Dear Friends and Family, Candy has always played an important part in my life. My first memory of candy was as a little boy playing in my back yard. Mrs. Nolan would sit in her open window next door, on the second floor. She’d call to me and throw a paper bag filled with candy. It would sometimes get stuck in the grape arbor and I’d have to climb up to get it, but … Read more
This painting is of the early morning light looking west from my bedroom window. Before the recent terrorist attacks on Paris, I would often be awakened at night to the sounds of people making their way uphill from Place Saint George to Sacré-Cœur. My bedroom window opens onto the street which seems to be their direct route. What I miss, (or maybe don’t miss) most is the sound of revelers and the clackety-clack of … Read more
When I was a kid, my mother would watch me paint stone walls, building facades and cliff-lined river banks. Lovely grays, browns and ochres. She once said to me, with a bit of impatience in her voice: “Why don’t you paint some nice pretty colorful flowers?” At which point I found flowers very difficult to paint, pretty or otherwise. I don’t know why this occurred. Later, when I tried painting them, they looked like … Read more
A great teacher of mine once said that a painting should have three qualities. First, it should draw you in from across the room. Second, it should have something about it that holds your attention when you are close to it and makes you keep looking. Third, it should leave you with something that makes you think about it after you have left the gallery, so that you want to go back. With … Read more
Dear Friends and Family, It used to be difficult, if not impossible, to find good old-fashioned American style cupcakes in Paris. Not anymore. Now there are cupcake stores, cookie stores and hamburgers springing up all over. But the best cupcake store in Paris is still Sugar Daze, in Pigalle, just up the street from our house. The best (and the most beautiful) cupcakes in town. I bought these cupcakes for Valentine’s Day last week, … Read more
Happy New Year, 2014! Wow, January is almost over. This blog celebrates its one year anniversary this month. In January 2013 I published my first post, International Plein Air Painters. I’ve gotten quite a few comments over the last twelve months. One of them was, “What’s the deal with Felice?” You probably know me as “Phil,” then saw my name in print or on my business card and were not quite sure which to … Read more