Roussillon, Domain du Bois de St. Jean, and a Painting Demo

Saturday, June 25th marked our second trip to paint the lavender fields.  The eleven of us jumped into our two SUV's with matching ribbons, (to keep track of each other), and headed for Roussillon.  The village is noted for its large ochre deposits found in the clay there.

In honor of the ochre deposits, the entire town is painted in the same tones, which makes it unique to Provence, where you will usually see pale colored houses with soft pastel shutters.

Our first stop was at the lavender fields on the outskirts of town.  If you check out my post on June 17th, you will see that we actually scouted this field out before the workshop, and we especially loved it for its sumptuous curves.  Our artists were delighted at the chance to paint it.  Among others, here's Brenda,

Nathalie...

Angel...

and Aleex.

We also had the owners of the field come and set up a stand right next to us, selling lavender soaps, oils and bouquets.

I know for sure we took quite a few bars of lavender soap off their hands that day!

After we finished up at the fields, we headed up to the town to eat lunch and browse through the shops.  They are known for selling artist pigments there in a wide variety of colors that can be mixed with a binder and used as either watercolor, oil or acrylic.  Of course I was most drawn to the blues and the greens, especially the aquamarine.

We all piled back in the cars and headed for our next stop, which was wine tasting at Domain du Bois de St. Jean.  We sampled an assortment of reds, as well as a white and a rose.  Our host spoke french, but the language of wine is universal.  LOL.  PS Julie translated.

An anecdote is that Brenda, one of the Artists on the retreat, was here at the workshop for her second time.  Last year she did a painting of our host at the vineyard, and sent him a poster after the workshop.  This year, he brought out the poster, and she got to have her picture taken with him.  Pretty awesome!

We purchased some very nice wines for dinner that night, and took a sneak peek at the vineyard in the back on the way out.

We returned to the Chateau for an outstanding dinner of Legumes Farci,

along with a special cake in honor of the Artists.

which we enjoyed outdoors.

We finished off a very full day with a fun and informative demo from Julie Snyder, about how to take your reference photos home and turn them in to finished works, using your iPad. 

And so ends another great day with Workshops in France.
Thanks so much for following!!

Love, Linda

Lavender and the Charming Village of Bonnieux

Tuesday was a full day for us, with our first chance to paint the lavender in Bonnieux.  Arriving at a lavender field, especially for the first time, literally takes your breath away.   The color, the scent, and the hum of the bees is intoxicating, so the first thing we all need to do with Workshops in France is  TAKE A PICTURE!

And poof!  Here I am in the lavender.

Next, we all spread out and find a spot to capture its beauty in our own way.  Here, among others, are  Brenda...

Mary Jo...

Belinda...

Aleex...

 And me!

 It's a very moving experience to realize you are in FRANCE making art!  And you never know who will be passing through while you are painting, to add to the aesthetics.  Wink wink.

Wrapping up the morning, we are all satisfied with a job well done, and head off into the village of Bonnieux to have some lunch.  And perhaps a beer, if you are me.  At the cafe, here's Brenda, Kathy, Your's Truly, Nathalie, MaryJo, Angel, Laura, Julie Aleex, and Bobbie, and thanks to Belinda for taking the pic.

We had a few hours to wander the town and meander through the winding streets of Antique Shops up to the top of the hill.

This ivy covered cottage reminded me of something straight out of Harry Potter.

Here's some more eye candy for the ladies to add to the aethestics.

And although the Antique Shops were closed in the early afternoon, it was still a lovely walk up a narrow street.

Antiques line the streets, even with the shops closed for lunch.

And there is beauty everywhere.  From the flowers...

to the curtains.

We headed out of Bonnieux and through the village of Gordes to the Abbey of Sennanque, which is a 12th Century Cistercian Monastery that sits in a valley surrounded by lavender fields.

Then home to a catered dinner of Quiche, potatoes, ratatouille and fresh fruit.  Fabulous!

It was a full day, and we all slept like babies.  Hope your day was beautiful too.  Thanks for following!

Love,
Linda

Exploring and Making Art in Villeneuve les Avignon

"If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium".  Hehe.  JK.  Not really in Belgium.  But it IS Tuesday and I just felt like saying that.  And now, it's time to bring you up to speed on what's been happening here at Workshops in France.  Guests of the Art Retreat have been moving into the Chateau, and everyone is now officially here.  Yay!  We have spent the last two days making art and exploring and we started yesterday (Monday) with Avignon, on the banks of the Rhone river.  Truly an ancient city, it was the home of the Popes from the 1300's to the 1700's.

We made quite a stir when we dropped off our group with their painting gear, in Villeneuve les Avignon, stopping traffic in both directions.  It caused a bit of what we call the "spitter" face on the other drivers.  LOL.

There are eleven of us in our group, and we set up along a tiny narrow street to do some sketching and painting.  I spotted this porcelain face in one of the windows.

Here are Angel and Kathy sketching.

Passersby are always intrigued with artists set up on the street, and like to stop and chat.  Here's our fearless leader, Julie Snyder, with a few of the people who stopped to see what she was up to.

Then there was the art collecting neighbor across the street who stopped, rolled down his window, and played us a tune on his wooden flute.

 Strolling along the streets, I always like to notice the details, like these door knockers.

And the mailman...  Doesn't look anything like the way I get my mail in Long Beach.

We ate lunch in the tiny square there...  why have clear carafes when you can have red ones?

and then stopped at a Mega art supply store on the way home.  Once back at the chateau, I headed for the pool to cool off.  A Mermaid's gotta do what a Mermaid's gotta do.

After a poolside snooze, we all joined up again to enjoy a fabulous fish dinner, with puff pastry filled with spinach and goat cheese, and flan for dessert.  There's also always plenty of fresh bread, cheese and of course, WINE!  All of our dinners are catered, and they are delish.

From Left to Right, meet Angel, Laura, Brenda, Bobbie, Kathy, Aleex, Mary Jo, Belinda, and Nathalie.  Add Julie and I to the mix, and you have eleven!  It is just great to meet and learn from these wonderful artists from Texas, New York, British Columbia, Vermont, Tennessee, Indiana, and North Carolina, who work in a variety of media and have a wealth of stories to tell.  After dinner, some artists decided to set up under a full moon and paint a nocturne.

Here's Aleex.  Notice the wine in the center of her palette.

And Nathalie setting up for the Nocturne.

It has been a great start to a joyful week of creating.

Bonne Nuit from Provence!

Love,
Linda