Sweet Muse

I should probably explain why travel is such an important inspiration for me. While I don't go to far off places that often, when I do, I find that they literally stick with me. I can't let them go. I still (two months later) daydream during the day of strolling along the Seine walking to the Musee Dorsay with the wind whipping at us and freezing and yet utterly happy and content. I think I choose to illustrate the places that I have been, or the personality of the places I have been, as a way to keep them with me, even when I am home.

Photos by Michelle B. Please do not copy or use without linking back to Sweet Musings.

The trips I have taken before have normally led to gouache paintings of crowd scenes, since I am normally in touristy areas, and I hate crowds, I think that is what I notice most, but then the paintings also explore the types of people and the feel of the area as well.

Painting by Michelle B. Please do not copy or use without linking back to Sweet Musings.

It's interesting that I did not have the desire to create a painting like this of Paris. I honestly expected that to happen. But it didn't... I think that I needed to create the illustrations of the girl and her french bulldog. She is my alter ego, she is my french counterpart. She allows me to daydream, and to still be there, wandering the city in springtime. More adventures to come... xo