Friday, June 29, 2007

A Good Year

I've been in France for a year! I moved to Paris last June just as the French were starting to gain ground in the World Cup. It was a sweltering hot summer in the city but there was a great feeling in the streets & people would go crazy whenever a match was won. I was only there for 4 months before moving on South. I've put together some of the sketches of people I met or saw & some of the situations that I got myself into over the past year.



Car-burning seems to be a traditional French past-time! During the World Cup I ended up in the eye hospital after getting too close to the smoke of a burning vehicle & a fragment of something lodged itself on my retina! In February I had a bike accident on the Promenade & my shoulder hasn't been the same since. For some reason my doctor sent me to a Gynaecological clinic to get x-rayed!



Here's a photo collage of some sights I came across in Paris.



These pics are from the Cote d'Azur.


France really is a marvellous country & I've only seen a tiny part of it. I hope to stay as long as possible & discover more.

19 comments:

  1. hi matt,
    who is that girl in the mibble of the second collage?!! ;)
    see you soon

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  2. Yo Sylvain, that's my girlfriend Raja-she's the reason I came to France but she never believes me, she says I'm here for the wine, cheese & fine living!! You'll meet her if you come for B's anniversaire. Looking forward to seeing you again.

    A bientot mon amie.

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  3. I have really enjoyed your posts about your year. We are going to France again on holls this year, I know I will not want to come back!

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  4. I think with a jacket like that you can stay anywhere you please.

    Wonderful sketches and pics- your enthusiasm and skill are a joy to behold.

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  5. Aaah ben voila! jolis jolis jolis.
    Maintenant t'arrete de boire tout notre vin.
    Hope to see you soon, before I become all tanned and fake.

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  6. Hope the shoulder recovers... the pix are all extremely entertaining... :)

    Cheers! A & J

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  7. Wow!!! The good life Mr.Jones...wanna swap snottingham for france??...
    when you visit uk next ill hook up with ya...i would love to get over there for a weekend, saving the pennies for my world trip at the mo.
    A weekend in skeggie is all i can stretch to at the time.
    Anyway you look well...getting those rays huh?

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  8. man, you've gotten so damn GOOD.
    Wonderful drawings and funny moments. It looks like France is a land of loonies- great place!

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  9. I hope France is doing well for you. I really enjoyed those pen-based doodles of, I think, Annecy (judging by the mountain you have in the backdrop in one picture). I actually studied them in depth and wondered how you compiled the darn thing. I have a hunch that you did plain-by-plain, from immediate foreground to background. This is truly inspiring!!

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  10. ouaaaw that dog tomb!!! where is it? I want to see "A mon bibi" too.

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  11. "For some reason my doctor sent me to a Gynaecological clinic to get x-rayed!"

    It was because he thought you were cunt.

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  12. One year already? Time flies way too fast. Hope to see you soon again.

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  13. Magic moments! I worked in Marseille for a year, do you know the Action Synthese lads? It is a fantastic country .Great post dude.

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  14. Thnx 4 the comments all!

    Paul- Enjoy & DON'T go back!

    M@-thanx & compliments right back at ya !!

    Stef-you'll be an authentic Frenchman in California

    Doodlers-shoulder still aches but swimming helps.

    Andy- France is SWEET but no beef curry!

    Boris-thanks pal!

    Richard-I kinda start in the middle of the page & work my way out.

    Marco-good to hear from you, the Cimitiére de chiens is at the end of the Clichy bridge in Asnières-sur-Seine. It's very funny!!

    Christian- I was just in Marseille for the first time last weekend, but only on the beach at the western end, near Michelangelo's David. We spent the day at Cassis & took a boat trip around the Calanques-you know it?
    I'm not familiar with the outfit you worked for but I'll look them up.

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  15. I really like the sequence on the first page of the large fellow coming out of the crowd to bust a move.

    Looking forward to more from France with Jones.

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  16. He's the biggest street-sweeper I've ever seen! I saw him one day watching the breakdance kids performing in the main square in Nice & I imagined him pulling some sweet freestyle moves-

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  17. wahoooow.....i slept too long.
    (i haven't been on your blog since Annecy)
    so many good & funny things.
    bravo monsieur Matt.
    j'espere que tout va bien chez mr Bibo.
    la bise

    ZB')

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  18. Hé Zébé! je suis trés content a chez Bibo! Le bulo va bien et le bronzé aussi! Tu toujours travaille a NEBULO?

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  19. I think the little break-dancing fat man, in the top corner, is a brilliant sequence of drawings. Very funny! :D

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