I am back in town from France & NY and looking forward to seeing you at my semi-annual Open House Art show on the last weekend of June, Saturday the 27th & Sunday the 28th 1p.m. - 6p.m. The show will be held at my studio at 9315 56 Ave. S. Seattle, WA. 98118 I expected Paris to inspire me, and it did. I am back to painting in full swing. Fighting cold wind and rain in Paris I managed to paint 10 oils in 13 days. Sometimes while painting, the sun would come out for a moment and I would put some blue in the sky, then the pouring rain would force me to run with all my equipment for cover. Then back to finish the painting. The lights of Paris are on at 10p.m. in May and off at midnight, which very much surprised me when I was right in the middle of painting Pont Alexander II with Eiffel tower in the background, when suddenly everything went black. That night I found out that Metro also quits at the same time. It was so cold and windy on the bridge, that I froze my buns off (I did not bring any warm clothes hoping for hot May). The number of old books and magazines in Paris always amazes me. One can spend hours browsing through them on the banks of the Seine. I painted those stalls with Notre-Dame peeking through. It took only a bit over 2 hours to get to Valence by TGV train, and the air was hot with smells of blooming kiwi and heavenly ripe fruit. I stayed in a beautiful old farm house with 3' thick stone walls, which protect you from heat and Mistral wind. Madam Baudouin welcomed me with the most beautiful French dish, which name I can not pronounce, that tasted out of this world. We continued eating 3 times a day in this manner and I gained all I lost during my walks through Paris. Valence is in the Rhone valley and the wild winds that blow through it made me understand Van Gogh. The field of rye bending in all directions was outside my window, and the clouds moving with the speed of the TGV train. We drove around, visited several castle towns, had picnics, where a red neck chicken stole a chunk of my cheese and Madam Baudouin rushed after him and reclaimed it. We sampled all the Provence specialities in Mirmande. Amid all this I did 3 paintings. Then it was NY, what a wonderful town! Food and art surround you. They closed 5 blocks of Broadway to the traffic and people sit in the middle of the street enjoying Times Square. I painted it sitting very comfortably at the top of the staircase, that is right smack in the centre of it. I did another painting from the corner of 5th & 40th looking at the library with fantastic buildings behind it. Those of you who will be out of town that weekend are welcome to come earlier to view my latest work. You also will see the Mexican watercolors, that I did last January. Please call at 206 722 8565 to let me know when you are coming. Nina   ^

All Rights Reserved. 2009 Nina Mikhailenko