"316 Royal Street" was the address I was looking for. This issue's cover artist, Madisonville resident Alan Flattmann, had scheduled a full day in New Orleans and asked me to meet him there at Bryant Galleries.

As I walked on Conti Street past the old Wildlife and Fisheries building, the charm of the French Quarter-which we locals sometimes overlook-began to make itself evident. In the distance, an unknown saxophone player warbled out the same three riffs over and over again, probably the only ones he knew, each echoing off the buildings that line Royal Street.

I neared the gallery and passed a portly couple from the Midwest who had just taken the bet by a youngster that he "knows where dey got dem shoes at."Reaching the gallery, I recalled that couple, chuckled aloud, and thought to myself: "There's a buck they're going to want back each time they tell that story to the folks back home." In the window of the gallery was a picture by Alan of Tuba Fats, a brass-band musician who was well-known and well-liked by New Orleans' jazz aficionados.

My little walk through the French Quarter to the gallery was a productive one, for it gave me time to reconnect with the Quarter and its unique life. It would come in handy later on, helping me get a better grasp of the artist's motivation in choosing his subject matter.

Since I had a spiral notebook in one hand and a tape recorder in the other, Margo Chapman, an art consultant at the gallery, deduced who I was and mouthed an "in the back" as she listened to the couple who had just bought a painting excitedly banter on about how great it will look in their house.

When I reached Alan, we introduced ourselves and the interview was on. I hardly had time to turn on the tape recorder before he was presenting his paintings to me. They all depicted various scenes of the French Quarter. Clearly, these were done by someone who understood his subject and had a deep affection for it. After that short walk down Royal Street, I could understand why.

"I have a sentimental attachment to the French Quarter," Alan explained. "Everything about it intrigues me-the old architecture, the restaurants, bars, night clubs, markets, shops, the river, the changing weather, the music and, of course, the many characters."

I wondered if there was more to that statement than he let on. As we spoke, I learned that Alan studied with John McCrady himself at the John McCrady Art School, which was located in the French quarter. McCrady influenced an untold number of local artists, and Alan professed that he was no exception.

"He was very successful early in his career-and then the world turned upside down for representational painters," Alan recalled. McCrady was a representational painter in the late 1930s and '40s. After World War II, a brash move toward abstract art nearly spelled the popular end for painters like McCrady. Alan continued, "When abstract art came in vogue, it was very difficult for painters like McCrady or even Thomas R. Benton, who was one of the great American painters of all time, to sell a painting. So most of them turned to teaching. Mr. McCrady devoted the rest of his life to teaching, which was lucky for me, because I felt like I was studying with an old master."

In 1969, Alan began the series of paintings he credits as the beginning of his own success: his paintings of jazz funerals and other jazz scenes. Alan recollected, "That was the first major theme that I painted. Prior to that, I'd been painting just street scenes; then I got excited about the jazz funeral thing. I have always been intrigued by the somber and spiritual, yet exhilarating, mood of a jazz funeral. Only in New Orleans could a funeral become such an uplifting and exciting event. I did a big series and it was my first big breakout show. It was very successful."

Recently, Alan has revisited that subject matter. The painting of Tuba Fats in the window and our cover painting are just two examples of an expanding collection of that work. "It's exciting to go back and revisit that theme, do a whole new series," Alan said, with obvious pride and delight.

I asked if he was tempted to rework any of the earlier ones, now that he has done this new series of jazz funeral paintings. Alan says he has resisted that temptation. To the contrary, he has instead presented entirely new interpretations of the earlier series, using some of the actual reference photographs he shot in the 1970s, as well as recent photos to create the contemporary paintings. The bridge between the two series is the medium used to create them-pastels.

"I've always had a love for pastels," Alan explained. He recalled doing portraits in school and along Jackson Square in pastels, pleased with the intimacy of the medium. "Pick up a stick of pastels and you begin working with it right away-the vibrancy of the colors, and just the freedom you have with it." Though he didn't always work with pastels, it is now his primary art medium.

"I worked with oils and water colors for at least 10 years at the beginning of my career," said Alan. "Gradually, I began to work a little more with pastels, and I began to realize that it could be more than just a sketch medium, more than just for portrait sketches. It really is a serious medium."

Collectors have apparently taken pastels as a serious medium, as well, given the fact that Alan's paintings are in hundreds of private and corporate collections across the United States and the world. His views of the French Quarter and of historic scenes of 19th century New Orleans, done in his unique style-which he describes as "poetic realism"-are very popular with tourists and learned collectors.

Summing up his work, Alan says, "I love the act and art of painting, but it is in the subject matter that I first find my inspiration. I enjoy the challenge of seeking out and discovering subjects that interest me. My paintings are realistic, but they are also poetic interpretations. Rather than just a snapshot, I want the viewer to experience the visual and emotional excitement I feel about a subject."

Alan's work is shown locally at Bryant Galleries in New Orleans, and can also be seen online at www.alanflattmann.com.

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