A Walk in Nantes: July 24, 2012

angel fresco in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, Nantes, France

Walking is something I do a lot of, wherever I may find myself. Not only does it get me where I need to go in a guilt free, non polluting manner, the route provides an endless stream of beautiful and fascinating things to observe and is a calming form of moving meditation. Whenever I feel agitated my daily walks pacify me and help to put my life in perspective. Most of all I love to share the things I observe along the way, mainly recording impressions through photos. 

On this particular sunny day in late July my first stop was the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, a small Gothic edifice tucked into a cobbled side street nearby. The interior provides views of  fresco fragments, decorative wall treatments in various states of decay, small carvings tucked up high in the arches and a glimpse down through a window in the floor to a late medieval tomb crypt.

late afternoon sun throws stained glass colours on the floor tiles

and on a rather graceless, over life size and badly eroded Virgin trampling a serpent underfoot

so many centuries of change have left their mark, however fragmented

carved wall panels with biblical scenes

a detail view of purgatory from a large painting

a fresco wall inscription

a carved stone figure curls in a corner, high up among the arches

a neglected side chapel with lovely, decaying decorative painting

chapel detail

 a memorial with winged vanitas skull

a niche behind the altar bears the scar of a sculpture base

close up of a stone dragon on high

another side chapel with lovely gold stars across the vault of blue "heaven"

the base of an ornately carved pulpit

votive plaques offered in gratitude for answered prayers

another empty sculpture niche among votive offerings

view of a side chapel and the main altar to the left

another memorial and reminder of mortality

on my way out I spotted this charming fox-like creature at the termination of an arch high on the wall

 on a back street--- for me this image tells a story that changes each time I look

I like to take a back route to the Jardin des Plantes and this flowered summer dress drying on a tiny balcony caught my eye...
Arriving at the Jardin was a complete change of gears--from frozen stone and death's heads to young animals and the warmth of hundreds of miniature suns sharing their bounty with a full court of bees in attendance...

coot chick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

carnivorous pitcher plants in the afternoon sun

turtles soaking up the sun

a fairy waterfall in the Jardin des Plantes

Reflections

If you have read some of my earlier posts you will know I have a fascination with the surface of water and the designs to be found there-- like the fleeting evidence of passage traced by waterfowl or the dorsal fins of ghostlike carp in shallow water. The following photos are a series of abstractions made earlier this week with the camera's zoom at greatest power, focused on the surface of a small pond in the Jardin des Plantes.

On that same day I sat and drew by the water's edge and noted on my sketchbook page "I draw beneath a faint and colorless sky, my dreams more clear than the watery winter light, graphite on cream-- an uneasy alliance that will blur with time into a perfect mirror of this day." and "When I am outside nature always says to me 'This is the right place, the perfect time, the right body, the right life'...All is peace."

I also chose to leave a gift, a sort of offering to the natural world and the sense of wonder it inspires. I tucked a tiny fae bed and table with teacup, pipe and candlestick into a small cave inside a rocky hillside grotto-- a sheltered spot, yet in plain view--if one is looking.

fae bed

grotto where the bed is nestled in a tiny cave

So far the only detectable activity has been that on two days the little pedestal table had been moved--the first time simply knocked over, the second carried a foot away and almost out of sight in the narrow tunnels that stretch into the earth of the hillside. Obviously I had invaded someone's home so yesterday I moved both pieces to a more easily visible spot on the grotto rocks a few feet away and will return tomorrow to see what has transpired...