Spending the day in Frontenay

Ah.... this looks so French to me....

Sunday was a day for painting and sketching in the town.  Karla, Lani and I took a walk to the abandoned train station to do some work.  There we encountered a cast of local characters!

I start sketching the train station

Lani at the Train Station

Karla seemed to be the one to attract the attention today.  Since Sunday was hunting day, we could hear shots ringing out across the fields, and several hunters came by.  If you look closely at the photo below, you can see the hunter proudly displaying his catch for us... a pheasant!  We especially got a kick out of the next car that came by.  Two local French gentleman stopped to give Karla some advice on what she should include in her painting.

The Hunter shows us his pheasant catch!

The locals give Karla some painting advice

In the afternoon I took a walk to the cemetary, and took some photos and did some sketching.

Cemetary

Another treat in the afternoon was a painting demo in oil by Joan Brancale.

Joan Brancale's Demo

In the early evening, Fiona's father's uncle and aunt, who live across the street, joined us for apertif's.  What a joy!  He is a very youthful 84 years old, and told us in French (with Cate translating) of his experience here in this small town during World War II.  We were fascinated by his story.  This enchanting couple then took us across the street to their home and treated us to a peek at their garden, where Tant Robert grows the flavorful tomatoes we've been enjoying all week, along with green and red grapes, pumpkins, cauliflower, and a host of other fruits and vegetables.  Christiane proudly tends an impeccable flower garden.  I'll post some photos of the garden on Facebook.

Tant (Uncle) Robert and Christiane telling their story of this town that they've call home all their life.

After our visit, we returned home just at sunset, to enjoy another delicious dinner of curried chicken and squash, with home made pistachio ice cream for dessert.  Another lovely day!

Our House at Night

Curried Chicken and Squash

A Temporary Curve Ball and then back to Saint-Lup-Sur-Thuet

Emergency group meeting to discuss the train strike and form our "Plan B".

Bon Jour!  Saturday morning started with a group get together to work out a plan for the train strike.  Yes, there is a TGV strike that will occur in Paris for one day on the 23rd.  This just happens to be the day that almost every person in the group is traveling to Paris.  Not to fear!  Our amazing Cate, with her fluent French, went to work for us and managed to rearrange everyone's train tickets for travel on the 22nd.  Cate rocks!!  Then Julie went to work with her French, and found us a hostel for the extra night in Paris.  Ditto for Julie!!  So, with that new element to our adventure taken care of, we were able to carry on with our day by early afternoon.

Julie, didn't anyone ever tell you not to count your Euros at the table?

Looking for hostels in Paris

This afternoon I headed back to Saint-Lup-Sur-Thuet with Lani, Lynn, Laura, and Iren.  Lynn, Iren and I decided to take the tour of the Chateau that was built in the 1500's.  If you are on Facebook, you can see more photos that I posted today of the Chateau, but here are a few below.  While I'm sure the history of the chateau is fascinating, most of the story escaped us because the tour turned out to be in FRENCH!!  We still thoroughly enjoyed the grounds and the interior, and got some greats photos and inspiration.

The Chateau at St. Lup Sur-Thuet

From the garden at the Chateau.

Fireplace detail at the Chateau

That mischevious Iren hoping to see what's behind the "Private" door at the Chateau.

After meeting up with Lani and Laura, who were painting in town, we headed back.  We needed gas, and thoroughly flustered a poor elderly Frenchman we stopped for directions to the local gas station.... he didn't quite know what to do with a car full of 5 american women!  I think we made his day.  Then we stopped at the grocery store, where you could buy everything from sneakers and french underwear to wine in plastic bottles with screw tops that looked like soda bottles.  What fun!  You had to drag me out of the department with the French hand creams and the lavender soaps for 1 Euro.

Red wine in plastic bottles with screw tops for 2 Euros at the market. 

We returned to the house to find Lizz and Karla entertaining one of the towns people while Lizz sketched her with her oil pastels.  Laura and I headed out to take a walk before dinner, and she gave me a walking tour of the town and introduced me to our black and white cow neighbors.

