City Park Pigeonnier

City Park in New Orleans has a house for pigeons called Colombier de Carol. What a nice name!

Colombier de Carol
oil on canvas, 18"x14"

To be honest, I didn't know what the structure was for when I was painting it. The human-sized door was open and some park workers were mowing the grass behind me, so I assumed it was a really fancy storage. Then I realized that this brick hexagon building had 10 small holes on each wall, with tiny wooden balconies for birds to sit on. There was also a plaque that explained how this pigeonnier was donated to the City Park in 1928 by Felix Dreyfous, and was named after his granddaughter Carol. It is located behind the Casino building (where Morning Call coffee stand is) on a small island called, what else, the Pigeon Island.

Although there weren't any pigeons around at that time, I can't imagine how many pigeons might come home to this when the sun goes down. Or maybe they aren't fond of this house and never come home - it looks too clean, doesn't it?

Magazine Street Parade

There is a song called Bourbon Street Parade - it's a second line staple in New Orleans. Although official parades rarely go down on Lower Garden portion of Magazine Street (except for the huge St. Pat's Day parades), there are quite a few small parades every once in a while.

I was painting in my old 'hood in Lower Garden District, on Magazine at Euterpe, with my teacher Phil on a Friday morning. At about 10:30, I noticed a bunch of people gathering around in small groups along Magazine St. just standing and waiting. One woman parked her gigantic SUV right next to where I was painting, idling her car, for half an hour. She was texting the whole time, and looked like someone who never had to be a foot away from an idling SUV in 90 degree heat for half an hour in her entire life. And suddenly she shut off the engine, got out, and walked away, leaving her SUV parked on the corner, right on top of one of those yellow diagonal lines indicating "you shall not park here. it is a corner." 

Then a parade came down the street. It was a last-day-of-school parade from the International School. Everyone was dressed up in pseudo-traditional outfit representing different countries that they recently studied about.  They teach all subjects in French and Spanish, but the first country represented in the parade was... Japon!

A little girl handed me this without explanation.
I had to smell it to know it was a coffee bean.

stilt walkers ended the short parade.

back to painting

I had to finish up in a hurry and forgot to put balcony railings. Oh well.

Rusty Fence in Mandeville, LA

The city of Mandeville is located on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, right on the foot of Causeway bridge that runs in the middle of the lake. Causeway is an extremely straight, two-lane highway with no shoulders.

After an agonizing 40 minute drive from New Orleans, you'll reach a quaint residential area overlooking the big lake. Lakeshore Drive runs alongside the shoreline, and a couple of nice restaurants cater to the residents. And their ground floors are 15 feet above ground. 40 steps of stairs will prepare you for a guilt-free meal.

When hurricanes hit New Orleans, except for the famous one that came in 2005, we typically experience street floods caused by pumps not pumping rain water fast enough out of the bowl in which we live. But if you live on Lakeshore Drive in Mandeville, you would see lake water gushing into your homes. When the flood insurance rate went up across the country, what most residents and restaurants on Lakeshore Drive did was elevate the existing structure. Some rebuilt from scratch with grand staircases leading up to the main entrance.

And others decided not to deal with any of it, and put the vacant lot for sale.

Rusty Fence
oil on canvas, 36"x24"

Zorn Palette in New Orleans Urban Landscape

Only 4 tubes of paint, yellow ochre, red (vermillion), white and black, are used in what they call the Zorn Palette, named after Anders Zorn, suited for portrait painting. This palette is too limiting to be used in painting landscapes, especially because New Orleans' ridiculously blue sky can not be created with black and white, and foliage won't have its vibrancy with the greens created with black and ochre. But I tried it anyway.

Shadows on Lowerline
oil on canvas, 18"x24"

Circle Bar
oil on canvas, 16"x20"

Shadows on Lowerline (top) is supposed to be a sunny day painting, but because of the absence of blue sky peaking through the trees on upper left corner and the bright green leaves on the trees, it almost looks like a nocturne painting with the shadows cast by a streetlight, reminiscent of the "day for night" strangeness of old film noir or French New Wave films.

On the other hand, Circle Bar came out better because it was a cloudy day with warm milky sky. The local colors of the two buildings helped as well.

It is exciting to see what 4 tubes of paint can do!

Shades of Green

It's early summer in New Orleans and all the different shades of green are giving me a headache. Really. I'm allergic to oak trees and weeds and other things commonly seen in the outdoors. And I have trouble painting trees and grass... Man it's hard.

Bell Tower from Audubon Park, New Orleans
oil on panel, 12"x16"

Oak Tree in City Park, New Orleans
oil on canvas, 18"x14"

Shades of Green, Audubon Park, New Orleans
oil on canvas, 14"x18"

Shadows-On-The-Teche Plein Air 2015 (part 2)

The inaugural Plein Air Competition was organized by Shadows-On-The-Teche, a historic house and garden in downtown New Iberia, La. From April 11 to 18, the participating artists were allowed free entry to the area's historic sites, including Avery Island and Tabasco factory's Jungle Gardens, and Jefferson Island where Rip Van Winkle Gardens is located. 

Both Avery Island and Jefferson Island are salt domes, and according to the Iberia Parish's travel guide, there are five "islands" in the region. They "rise up above the grassy marshlands and prairies that surround them. From 50 to 100 feet above sea level, these areas of high ground are sitting on top of mammoth, immovable columns of salt, which hold them up above the surrounding countryside. These monoliths of salt are two to three miles wide and five miles or more in depth."

