A Sabon Store Portrait from Paris, France

by Jennifer Skopp

On a recent trip to Paris, I noticed this adorable store called, Sabon. I have learned since, that this is a chain store and there are even Sabon stores in the US, but at the time I didn’t know and thought the store looked like a gem. This store inspired me to create this Watercolor “Store Portrait” when I returned home.

I decided to focus on just the entrance of Sabon and not to show too much of the surrounding area. The shape of the entrance is an arch. I included the yellow ochre and gray large stones of the building, that border the store and a few rows of cobblestones on the bottom. There are decorative flowers and leaves that sit on the top part of the arch. In front of the store there is a small, gold stand with two circular white shelves that have a few products on them. There is a small poster on a short stand in front.

Right through the front window there are products displayed on short, pink stands that are on top of short, black showcases. The tops of the black showcases are pink. Inside the store there are wood pieces of furniture painted olive green, that have a variety of products on display. There are tall, dark wooden display cases that have a wide variety of soap products on the shelves. I used one point perspective to draw the wood floor, display cases and the dark wood beams on the ceiling. All lines lead to the Sabon sign in the back of the store.

In my photo that I took of Sabon in Paris, there were two pigeons. I decided to include them in the Shopfront painting. I moved them directly in front of the store and gave them each a pink or light blue necklace. They look ready to go shopping.

Many of the products and decorative elements are pink, so I decided to repeat it throughout the painting, to unify all the  different parts of this of detailed scene.