A Colourful Melange

 A Colorful Melange for 12 31 23

I was inspired by Karel Appel's color palette and his pure abstraction.  As seen below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD27czhCUu0

Karel Appel painted Life in Colour

This one I found in an old 1967 Unicef book that graced our house in the 60's/ 

Alfred Lesbros

 

I copied and Alfred Lesbros painting in hopes of learning his style. He was an expressionist painter about 100 years ago in the South of France and I love the way he simplified his work. Perhaps I will learn a thing or two. 

Money doesn't grow on trees, but back in the 60's sometimes phones grew on sheep!

 

The mysterious American Soldier

In 1918, all the soldiers who had not perished in the horror of the Great War were returning home. The French government asked French families to accommodate American soldiers while organizing their repatriation. Régis, my great grandfather, offered to host one. The soldier is the photo below wearing a hat. The rest of the young people are my grandfather, Marcel, his siblings and three girl cousins.

The story goes that there was a flirtation with Germaine (my grandfather's sister) to the extent that they even considered getting married. Germaine said it was love at first site but her father Régis did not accept the idea of his daughter moving to the other side of the Atlantic. In the end, the soldier left for home.

Later Germaine married Jean Saïn, a jeweler in Avignon.

Top Row from left to right: Roger (who died of TB at the age of 19), Régis Jr. , Marcel, The American Soldier, Pierre, and Jean

Bottom Row from left to right: Germaine and 3 cousins 

The Met on Degas and Manet

 Three portraits,  three people

 
Fillippino Lippi Self-portait around 1500AD

Edward Degas copies this one while studying. Circa 1860's

And so Sandra Moreano couldn't help but take a stab at it using colored pencils. 
I love the unevenness of the eyes lending an expression of ignorance from which I am also quite guilty. I have much to learn.