Summer Vacation: French Edition

        Today’s block print vacation takes us to France, but more specifically to Paris.  All three of my own pieces come from Paris (which is pretty much the only place I’ve had a chance to explore in France), and most of the other art I’ve posted previously is from Paris, as well.

        Let’s start with the requisite Eiffel Tower.  Although I made a block print of this most stereotypical of French icons, I did want to do a less obvious view of it.  This is the view from beneath, looking up along one of the legs.  You can see a bit about my process here, as well as comparing three other artists’ views of the Eiffel Tower.  (You can also see the photo on which the print is based here.)

        This second piece is my most recent, just completed a couple of weeks ago.  It shows some of the gargoyles on the Church of Saint-Séverin.  They probably date to the fifteenth century, and being genuine gargoyles and not mere decorative grotesques, they stretch out long and straight to channel rainwater well away from the church’s masonry.  I am tickled by their goofy expressions and cartoonish hairstyles.  Unlike a lot of gargoyles that perch sky-high on their soaring gothic structures, Saint-Séverin has a wonderful double row of beautiful gargoyles along the edge of a lower roof, so that you can actually admire them from the ground.

        For more block print views of Paris you can see a collection of pieces here, 

plus Le Pont Neuf here.

        My final piece posted today is not a real block print but one of the digital faux woodcuts I made to illustrate The Extraordinary Book of Doors.  It is a door in the Louvre, specifically in the Salle des Caryatides in a sixteenth century wing dating back to its days as a palace.

        Before we leave, I’ll give you a chance to get out of the city and visit Monet’s garden at Giverny.

        And a final jaunt to Dinan in Brittany.

[Pictures: Eiffel Tower, rubber block print by AEGN, 2015 (sold out);

Gargoyles of Saint-Séverin, rubber block print by AEGN, 2020;

Plate IV: Louvre, digital image by AEGN from The Extraordinary Books of Doors, 2014.]