The PB Murals: The Countryside Wall

The corner showing the market wall and the countryside wall, above the boulangerie

The final wall in my series of murals at PB Boulangerie Bistro, in Wellfleet, MA, is all about the countryside surrounding Lyon and some very important players in the gastronomic life of the city.

 It's fair to say that wine is at least as important as food, in this region of France. While Lyon lies between Beaujolais, Burgundy and the Rhône-Alpes (and is technically situated in the Rhône-Alpes region), Beaujolais is the prevalent wine in the area, so I painted vineyards of Gamay grapes, the primary grape used in the production of this wine. Here, workers are picking the grapes to go into the season's vintage.

The gamay grape is deep purple at it's ripest. I painted my grapes a little brighter so they would show up from a distance.

The rooster is one of the most common symbols of France, but it also means good luck for a chef to have a rooster in his restaurant.
The signs point to the two big wine making regions around Lyon.

Joseph Rispoli, father of Chef Philippe, along with eleven of his buddies - all of whom are movers and shakers in the world of French food and wine - got together and bought a vineyard in Régnié, which has just begun to produce wine. The vigneron (winemaker) is Patrick Péchard, one of the twelve gourmet pals. The bottle pictured on the barrel is their wine, a Beaujolais-Villages called Cuvée Croix Penet. (I am writing a separate post about this group and their wine - coming soon.)

 

The goose who has wandered up to Joseph is a foie gras producing goose. Not only is foie gras adored all over France, but it is a staple of Chef Philippe's menu at PB Bistro. I personally can't get enough of his Seared Foie Gras with Tarte Tatin and Candied Nuts, deglazed with Sherry Vinegar. It is sweet, salty, savory, nutty, crunchy, smooth... rich and earthy, piquant and unexpected - every bite a delight for the senses! (I'll have to order it again soon, so I can take a picture to share - how's that for an excuse?!)

The pigs are so important for the vast array of charcuterie that comes from France, especially Lyon. From pâtés to sausages to hams, charcuterie in all its forms can be found on every restaurant and home table. Chef Philippe makes his own charcuterie at PB Bistro.

 The best beef in France comes from the cattle raised in and around Charolles, in the Bourgogne region, near Lyon.

A fun video of Charolais cattle being shown off at an annual festival - French pride in their animals is clearly evident!

Dotting the hillsides behind the cows are sheep and goats. Cheeses from this region come from the milk of all three animals. Some cheeses are made with a mixture of two.

Rolling hillsides with charming red-roofed towns dot the landscape. The red roofs originated with the Romans, who created terra cotta here. Almost every town has its own little antique church. Often, unexpected treasures of art, such as murals, can be discovered within their walls.

The Romans occupied this area as long ago as 43BC and Roman ruins are still plentiful in the countryside around Lyon. Here, I have painted the remains of an aqueduct, built by the Romans to carry water from local rivers to the towns, as well as to vineyards and fields for irrigation. And yes, the Gallo-Romans planted vines for wine here, all those centuries ago. Fragments of pottery found in an ancient vineyard near Gevrey-Chambertin date it to the 1st century BC.

The PB Murals: The Vieux Lyon Wall

Vieux Lyon (meaning Old Lyon) is the oldest part of the city, dating to at least Roman times. In 942, Lyon became part of the Kingdom of Burgundy, and later, in 1307, became part of the Kingdom of France. 

This photo (above) of La Place de la Trinité was my inspiration for this wall

The remarkably charming buildings in this part of Lyon are plaster colored in the wonderful pink, peach & ochre tones you see here. Medieval and renaissance architectural details abound here. The streets are cobblestone.

The organ grinder with his limonaire (crank organ music box or hurdy gurdy), similar to the one played and celebrated at PB Bistro, is a common site in Lyon. Many still keep a traditional little monkey as their sidekick. He attracts customers and collects donations, and I suppose, is the organ grinder's best pal. 

I gave my organ grinder (picture on right) the look of a gitan (gypsy) with his purple vest and yellow silk neckerchief with red polka dots. (See my two most popular posts, ever - both on French gypsies here and here.)

At PB Bistro - the wonderfully entertaining William (pronounced weel-YAHM), playing the limonaire during a recent upbeat evening

The sidewalk dining bistro scene is typical of such settings, all over France. The charcuterie platter with mustard, cornichons and sliced baguette is commonly enjoyed in Lyon. I decided to put university students at the bistro table in the mural, as a reminiscence of my own student days in France. We felt we were so sophisticated and grown-up, drinking wine for lunch and eating such amazing foods, and the truth is...I still believe we were!

The blackboard has a menu du jour that would be seen at many a Lyonnais bistro, including Bugnes de Lyon (miniature beignets). This particular menu was dreamed up for me by Pascaline, Philippe's maman.

The chef (who bears a slight resemblance to PB's own Philippe Rispoli) is standing in front of a Bouchon Lyonnais, a sort of restaurant typical of and specific to Lyon. Bouchons are bistros, serving traditional cuisine lyonnaise, such as homemade sausages, duck pâté, and other charcuteries, fish quenelles (dumplings), coq au vin, chicken stuffed with morels, and other hearty foods.

