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Our next day in Paris we took a stroll without destination through Montmartre. Of course stopping by the square filled with artists to look at their work. Since the cliché for paintings here is that of street scenes of French architecture I was entralled to see new techniques and ideas. Perhaps it isn’t really the avant-garde of modern art, but it pleased me a lot to look at. There was one of the artists who used a piece of bamboo cut into a point as a quill pen that he would dip into a small jar of ink. This was then followed by watercolor that turned the picture into a beautiful colored painting. Simple, but the detail was amazing with the erratic line quality.

The simple watercolor paintings that I have been coming across in France have led to quite a lot of inspiration for me, but I just hope that I will be able to use this inspiration improve my own watercolors. Perhaps when I no longer have to worry about my paintings for painting class.

We met an Egyptian who told us that even though he was born in Egypt, his soul is French. His paintings looked a bit like color field theory, but not in the way that student’s work looks. There were layers built up and then the paint was paired with gold leaf. It changed color with every angle.

They talked about art. His inspiration. His subject matter abstracted. They talked about the problems of the world and how it seems that the major powers are all about to shift.
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