One of our neighbors at home.

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Wood sculpture of a woman in the park of a neighboring small town

Karla and Lizz with Lizz's nifty oil pastels

And of course, as usual we all gathered for dinner at the end of the day.  Dinner seems to be later and later because our days are so full.  We chatted about what we had accomplished for the day, over a sumptuous Coq au vin with fresh vegetables, and a raspberry mousse for dessert.  Another stellar day in our tiny berg!

Coq au vin with fresh vegetables

Bon nuit.......

Finding our Rhythm

Stairway in the oldest part of our main house, built in the 1800's

Bon Jour from our quaint little Frontenay-Sur-Dive.  It's late Friday night.  Actually it's early Saturday morning, and Friday was a day where I could really see each artist finding their rhythm, gravitating towards the subjects that interested them the most.  Joan and Vera, Kim, Lynn, Karla, Cate and Laura all headed off in different directions, painting and making friends with local residents and local livestock in the town.  In a town of this size, it's hard to remain incognito.  This town is so small that it doesn't even have a gas station or a grocery store.  Rumor has it that even the church only has two services a year, Easter and Christmas.  Interestingly enough though, the church bells still ring on the hour.  Slowly this tiny town is accepting our little group of artists, with several of them inviting artists in for coffee and pastries after they finish their paintings.   

Lizz, Karen, Julie, Lani and I worked on portraits of our own beautiful Iren this afternoon, outside in our courtyard.

Iren models for Karen, Lani, Julie, Lizz and I

Julie begins her painting

Me painting Iren

Once again around 7:00 pm, we gathered around the table to share the stories of the day, and to enjoy yet another tasty meal.  Tonight we had a flavorful stew with thin sliced potatoes and vegetables almost too pretty to eat.  It was topped off with Crepes Suzette, flambeed by Julie.  I ate way too much of that, by the way.  It had a delicate orange flavor and it was delicious!  And naturally, all of that was followed by the cheese course.  

Don't you just want to paint those vegetables before you eat them?

Delicious Stew and Thin Sliced Potatoes

Julie gets ready to flambee the Crepe Suzettes

And what's the last thing that happens in the evening around here?  Computer time!  Time to download the pictures for the day, check our email, blog, communicate with the outside world.  What fun to be able to do it.  Bonne nuit.....

Kim, Lizz & Julie enjoy some midnight computer time, complete with wine and chocolate.

Saint-Loup-Sur-Thouet

The Reminder List

This morning we bid farewell to our dear Fiona, who headed back early in the day to Scotland.  Then Julie, Lizz, Karla and I piled into the car to meet the others at Saint-Loup-Sur-Thouet.  The first thing we noticed on our journey was that the hunters were out this morning in full force.  We believe hunting season may have just started.  It was great to see them out there with their rifles and their dogs, although we thought maybe we should be wearing an orange vest, or perhaps wrap an orange vest around our car!  Distracted by the hunters and the many fields of dried sunflowers, we soon discovered we were lost.  Not to fear!  Julie took out the trusty map.  Realizing that the trusty map was not enough, we then decided it was time to ask for directions, as we women know we sometimes must do, and a local farmer set us back on track.

Ok....  where in the #$%@ are we?

We women know when it's time to ask for directions!

The town of Saint-Loup-Sur-Thouet proved to be a painter's delight, with it's narrow streets, picturesque buildings, stream and chateau.  Several of us spent quite some time sitting at an outdoor cafe, eating lunch (mine was a delicious sandwich of jambon and fromage with butter, Iren's was frog legs), drinking kir, then eating chocolate mousse and creme brulee.  Divine!  Many others in the group also stopped to eat, ordering items like salad with smoked duck.  The cafe owner was a wonderful woman who spoke NO english, yet Iren and Karen seemed to have no problem communicating with her and getting her to pose for a portrait and a sculpture.  No language barrier there.  She kissed the girls on both cheeks when they left.

