New French girl around!

[Carlos Ygoa]

Welcome, Karine!
I wouldn

[Allan Rahbek]

Hello Karine,

welcome to the forum from a fellow European in Denmark. I like your pastel and hope to see more paintings of yours.

Our queen has a house in your neighborhood, Chateau Caix in Cahore. You may see her painting in the garden if you peep through the fence.

Allan

[Karine Monaco]

Muchas Gracias Carlos!

Well, I am not so good in Spanish either! I studied it for many years, but did not practice enough and started to forget words after words... This is a shame I have never been to Madrid although I have lived close to Spain for years, but I would like to go someday. This city is beautiful, isn't it?

Originally Posted by Carlos Ygoa

Your piece looks strong, confident, and impressive. Hope to see more.

I'm a little embarassed to get all these compliments! The thing is that I really enjoyed painting this one. I think it is important not to worry about the outcome, just enjoying the process. In my humble opinion, technical skills are something essential to learn, but there is another important one to me, which is enjoying the act of painting!

This should be something natural to us, yet we can easily forget it, sometimes, when getting commissions that do not inspire us as much as we would like them to, when we begin to worry that the portrait doesn't get done properly or in time, or when students practice and do not get the results they are hoping to get. Painting is a very intense way of learning about oneself, but how exciting is it!

Carlos, could you please give me the link to the Spanish forum you found?

[Karine Monaco]

Hello Allan,

Originally Posted by Allan Rahbek

Our queen has a house in your neighborhood, Chateau Caix in Cahore. You may see her painting in the garden if you peep through the fence.

That would be fun

Actually I didn't know about this castle, maybe I will go someday. It is not so far from here. It is situated in the Lot, which is a natural and beautiful region. Have you been there?
There are so many things we Europeans do not know about our fellow neighbours... I hope I can learn more about Denmark too thanks to you through this forum!

[Allan Rahbek]

Karine,
I found some photos from Cahore. The queen does her own shopping, you see.
Allan

[Luca Vallifuoco]

Wellcome Karine,
I hope that here you can find all the suggests you need. You just found some new friends.

[Heidi Maiers]

Hi Karine,
Your work is intriguing and your English is excellent and written in a warm, friendly manner. You will be well received here. Welcome aboard!
I know what you mean about forgetting a language. I took Spanish for 10 years and used to be quite fluent - but like anything else, use it or lose it.

[Karine Monaco]

Hello Allan, it is so rare for a monarch to quietly do her own shopping. Your queen seems to live an interesting and simple life in Cahors. I am impressed! Does she spend most of the year in France, or does she come here for some vacations only?

Ciao Luca, and thank you. I already found useful information on this forum, and being able to communicate with all of you is a wonderful opportunity. I hope I can also be of any help sometimes here. I know Italy a little bit. In what part of Italy do you live?

Hi Heidi, I am intrigued that you find my work intriguing

Well, I must admit I often have to look up words in my dictionary to write my replies, though I studied English for many years! The good news is that even if you lose it, you can find it back as soon as you decide to, with a little time of adaptation.

Thank you for your friendly message. I am glad to be well received by such a talented sculptor! A photograph of an artwork is never as impressive as an original, but still when I see the pictures of your sculptures on your website, I can feel the energy of life radiated by those artworks. I can't imagine how captivating they must be in reality. Congratulations.

[Marina Dieul]

Karine,
yes, Montreal is very different from french cities. It's just big enough to have the advantages of a big city but not too much inconvenients...
The bad thing is that it's not a high place for visual arts, and even less for figurative art ( but all this is going to change: I'm here! )
But for the moment I feel homesick, but I have to wait until this summer to go back "home"...

[Karine Monaco]

Hi Marina,

The bad thing is that it's not a high place for visual arts, and even less for figurative art ( but all this is going to change: I'm here! )

Haha, No doubt about it

I know homesickness too. I have lived abroad. It is a wonderful experience, but we get to miss people and small things we didn't even notice before we went away, but that we realize are important to us when we lose them. Hope you feel better soon. And, after all, summer is not so far from now!!

If this can help, do you know that we all get homesick when coming back and living in our native country again? This can take years, but sooner or later, surprinsingly, you realize that your host country became a big part of yourself, and that you miss it. Please enjoy your life in Quebec, for you may miss it someday if you move from there, even if you're kind of sad right now! Bon courage

Karine