Acrylic on canvas – 8 x 8 inch – Unique work

Petit Chablis is my favorite white wine. In fact, it’s my favorite wine, period.

One evening, while I was drawing a watercolor of a building from one of my photos taken in New York several years earlier, I suddenly decided to open a bottle of Petit Chablis, the last one I had left. What a crazy idea, and yet, that’s exactly what happened!

I pour myself a drink in a Saint Louis crystal glass, a relic of my wedding, and dip my lips into this beverage that reminds me of my youth. Yes, there’s a story behind this wine. There’s always a story!

I was a teenager at the time, and my parents had a country house near Auxerre. It was grape harvest season, and… Long story short, we had the opportunity to buy some wine under conditions I won’t tell. I was part of the night expedition. And ever since, this wine has had a taste of adventure, of the forbidden, of sweetness.

I go back to that evening of drawing and watercoloring. I didn’t stop at one glass, I had a second, then a third, and… I finished the whole bottle all by myself. No way I’d pour a glass to anyone, a Petit Chablis is not to be shared! The drawing was difficult to finish, in fact, I noticed years later that there were a few mistakes… Looking back, it makes me laugh a lot. I continued with the watercolor, well aware, well almost aware, that the slightest mistake would ruin all my work. In a second state, I managed to finish the building.

My head was spinning so much. I realized that after two glasses, it was as if I was drinking water. I didn’t have the taste, just the drunkenness. When I got up from my stool, I couldn’t walk straight anymore. I staggered to my room, to my bed. I couldn’t stop laughing. My daughter had never seen me like this, and neither had I. It was the first and last time!

I felt like I was floating above a mass, a body, dark as if protected by spikes. I couldn’t reach it without piercing my entire body, right down to my soul. What a strange experience that I absolutely do not want to repeat, but which finally resurfaces years later through this painting!