Beautiful Flowers

Wine and Colored Pencils

Karen Cope sculpting the Cafe owner, Silvie

Kate Hunter Kashem painting

Lynn Gertenbach & Lani Emanuel (behind the easel!) painting

As the day drew to a close, one by one our three cars returned to the main house for dinner, and the works in progress were leaned against walls to dry.

The paintings are beginning to take shape

Then it was time for one of our favorite subjects..... yes, you guessed it.  Dinner!  Tonite it was a feast of poached salmon with au gratin potatoes, fresh green beans, and pears in red wine for dessert, followed of course by the cheese!

Poached Salmon with Au Gratin Potatoes and Fresh Green Beans

Pears in Red Wine

Truly this is the life.  As the stories of the amazing women in our midst unfold, we realize just how blessed we are to be here.  Stayed tuned for tomorrow's adventure.  Bonne nuit.

We're Warming Up

Tired Happy Me!

It's Thursday morning here in France, and yesterday was all about warming up our painting...... about getting our sea legs!  Everywhere you look here there is something charming to paint, and we stayed close to home and got the lay of the land, as we continued to adjust to our new surroundings and the nine hour time difference.  

My acrylic palette

Karla Bartholomew painting in oil



Lunch included the most amazing tomatoes grown by the farmer across the street, and a fig salad that was too beautiful not to photograph.  And how about that Karen Cope, helping out in the kitchen!

Karen cracking walnuts for lunch



The afternoon consisted of more painting, 

Lizz Tucker painting

followed by another delicious dinner that included "Goulash Hongrois" and "Profiteroles aux chocolate" which was comprised of small creme puffs covered in chocolate sauce... yum yum!

Today we are venturing out to a medieval town, which should provide some great photo and painting opportunities which I look forward to sharing with you tomorrow!  Au revoir pour l'instant....

Awesome Julie Snyder with her equally awesome sister, Fiona!

Our French Adventure Begins

Bon Jour! It's Wednesday morning in Frontenay-Sur-Dive in central France.  I know for sure I am in France, because my Google is now in French.  I love that.  Thirteen women artists including myself have converged on this tiny town to experience the countryside, the food, the culture, and most importantly, to create art.  Our group includes our fearless leader Julie Snyder, along with Elizabeth B. Tucker (Lizz), Laura Wambsgans, Lani Emanuel, Karla Bartholomew, Lynn Gertenbach, Iren Tsaturyan, Karen Cope, and yours truly (Linda Queally), all from the Los Angeles area, and Vera Champlin, Joan Brancale, Cate Hunter Kashem, and Kim Kettler, all from the Boston area.

Iren Tsaturyan at the train station in Paris

I arrived yesterday with 4 of my fellow Angelinos on a non-stop, 11 hour flight to Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, followed by a two hour luxurious TGV train ride south to picturesque Poitiers. Bleary eyed from lack of sleep, shlepping 50 pound bags filled with art supplies (and a few changes of clothes) we were enthusiastically met by Julie and her delightful sister Fiona (yes, there are now two women here with scottish accents).  Then, along with 6 others from the group who arrived at the Poitiers station, we boarded our rental vans for Frontenay-Sur-Dive, where we would meet up with the final 2 artists to form our group of 12 painters and 1 sculptor.

Kim Kettler at the train station in Poitiers

Who says women can't pack a car!

Oh...the luggage!

Our home away from home is a charming, spacious home belonging to Fiona's family and it is here that we gathered around the table to enjoy a well earned glass of wine, our first delicious catered meal, and the chance to relax and get acquainted.  Dinner consisted of "Delice de poisson bonne femme", with seasonal vegetables of carrots and peas, potatoes, and a yummy "Tarte aux pommes" for dessert.  All that was followed by the cheese course.... we are in France after all, and must have cheese!

"Tarte aux Pommes"

"Delice de poisson bonne femme", with potatoes and seasonal vegetables

The cheese course

Well fed and tired, we settled in to the two homes that we will call our home for the next 10 days, to rest and recharge our energy and get ready to create art.  And that story is yet to unfold.......