There is a time for everything and sometimes one needs to take a distance and view the big picture and we could use a little time out after all the excitement and busyness of Paris. The possibility to do so came from a friend who invited us to stay in his place in the country as it was empty. Now this was not just any place but a beautiful Chateau in the middle of a small village called Molemnes,  about 2 hours by car or train from Paris. It was an enormous gated property with an apple orchard and other fruit trees and the Chateau itself on the outside was completely restored in the original style

but inside everything was very modern and sleek with several studios and since the whole place was practically empty it was a great feeling of space.

The friend was Karel Appel, a very famous Dutch painter and I guess anyone into Art will know about him, in Holland he is a household name. I remember, I must have been 6 or 7, walking with my father in The Hague and I saw this big poster of a painting in the Stedelijk Museum and asked what is this? “Father and son” he said and that was the painting by Karel Appel that stirred the Dutch Art world and left me wondering. So funny how vividly I remember this moment. Anyway, Karel now lived in Paris and had become a friend. It is a pity how few pictures we made at that time compared to now but I did make some…

this is a portrait I did of Karel Appel

 …and my favorite models again… Apple and Alejandro

Apple came to stay with us for a long time because the school holidays were on and many other friends came to visit and stay for a little while. Karel introduced us to his friend Richard Lindner, an other famous painter, who was already very old then. Later in Paris we met his wife and had some nice dinners at their house, he was funny!

Here Polaroid of Salvador, Karel, Juan C. Herrera and me…

Sometimes Karel would pass by and paint for a day, his paintings were already sold before he made them and he could make 4 or 5 a day. He loved to see Salvador painting that would inspire him to paint and Salvador painted all the time, here a portrait he did of me taking sun.…

.…and this one of Apple

 

Here Alejandro and me in the kitchen when we just arrived there, I am wearing one of the pants I made for Pierre d’Albie and the jacket from the series I made in Canada .

 

We stayed quiet a while, maybe 6 months or so as I can see from the pictures that go from no leaves at all to lushes green leafed beauties as here in the painting Salvador did of some corner in the back yard..

and the summer there was so beautiful overlooking the whole valley from the windows on the back.

There was a great restaurant in the little village where we would go often, sometimes walking which was about 2.5 miles through the fields of wheat and fruits and sometimes I would take the train to Paris to do fittings and shows and check our place and when the summer came to an end it was time to go back to 11 Rue de Douai in Paris.

I leave you with a picture of my talented God daughter Ava, CLICK HERE to see and hear what she does, in 2002 in front of a Karel Appel in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

...in my head I have been designing and

something is working… I realize that if I wanted to design and sell something it had to be simple ( no capital) and if possible one size fits all (no profesional help because no capital) material that needs to be available and different and good prized ( for the same reason) and I need help…

and don’t forget to go to Alegria’s Blog, click here, to follow Salvador so you keep up with both of us.

LOVE and PEACE