Josette Simoni

Josette Simoni is oe of my dearest friends and is an amazing artist as well. She had her first exhibition last year, and I took a few photos of some of my favorite paintings – Some of the them remind me of Manet’s work, but she has also recently created some paintings that remind me of fire…I’m hoping to get photos of these the next time we go over to their place and I’ll share them with you then. In the meantime, here are some of her paintings from her exhibit.

Josette was born in Corsica, and that’s where she met Alex, her husband. They own a charming little house

Painting of Waterlillies and bridge by Josette Simoni

that overlooks the Med and is close to the new park and the office of the Mari is being built for people who want to get married. (By the way, the traditional day for marriages here in France is Saturday. All over France every Saturday, you’ll see weddings starting as early as 10:30 or 11 a.m. – and, for those who believe, the legal marriage at the office of the Mayor – performed by the Mayor – or the Assistant Mayor – is followed by a church wedding. More about that on the “Getting Married in France” page.) And then after the two weddings, there is a huge party that usually lasts until the next morning.

Josette is an amazing artist. She does beautiful decorative painting on wood – boxes, frames, furniture too. And she’s got a wonderful eye for decopage. She’s also done a series of Icon paintings, some of which take an entire year to do, since they’re done in the ancient style, using an egg white glaze between coats, and the paints are mixed in the old way as well. This next painting is one Josette exhibited last year. It’s a scene from Lake Powell in the USA.

Lake Powell by Josette Simoni

She also is a great sketch artist and does amazing portraits. In fact, I don’t think there’s anything she can’t do when it comes to art. She’s not only got a great “eye” but has an in-depth understanding of light and shawdow and uses colors to express shadows that are there in real life, but we, as observers often miss.