Painting Time is a very deep dive into the lives of visual artists. However, this novel suffered from lack of pace and plot.

I wanted to like this book so badly. On the surface it was everything I wanted from a book. A young woman studying art in Brussels. I wonder if part of my issue was the translation but it was so difficult to connect with the characters. They (and the writing) were far too pretentious. I honestly did not finish this book.

A deep and fascinating dive into the world of trompe l'oeil.  Rich in language and description, this coming of age novel is reminiscent of Anna Gavalda.

Thanks to Netgalley and FSG for the early ebook. A young woman, Paula, leaves Paris to study art in Brussels and finds that she wants to be a craftsman instead of an artist. She graduates and does work for hotels and painting movie sets in Moscow and in Italy’s famed Cinecitta Studios. At school she meets fellow painters Kate from Scotland and the very talented Jonas, who becomes her roommate during school. They push each other to do good work, but the most extraordinary part of the book as how these studies have opened up the visual word in such a micro way, so that how they now see the world is nothing less than poetry. Paula gets the ultimate job of recreating the cave paintings at Lascaux and it makes her think and rejoice about how art has transformed from these first recorded drawings to all that has come since.

De Karangal seems to enjoy deep dives into professions, and this time round has taken a long loving look at trompe l’oeil painting. Her prose is so lovely and her appreciation of technique, materials and so on so intense that she beguiles the reader - up to a point. That point is where you start to want a plot or something in the way of events. As it is, one must suffice with a kind of brief history - apprenticeship, career, with long descriptions of the work. It’s admirably done, but limited.