Here’s the last of the three videos I made which comprise most of the footage from that day - I’ve provided the first two video URLs as well. Enjoy

Video Part 3 (the longest segment) - also note the Tree Breast at 1 minute into this clip - it’s special and way off the path (you have to climb down to it and it’s not seen from the road). Also, there’s some footage of the best and most expensive restaurant in Aix-en-Provence, Le Clos De La Violette, at the end of the file (but the URL link does not seem to work).

part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZleHXMqK-8

part 2 -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXuBVOaqayE

part 3 - http://youtube.com/watch?v=j3LJW43WEGk

My guide, Christine Boulet (who lives in Aix-en-Provence and who I met the day before)  on this 4 or 5 hour walk to my favorite Painter, Paul Cezanne, happened on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 and took most of the afternoon and early evening.  At the end of the long, long walk/hike, it rained. 

Note: The quality of the video that gets uploaded and shown on YouTube is considerably less than the original files - I noticed that, no matter what I do, preparing and uploading online video footage for streaming video makes the videos loose a lot of the details.

Also, my recollection of the color of the sky - it was much bluer than richer than what is coming over from the videos.  My take on that - whenever we translate an experience from one form to another (IE: a part of my life is transformed into a video) something is lost (in this case, a lot is lost).

On the other hand, what is gained is the memory I have as I look at these videos that warms my heart and brings back the fresh air, whooshing sounds, thundering and pungent smell of the the moist earth - the rich warm reddish browns of the earth and the brilliant blue of the sky.   A gray-lavender band of wood, part of the foliage / trees is pushed more towards lavender by the rich greens of the tree leaves and grass on the grounds. 

After the first hour, or so, of our walk, we had the sandwiches and Pepsi Light (we brought no water - or sunglasses) - the heat got to be almost unbearable and when we reached a midway point there was a water fountain - near a dam - and I got my shirt all wet, just to deal with the the intense heat/sun.   But then, as the afternoon progressed, it cooled down and rained and that was magical.

My guide, Christine Boulet, was wonderful company - but little of that is really translated in this movie and yet, I hope all of that comes though, past the limitations of the medium of Online Streaming Video - via YouTube.

Again, Enjoy and for any of my readers on ArtNewYorkCity.com  - I’d love to hear your feedback.  Bear in mind, I’m not the best photographer - fortunately, Christine Boulet took over for much of the footage, she has a much steadier hand than I - but I’m learning.

I was still humming Mahler’s 9th in my mind as I went to my studio tonight to pick up a recommendation letter from Peter Wallace for the Paris Trip.   I decided to spend an hour working on this oil pastel/chalk pastel.

Taking pictures, immediately posting them and often, printing the photos and hanging them near my desk at work allows me to continue to work on my paintings, continue to plan the next one’s. 

I had some thoughts over the last 5 days on work I did last Saturday in Two more pastel / oil pastel Painter Studio Studies  and Nude Study.   I liked all 3 works and I was thinking about what I’d do next time I come in to the studio.  Well - when I came in today - I already had ideas about effects I might go after by combining oil pastels and chalk pastels.

Anyway, every day this week I’ve spent a couple of minutes getting the application for Paris ready to send out to Marsha Wooley in Denver; I’ll send it out Friday (tomorrow).  Right now, I don’t have the money to go, and the most I could spend is 10-12 days on this trip anyway - which is enough for me right now.

I met with Marsha Wooley yesterday to discuss art and the Paris Trip she leads on a yearly basis; I don’t have the one for 2007 yet and there’s much time to make a trip like that come together with time, money, family or all three.   

I ended up following Marsha uptown to see the opening of Janet Fish at the DC MOORE Gallery - which was crowded and attended by a couple of other well known artists including Alex Katz (who I did not speak to), and I decided not to talk with Janet Fish but I could have.  Most of my questions were covered in the press release which is also on Artnet.  If Janet Fish were someone I’d really wanted to talk to….I would have, yet despite knowing of her for 20 years (since my summer in Vermont during 1987) I did not feel a need to connect.

I found Janet Fish’s work even in quality and, more or less, predictable - still overall, pretty good (but not cutting edge).   I guess Janet Fish can get attention without being shocking and annoying (which is so common today in both painting and online media).  People are so saturated with media messages - to just be yourself - to just paint, and make attractive paintings, takes a certain about of courage.  Because selling out today, might be to attempt to be “cutting edge” and not being “yourself”.    So, whatever you think of Janet Fish, she stays within her range.  

However, risk taking, I think, is what makes Art and Artists really interesting.  If you don’t take some risks in your work, it’s easy to knock out work, and she had a lot of work at the opening, and I’m told, most of the show was sold out (I did not look at the price list, I’m sure Janet Fish’s paintings are expensive).

You can see a collection of what was in the show here but I took some photos too - and here’s what I liked.

This red vase was part of a painting I liked - the red symbolized something, and I could feel it.  Is the red vase symbolic of something in the artist’s life that’s broken or is it just a vase she toppled so it would make more of an “effect” which the broken glass?  I guess we’ll never know because I did not ask her. 

But I’d like to think these arrangements work because they are also symbolic of something broken in the Artist’s life and she’s conveying that with the “red” vase - and the red carries because it’s fused with her feelings.  And it’s not the red vase that’s broken, it’s the blue glass jar .. and who knows that that means?   Oh well, I can go on and on at this level, but as along as a painting poses a question - it’s interesting,

I think all of Janet Fish’s work has color - color tone - each painting has it’s own range - in some it’s reddish, and in other lilac while others could be Naples yellow.

So, while her work is predictable - there’ passion in it = and it’s probably among the best that you’ll see on 57th Street. 

I could say more, but I’ll stop here - best to stop while your ahead. Right?

I still did not get fully down what the next step for the Paris trip - but I hope I got the ball rolling - would have liked to have a brochure but ended bumping into Marsha Wooley as she was leaving her gallery here, and she left the brochures at the gallery.  Maybe I got enough information as it was.