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:

Polyminthe said...

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

Matt Jones said...

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.

Paul Sørensen said...

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!

Matthew Cruickshank said...

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.

Unknown said...

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.

the doodlers said...

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

Cheers! A & J

Unknown said...

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?

Boris Hiestand said...

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

Richard Gaines said...

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!!

Marco said...

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

Elliot Cowan said...

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

It was because he thought you were cunt.

Uli Meyer said...

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

Christian said...

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

Matt Jones said...

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.

MikeS said...

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.

Matt Jones said...

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-

Christophe"ZEBE" Lourdelet said...

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')

Matt Jones said...

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

David Gray said...

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