How It's Done

I took another swing by the Paint Louis flood wall yesterday afternoon and met Adam Sherman. He is one of the artists and was putting some finishing touches on a panel. I've never seen anyone working on wall painting so I stopped and introduced myself.

Sherman is part of a three-artist group called O-U-R, Operation Urban Renewal (Facebook page here). They don't paint in inappropriate places and deface property. Much of it is mural work done under contract.

How is the complex work put up on a wall? I may have some of this wrong (if so, Adam, please correct me). It starts with a drawing, which is then rendered with computer graphics. The color scheme is added in Photoshop. Then the whole design is printed on a grid, with each square representing a square foot of wall. The three of them work together to execute the finished product. They use special German spray paint. It costs three times what you pay in the local hardware store.

The whole work is shown in the last picture. Pretty cool.

The Things You Miss When You Visit France

Paint Louis took place two weekends while we were wandering around Provence. It's the annual re-decoration of a section of the Mississippi River flood wall by graffiti and street artists. It would have been fun to photograph it in progress but, hey, we were having lunch at Nathalie's near Beaumes de Venise. I had time for just a brief swing by yesterday. These examples announce the event. More later.                      

The Most Beautiful Village In France

Well, it's not like I've seem all of them but Gorbio has to be a serious competitor. Just a few hundred people in the town proper. Everyone knows everyone. The huge old tree in the center has been there for centuries. There is an informal cafe, a fine restaurant, a church and a post office. If there is a food shop I didn't see it. You just have to go 7.4 km / 4.5 miles down the mountain road to Menton but  you try driving that slalom course.

Our colleague Jilly, who does Menton Daily Photo, actually lives just down the mountain from Gorbio. She is the village's de facto photographer. Look over her blog for wonderful examples.

Back to STL posts soon. We may get to the Cardinals game tonight. The Color Run is Sunday morning.  There are many more pictures from France to edit. I'll mention it as they go up on Flickr.

Wouldn't It Be Nice

There's nothing quite like it in the US. I love the French custom of row after row of restaurants with outdoor seating, squeezed into old, narrow streets. It's just ideal for people watching and photo sniping, like here in the Old City of Nice.

Let's Review, Then

Back home, back at work, body clock still not reset. A good night's sleep should do it.

I won't be able to shoot new STL material until the weekend at best. Until then, back through some images of two wonderful weeks in France. These photos are from the Old City of Nice.

Dans La Rue

Home now. We've been up for about 23 hours. Time to let consciousness slide.

This is something I caught on Rue Cler during the market on Sunday.

Au Revoir, Paris

It's Monday afternoon US Central Time as I write this in an American Airlines lounge in Chicago. Long ride home. One more short leg to go.

I'm glad to be back. It was a long trip for us, maybe a little too long. We love France and will return again but age is catching up and it's getting hard to trudge for hour after hour through tourist-choked cities. Maybe it's time for slower paced holidays. Hey, we're going to Tamarindo in February. That ought to work. 

I tried to shoot some non-postcard Eiffel Tower pictures yesterday. You, gentle reader, will decide if they work. Since I won't have any new local material for several days, I will sprinkle these pages with memories of La Belle France for a while longer.