Paris Breakfasts (Carol Gillot)

Ah, Paris, city of light, city of culture, city of romance, city of… breakfasts? But, of course!

Paris Breakfasts is a delightful blog by watercolorist Carol Gillot. Part deja-travelog, part sketch-blog, part paean to sweets and the sweet life, it meanders from food to travel to watercolor technique, often in the course of the same post.

And of course, there are the breakfasts. You’ll find photos of breakfasts, watercolors of breakfasts, and photos of watercolors of breakfasts, often arranged with real breakfasts on and around them, at times apparently holding down the paper while the colors dry.

Parisian breakfasts are quite different from American breakfasts, as many American tourists discover to their dismay when traveling in Europe. No seared piles of breakfast meat, heaping bowls of milk-soaked, sugar-covered grain or stacks of syrup-drenched pancakes, despite the French reputation for crêpes.

Breakfast in France is a small, sweet affair, usually a croissant, or bread and jam, with juice and coffee or, if coaxed, tea. Not the fare for Denny’s fans, but perfect for quick watercolor sketches of white china glistening with reflected color, shiny coffee pots reflecting colorful jams and berries, steaming cups of le chocolat chaud and the rich hues of candies and pastries.

Paris Breakfasts has lots of these fresh, bright, on-the-spot watercolors, as well as more studied travel images, many from Venice and rural areas of France, lots of photos, along with discussions of watercolor technique and other art related topics. Gillot lives in New York, but has traveled often, has a distinct passion for Paris, chocolate and ice cream, and apparently has lots of photographs and lots of travel sketches to show for her travels.

Gillot’s professional watercolors, some of which you can see on her main web site, Carol Cillot Vineyard Impressions, are often devoted to images of wineries, both for promotion of the vineyards and as editorial illustrations for food and wine magazines.

The largest repository of her work on the web is actually her Flickr galleries, which include many more travel paintings, sketches, sketchbook pages, photos of food (largely sweets), a fascinating section devoted specifically to watercolor color matching experiments, and, of course,… breakfasts.