The épicerie is a grocery store which carries fresh produce and dairy products. As in this picture, épiceries display their products out on the sidewalk in all but the most inclement weather.

The baker represents both a boulanger (breads chef) and a pâtissier (pastry chef), both of whom are so important to the daily life of French citizens... and to the customers and staff at PB!  As in France, the French bakers at PB Boulangerie are there all night, every night, baking everything fresh for the next morning.

Above, just a small hint of the outstanding pastries and breads displayed at PB Boulangerie.

Painting French Murals...a job that feels like a vacation! (Part 2)

Since my first post on this exciting project, I have had NO time to do anything but draw and paint my mural designs at PB Boulangerie Bistro. One month later, I am finally taking a day off and thought I'd give a quick update of the murals. They are almost completely finished...just a few more days of painting left, and then I'll share pictures along with the stories behind each one.

In my last post, I showed the little sketches I had done originally. My next step was to enlarge those to full size, which I did in my dining room.

 This is the drawing for the city of Lyon, with the Rhône river, the Hôtel Dieu, the basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, and a hot-air balloon, just for fun.

Starting to paint the first wall - the wine wall. 

I had brought my iPod with me for music, but it was much more fun to listen to the piped in French radio at the restaurant. If you like French songs (including classics as well as Top 40), click on Chante France, the music station from Paris, that I've been listening to this month. A number of the songs they've been playing are also on my iPod, so I knew them, but most are songs I didn't know, which made it really fun. That helped me get into the mood, as did all the French language flying around between the chef, his visiting family and his staff.

I transfered my drawings from paper onto the walls, and then began painting. Here is a taste of what's to come:

Painting French Murals...a job that feels like a vacation! (Part 1)

I recently began what is certainly my favorite mural job, ever: I am designing and painting scenes of traditional French life with a focus on food and wine, at our favorite local French restaurant. I had stopped doing murals, several years ago, in favor of spending time on my paintings for our gallery, as well as painting new needlepoint designs for my wholesale business KSH Needlepoint Collections. However, when our friend, Chef Philippe Rispoli, asked me about doing murals for his charming boulangerie and bistro, I simply could not resist.

I lucked out because Philippe started out as a huge fan of Jack's paintings. He currently owns two of them and is talking about having a show of Jack's works this summer, at the restaurant. He only found out later that I paint murals.

Chef Philippe Rispoli

Philippe's PB Boulangerie Bistro is located just 20 minutes from our house, in Wellfleet (well, 40 minutes in the summer, but so worth the drive). We originally met him, after we moved to Cape Cod, when friends told us we simply had to try the outstanding food the chef prepares there. The very first time we ate at PB, we went back into the open kitchen to congratulate the chef and have had a growing friendship, ever since.  I love this video interview with Chef Philippe:

Philippe grew up outside of Lyon, the gastronomic capitol of France, and cooked there for many years before moving to the United States. He has a stellar résumé, beginning at age 14, eventually cooking with the great Paul Bocuse in Lyon, and then with Daniel Boulud, in this country. Discussions with Philippe about Lyon and his favorite thoughts about that part of France, led to the various concepts for my murals. In addition, I have looked at lots of photos and books about the Lyon and Beaujolais regions of France. Probably most importantly, I am also relying on my own love affair with France and everything French.

I am having so much fun creating pictures of typical daily life in France, that I almost feel as if I am there on vacation. My soul is definitely on the other side of the Atlantic this week! While it's not as good as really being there, this job has been brightening my winter days on Cape Cod.

Basically, I am writing a story with pictures. While sketching out my concepts, I am making up people I would like to meet and buy food from at the local market - and I'm putting lots of my favorite foods into that market. I am watching a "guignol" puppet show with cute French kids, and admiring Philippe's French black cocker spaniel. In my imagination, I am looking at the rolling hills of beaujolais, covered everywhere with vineyards and dotted with charming little towns nestled in those hillsides. I am sipping wine at a sidewalk café. In short, I have been creating an imaginary French town where I would like to live, and putting in all my new friends and neighbors, from the town butcher to a chic young woman with an Hermès birkin bag.

For starters, here are what my original concepts looked like - done on tracing paper, so that I could see  graph paper through it. The graph grid has made it easier to transfer the small sketches to life-size drawings on heavy paper, which will be taken to the restaurant when I start to transfer the designs onto the walls. Painting will be the last (and longest) part of the process.

The wall devoted to wine - in barrels, wooden cases and bottles for tasting.

This walls depicts the cityscape of Lyon, which lies at the junction of the Rhône & Saône rivers. It includes a péniche - a river barge, typical of the city.

Vieux Lyon is the old part of the city. I have included a boulanger (baker) and a chef, as well as as an organ grinder.

A scene typical of the countryside surrounding Lyon, with a fois gras duck, pigs & the famous cows from Charolles, who produce divine beef for Paul Bocuse, and restaurants all over France. The Roman ruins and vineyards are also common sights.

The Place du Marché, with everyone from Philippe's mother, who in real life, makes homemade jams for the restaurant... to the fish seller offering American lobster (my nod to Cape Cod!)

I have been working on the full-scale drawings for a week now, and am almost finished with them. Then I literally have one month while the restaurant is closed, to paint everything in place. Wish me luck, and come along with me on my "journey"!