The judge of the competition and my teacher Phil Sandusky had told me about Rip Van Winkle Gardens and that's where I painted first, with fellow painter Peg Usner, while our husbands chatted over iced tea off camera.

Peg and I use the same palette & easel set up,
made by Art Box & Panel

Lake Peigneur
oil on canvas, 14"x18"

April 12 - Above is a view of Lake Peigneur, from one of the many structures in Rip Van Winkle Gardens. It was raining and we painted under the awning of a banquet hall. The brick chimney in the middle of the canvas belongs to a house that sunk into the lake in 1980. I didn't know about this when I painted the chimney, but there was a man-made disaster where "a Texaco oil rig accidentally drilled into the Diamond Crystal Salt Company salt mine under the lake." (wikipedia)

Long story short, the lake drained into the salt mine, creating a waterfall that swallowed 11 barges and a backwards flow of the salt water from the Delcambre Canal and Vermilion Bay. Amazingly, all of the salt miners and oil rig workers escaped and there were no injuries.

April 13 - I was all alone with no car. And it rained cats and dogs in the morning. So I set up inside the screened porch and painted what was there.

View From Porch I
oil on panel, 12"x16"

Luckily the rain stopped after lunch and I took a 20-minute hike to the Amtrak station in downtown New Iberia. It was extremely windy and I set up in front of a huge blue dumpster but had to hold onto my easel the whole time I was painting.

photo by Kathy Chassee

The Erath Building
oil on canvas, 14"x18"

The Erath Building has nothing to do with Amtrak, but it is right in front of the station. It was built in 1880s and the front of the building currently houses an art gallery.

April 14 - I woke up to thunder, lightning, and buckets of rain. It was porch painting time again.

View From Porch II
oil on panel, 10"x8"

In late afternoon I walked to nearby City Park to scout some locations. The flash flood warning was in effect but the rain had subsided.

April 15 - finally a while day without rain!
I set up under a little shelter in City Park. The ground was saturated and fire ants were everywhere. And off course the trash bin right next to me was full of stinky garbage... why do I always set up next to trash bins and dumpsters?

Footbridge in City Park
oil on canvas, 14"x18"

Then there was a welcome party at Shadows-on-the-Teche, with shrimp jambalaya and huge fried shrimp.

photo by Kathy Chassee

April 16 - Phil and I set up to paint the same subject which was the Minuteman Furniture Restoration on Julia Street. It rained on and off but we were under the awning of a church across the street. The whole time I was painting, I kept imagining the members of Minutemen restoring furniture, humming to their songs coming from the radio. I always have music playing in my head while painting, usually some Nick Cave songs.

Minuteman Furniture Restoration
oil on canvas, 14"x18"

April 17 - Painting submission deadline for judging. After turning in 2 paintings in the morning, I made Phil drive us to Konriko Rice Mill, the oldest operating rice mill in the US, to paint one last time.

Konriko Rice Mill
oil on panel, 12"x16"

April 18 - I took a day off from painting. We drove out to the Avery Island and walked around Jungle Gardens. At night, there was the gala and auction of submitted paintings at Clementine restaurant in downtown New Iberia. Jerome, the mastermind of this plein air event, bought one of my paintings - Thank you Jerome!

In order to participate in this event I had to miss two group show openings that I was part of. Although the house I was staying in made me feel like I was stuck in a Twilight Zone episode, it was a fun experience. It was my first plein air event, and I'm glad I did it. I felt privileged to be in the company of great artists and great organizers. A big thank-you to Jerome, Pat, Kathy, Joy, and Phil. Congratulations to Mary Monk (1st place winner), Richard Abraham (2nd place), and Hilari Baranco (3rd place)!

Number of plein air paintings made: 8
Number of lunch visits made to Bon Creole: 3
Number of shrimp eaten: dozens and dozens, large and small
Locals who gave me nothing but kind and encouraging words in passing: countless

Shadows-On-The-Teche Plein Air 2015 (part 1)

A plein air competition took place on April 11-18 in New Iberia, La, and I was lucky enough to be a part of this inaugural event. About 30 artists from south Louisiana and St. Paul, MN participated in this competition and my teacher Phil Sandusky was the judge.

Shadows-On-The-Teche visitor center

poster for the event!

artist's pass got us into historic houses and gardens for free

New Iberia is a little over 2 hours' drive west from New Orleans, and I had visited its historic downtown twice before, during my post-Katrina refugee days almost 10 years ago (we lived in nearby St. Martinville up on La 31 for 4 months). And what was different this time?

cue "Storm Warning" by Mac Rebennack

Solid dark clouds with rainstorms. Oh and some thunder and lightning, as well as a flash flood warning almost every day. The sun came out behind thick clouds for about 4 hours total in 7 days. It rained so hard for so long, the toilet stopped flushing in the low-lying area where I was staying. Naturally the water on Bayou Teche was unusually high.

the most inaccessible handicap parking

nutria! and little... ducks?

On Thursday afternoon, Phil did a painting demonstration in the rain under the Steamboat Pavilion in Bouligny Plaza right next to the bayou.

initial block-in

adding electricity

masterpiece!

I will upload some of the paintings I've done during the event on the next post. Stay tuned!