well, but the experience feeds my soul.

I love to sample the fresh, local fare of my travels and with the help of a guidebook, consider my routes according to market days. The lively animation is an energy that I absorb gleefully. It pleases me to see the colorful display and attention with which each edible is arranged~ as if being surrounded by a perfect still life of fruits, flowers, breads and cheese. And the tastes are just as alluring~ I am recalling a lovely paella from Pont Aven, with just a hint of saffron, manifique!

Le Marché I, pictures a market day in the Breton city of Dinan during a celebration of French speaking countries, honored by their flags. The brightly colored flags and umbrellas, and the bustling marketers hunting and gathering against the neutral notes and solidity of the venerable Église St Malo offered an engaging contrast on that day. At the same time there is in Le Marché I, a sense of honoring all the abundance of the earth.

Le Marché I, reminds me of this consciousness, of living and honoring the abundance that Nature bestows. It is this connection that is so ingrained in French spirit~ food, friends, color, taste, communion. This life affirming awareness of all the threads that are woven into our experience resonates in me. “C’est normal,” as the French say, with a shrug.

~

Melody Phaneuf is a Boston Artist who travels and paints in France. Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life and landscape paintings and has achieved significant acclaim for portraiture. She has exhibited at Galerie Herouet in Paris, The National Arts Club in New York City, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Phaneuf’s paintings are regularly displayed at the Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street, Boston, MA.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features the artist’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards. Online ordering at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Le Marché I, 16 x 20 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

Le Marché I, is available in fine art tile coasters, limited edition giclée on canvas, open edition prints, handmade note cards and bookmarks.

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Related Links~

• French Markets
• The Cheeses of France
• Route Planner, France

The Last Echo

“To give one’s heart is to give all.” ~Gandhi

Dear Reader,

As a child I loved books that began in this way. I was certain that I received the one and only special copy in the pile, or even more mysteriously, that a divine force, having seen this book was destined for me, inscribed it on route. Once the book was opened this salutation was read, I knew to settle in for a good story~

Long ago, in enchanted times and idyllic landscapes, lived the beautiful but much too chatty nymph, Echo. It was Echo’s destiny to come into opposition with the goddess Hera, who on that ill-fated day, was seeking her husband whom she feared, was delighting himself amongst the nymphs. Why, Dear Reader, did Echo detain Hera, in such foul disposition, with her endless blather? Now, doomed to repeat but never again speak her mind, the nymph wandered the dark woods in silence.

In another part of the forest the dazzling Narcissus trifled woodland nymphs with all the insouciance of one totally ignorant of karma. It was inevitable that he provoke an avenging goddess, and that he should suffer the consequence of loving without the return of affection. And all the while the Fates are busily spinning, and interweaving the threads~ Oh what, Dear Reader, shall be the end of it?

A moonlit pond, the boy is bound and crying at his reflection. And the nymph repeats and they pine away until nothing is left but an echo. And here, Dear Reader, our journey ends, but only temporarily. Woven into our lives are they that are meant to transform our hearts and souls forever.

~

The Last Echo, 20 x 25 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf~ Private collection, Florida

Melody Phaneuf is a Boston Artist, working at Fenway Studios. Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life and landscape paintings and has achieved significant acclaim for portraiture. She has exhibited at Galerie Herouet in Paris, The National Arts Club in New York City, and with Art du Monde, a traveling exposition in Japan. Phaneuf’s paintings are regularly displayed at the Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street, Boston, MA.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo showcases the artist’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards. Online ordering at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Follow Melody on twitter
Become a facebook fan
Visit Melody’s studio
Commission a painting by Melody

Related Links~

• Echo and Narcissus
• Karma
• Transformation Stories

Lilacs & Peaches~ Springtime Clarity

Lilacs in dooryards
Holding quiet conversations with an early moon;
Among your heart-shaped leaves
Orange orioles hop like music-box birds and sing. ~Amy Lowell

Orange, Green, Violet~ I love the vibrating energy of a secondary triad color scheme. The soft contrast is easy on the eye but still full of the interest contrast yields. Green and violet contain the qualities of both warm and cool and can be nudged in either direction.

Lilacs And Peaches is an arrangement of Nature’s offerings in triadic unity. Here, the colors are neutralized, slowing the vibration. The feeling of cool, springtime serenity is enhanced by allowing the warmth of color to rest in the violet tones, and subordinating the heat of the orange. Compare the feeling in Hues of Autumn, where the same color scheme allows the orange to dominate radiant warmth.

Because secondary colors are mixtures of primaries, these schemes seem to align with the expression of transitional seasons. Combined with value key and chromatic intensity, an infinite subtlety of expression is possible. Cool and cleansing, Lilacs And Peaches echoes the clarity that springtime ushers in.


Melody Phaneuf is a Boston Artist, composing and painting pictures at Fenway Studios. Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life and landscape paintings and has achieved significant acclaim for portraiture. She has exhibited at Galerie Herouet in Paris, The National Arts Club in New York City, and with Art du Monde, a traveling exposition in Japan. Phaneuf’s paintings are regularly displayed at the Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street, Boston, MA.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo showcases the artist’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints and note cards. Online ordering at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Lilacs And Peaches, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf, 20 x 16
Interested in purchasing Lilacs And Peaches? Contact Melody

Follow Melody on twitter
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Related~

• Lilacs, poem by Amy Lowell
• Color Vibrations
• Color Therapy