We are settling into our apartment in the Pearl quite nicely and the sense I had early on of a bit of a Parisian feel has only grown. We can walk to most anything we need, we already discovered The Fields Bar & Grill which has a casual neighborhood feel – not the same as La Cave Des Pas Sages in Avignon, it has its own ambience and local feel. Even NW Marshall St has an European senses about it, right down to the old stone pavement.

The evening views from our window continue to entice me. Street lights and dogs walking their pets on a rainy night is quite French. I did this sketch last Saturday from our window.

Many years ago when I started painting I wanted to paint in oils, but due to the odors of the solvents and the small places that we lived in then, acrylic paints made more sense because water is all that you need. You can paint pretty much the same style with acrylic so it became my medium. Yet I always wondered about oil paint. It has the reputation of being the medium of serious artist, there are even galleries that will only display oils. So I decided to give oil paints a go, along with a new Pochade box. Last Thursday, before our furniture arrived I did a painting while sitting on the floor with a box for a table.

The experience was enjoyable, other than using Oderless Mineral Spirits and Safflower Oil for mediums it was not much different than acrylic. One advantage is that oil paint is slower to dry on the pallet, my main motivation to try it. It is slower to dry on the pallet, but it is also slower to dry on the panel, a lot slower than what I expected, the thick paint on the leaves is still tacky even a week later. So it is back to Acrylics with Liquitex Slo-dry to help on the pallet. But I am glad I tried it and glad I bought small tubes of paint so as to not blow the bank. The pochade will be perfect.

Fantasy motifs are still fascinating – the hooded lady and her cat continue their journey.

The autumn colors have impressed us every time we go out, so I combined a bit of those colors and a memory of Normandy into a painting. Remember what Munch said, “I don’t paint what I see, I paint what I saw.”

I realized that I have not sketched with ink and watercolor since the two I did on the Eurostar leaving Paris on the 21st of October, over a month ago. Things are getting quite comfortable now. I had granola with cashew milk and a tangerine this morning, sitting at our table by the window, I did this with ink and watercolor so the drought is over.

One noticeable difference between the Pearl and Paris is the absence of people standing in doorways smoking, I may have to find another genre of casual photos to take.

Hope your journeys are pleasant. Keep traveling and capturing the moments in your sketchbook. And be sure to read Tricia’s post today about the 4th in Paris, plenty of photos of that beautiful city.