22 Jun

Wanderlust

Paris

hello friend

it’s me here
a kinder, gentler me after spending a month in Paris 🙂

feeling renewed from things and circumstances that I didn’t anticipate

it rained a lot
I needed that

I haunted Shakespeare and Co bookshop a few times and began reading A Moveable Feast by Hemingway (it’s about his early days in Paris)

I drank wine and had a jambone and played in the paints while sitting on a piece of Paris earth, the same little island in the Seine that Notre Dame sits on

I Ubered
a lot
I walked and walked

I averaged 3 cappuccinos every day
and at least one croissant
and a partial baguette 

I frequented the flower shops, both staring in windows when closed and buying peonies and roses when they were open
I smiled a lot during the flower purchasing exchanges since I don’t speak a lick of French
the smiles were easy and equally rewarded

I visited the waterlilies at the Musee l’Orangerie and saw them with new eyes
I visited my impressionist friends’ work at Musee d’Orsay and realized we both had aged
they seemed different to me this time and I realized it was because I was different

I made a wonderful new friend, an American guy married to a Paris gal

I slept under skylights that allowed me to see the Paris skies from the time my eyes popped open in the morning til they rested themselves at night

I had a lot of wine and Spritzes
and pastries
and candies from shops in business for a mere 300 years

I sat on the earth in Monet’s place and saw a rainbow on his pond
I felt a tremendous amount of gratitude

I met Anna who’s a whopping 4 months old
I rode carousels
(that’s plural as in more than one 😉

I painted in Renoir’s garden and found myself able to be present—miracle of miracles

I sat on our rooftop deck, early and late
to write, to listen

I had good, deep conversation there too
I laughed
a lot

I picked up new paint colors
a box of blue, 9 tubes
then a box of reds,  9 tubes
then a box of pinks and greens, 9 tubes each
and then I felt the hunger pangs settle down

I found new pencils rolled in a bright yellow jacket and watercolors that have been made the same way forever
a handmade paper journal that was a bit worn and the only one left in a very old art store came back with me

angel
statues
everywhere
they are waiting on my pen, this I know

curly hair that grew out on the trip and became more unmanageable and more me in the process (am I unmanageable?)

glimpses of magnificence
everywhere
big, small, nothing left out

ghosts of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Monet, Manet, Vincent and Renoir fill up the city

dear friend it is a city, a place, that takes the breath
away

whatever comes of this will be rich and deep

it is something wanting to be realized
I am willing to be the vehicle for that
the trick is letting this be what it wants to be

which is also the joy part of things

I was moved by Paris
it is still unfolding

Postcards from Paris, The Experience
Coming Jan/2019

P.S.  Interest list for Postcards from Paris is here if you’d like to be part of it>> Click Here

I should add a note that all of the new art items shown here are simply for the pleasure of trying new things
no claims, no expectations
they are with me simply for the joy
the way creativity plays
full out
just for joy

that IS the point 😉

Dreama Tolle Perry Log
Leave a reply

    Leave a Comment

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Read more conversations
  1. This takes me to places I will probably never experience. Thank you.

  2. Faye Christian Phillips

    Delightful, charming, and oh so inspiring in a swoon-worthy way only YOU could impart. So much to savor in Paree’! Of course it is hard to imagine anything equaling your squeal of delight at seeing a lavender field (my ears are still ringing)…
    Thanks for sharing the joy and delight! You are THE best!
    xoxo,
    Faye

  3. Darlene

    Love, Love your classes. How can we order the Charvin paints. So cute!!!
    Thank YOU for always sharing.

    • Dreama

      Jerry’s Art carries them here in the US Darlene 😊. And thanks so much for the good words!

  4. Sharon

    Paris! The ultimate! Thank you so much Dreama for your ongoing search for beauty.

  5. Martha P Lamkin

    Loved your enchanting account of your Paris stay! I was there with you in my mind, and then the lovely video just was the icing on the cake! If I were younger and mobile, I would so love to go with you on a painting trip to Paris, or to Italy! You are very blessed, and you bless others with your painting and your writing! God bless you, Dreama! You live up to your name!

  6. Patricia

    I agree that Paris in magical, esp. if you can stay there without an itinerary and have time to walk around slowly, a slow meander.
    You must try a trip to Netherlands when the tulips & spring flowers are blooming. I was completely in awe of the windmills. Keukenhof gardens are stunning and very cleverly done landscapes & flower displays.
    You would love the countryside with dikes, canals & windmills. Riks museum is fabulous.
    Oh, I agree Florence Italy is divine. David is
    unbelievably stunning!!

  7. Maureen

    What a lovely way to take us on a stroll through your delightful memories of Paris. You are a Dreama 💖 Thanks for sharing them.

  8. Dreama, I took your online course. I’ve been in Tuscany for about a month….currently in Venice.

    I will log on to your course again and finish up when I get back to Delaware.

    In the meantime, I’d be thrilled if you actually took some of us and did a workshop in Paris.
    Been to Paris lots with my husband. I appears that you were in the 5th a lot…..Shakespeare’s and Company etc.

    Your online class helped lots with my plein air in Tuscany

Follow along

Follow along on my social accounts for behind the scenes peeks, inspiration, tips, stories & more.