Île de La Cité Flower Market

The Île de la Cité Flower Market has existed in Paris since 1830, so had you walked through it a hundred and eighty years ago, you might have seen a similar scene. Clark Hulings consistently added current touches to traditional settings, and you'll see that there are two yellow plastic buckets under the table, as well as a few cars on the street on the right, showing us that time marches on. In all the complex detail of the flowers and the reflection of the rainwater on the ground, yellow and purple are the star colors here, with the hydrangeas in the lower right corner framing the Hulings signature.

The lady in the blue sweater (actually the artist's wife, Mary) draws us in; she looks as if she may be a gardener with her attentive downward gaze at the plants, and she's certainly assured the rain has stopped enough that she doesn't need her umbrella, even though the gentleman behind her still has his.