Morning At The Vineyard and another Postcard give-away

8"x10" oil on linen mounted on panel

For more information about this painting, or to purchase, click here.

Just the other morning I had the good fortune to go paint with two friends.  The vineyard is close to where one of them lives. It's such a treat for plein air artists to get to paint in the 'favorite places' of our friends. It's a bit like "expanding our world view" or "divide and conquer".  After all, there are so many wonderful places, as a painter, I'll never run out of places to see, paint, and just enjoy that view!

It's been a busy time back in the studio. I've been finishing up a commission, and I'm still enjoying these watercolor post-cards from France & sketchbook images as well! I have two more to send out today....just to celebrate another FRIDAY!! Hope you name is in the hat (signed up for this blog) I'll announce the winners as soon as I have permission to post their names!

 

Have another view of Le Vieux Couvant:

Seduced By Geraniums....famous last words

8"x6" oil on linen/panel

For more information or to purchase, please click here.

"You should come visit in January, so you won't be seduced by geraniums..." from a story told to us by our hostess Corinne at Le Vieux Couvant. 

It seemed that after dinner we would linger, enjoying each other's company. Corinne would come in from the kitchen and we would applaud another incredibly fine meal. Someone might ask a question (how did you come to Le Vieux? how did this all come about?)  Well, the interesting stories began....and we were enchanted by the telling. I must admit, I felt as though I was in a movie set...with so many interesting characters!

 Anyway, the 'geraniums' line has become a favorite of mine, which slips out of my mouth & rolls off my tongue every time I even spot a geranium out of the corner of my eye. But it's true. I wait all winter for mine to bloom - and delight in the fact that they are glorious by the time summer finally rolls in. So these are on my back porch, I couldn't resist. How could I? Now, after not painting a speck in oils for over a week, it all feels foreign to me now! So it's back to the easel, get warmed up, finish a commission that I've started before the trip.  

 

By Friday I'll have a couple more watercolor post-cards to share with you (since I couldn't fit you into my suitcase!).  Any of my blog subscribers are eligible to win! I'll draw 2 names each Friday, for the next three Fridays! See the box at the top that reads, "GET MY LATEST PAINTINGS EMAILED TO YOU DAILY", below is a place to type your email, and click "Subscribe Me".  Your name will be in le chapeau! 

Bonne Chance! 

A Day In Saint-Cirq La Popie

Here we are, (me with my art assistant!) leaving Le Vieux Couvant in the morning to head over to Saint-Cirq La Popie, for a bit of sketching, photographing, perhaps some shopping and of course eating!

Looks like we're going to need lots of exercise to handle all the food we've been tempted with on this trip! Somehow I don't think this bicycle will be much help though!

Have you made your selection?

For my foodie friends, lunch today included a bowl of gazpacho...with a dollop of basil ice-cream with a light twirl of balsamic on top.  PERFECT summer-time dish! 

So....pull up a chair to join us for some cafe au lait,  soon we'll head back to Le Vieux Couvant for some late afternoon painting! In addition to the oil paintings, I've been working on some post cards, and some travel journal sketches & paintings.

Our Front Door In France

8"x8" oil on gessoed masonite artboard

For more information, or to purchase, click here.

Once you enter through the French blue-green iron gate (see yesterday's post) and you are within the courtyard of the old home, you are surrounded with rustic beauty.  Roses are bountiful, climbing, rambling...and are accented with delphiniums, topiaries, lily of the valley, honey-suckle, grape-vines, and many other flowering delights. The big front door has a central brass knob to turn to enter. A staircase surrounded by climbing roses takes you to an upper terrace (as well as our art studio) and gardens that Monet would have been envious of! 

Each day we've managed to pack in three gourmet meals (oh, those recent 10 pounds that I lost have probably found me again).  We've managed to fit in side trips to wonderful little towns in the country-side, open-air markets, as well as excellent demos from our fearless leader, Dreama....AND have daylight to paint! Thank goodness for long daylight hours in this part of the world. It's light out until 10pm. By the end of the day, we are totally spent. But each morning we are all excited and eager to find what the day holds for us! 

Some of our painters in the courtyard:

and a funny 'hog van' I spotted this morning!

Welcome to a Brand New Day - SOLD!

10"x8" oil on linen mounted on board

What a day of fun. Getting together with a group of like-minded artists is usually a pretty enjoyable event, add in some gorgeous scenery, phenomenal food, a picnic by a river in France mid-day (with food we had selected at an open air market in the morning), and painting in our own private garden was pretty incredible. Yesterday was filled with great demos and some painting time. 

Now for the experience of trying new things...when you've been painting one way for many, many years, and start introducing some new ideas, there is always a learning curve.  Dreama Tolle Perry uses almost all transparent paint colors. I had not seen this used quite to this extent. So it's quite a different method of working for me than Henry Hensche's methods.  But, wanting to introduce some new thoughts in here, I've opended Pandora's box. Camile Przwodek had said to us in one of her classes, "once Pandora's box is open & all that new knowledge comes flying out, you can't put it back in the box. You then have to decide how to deal with it".  So in other words, you have to decide how to deal with what you've just learned.  So I think the instruction is going to be interesting - and I'll be trying out some new things, and deciding how I might pull some of this into my own work.

I have arrived!

I can't believe my good fortune...and I do wish you were here to share it with me! Oh if I could have tucked you away in my luggage and brought you with me! What a joy this place is.  I knew that a workshop with Dreama Tolle Perry would be MORE than painting....but a whole uplifting outlook on life! In this group of sixteen artists, MANY of them have studied with her several times and as we met this evening to chat and get to know each other, we are surprised and happy with how our paths have entwined.  Yes, one of those "it's a small world" experiences.

Bill and Corrine, the owners of Le Vieux Couvent share their home and meals with us so graciously. I truly feel like I'm in a place that I belong, a place that envelops each of us in creativity.

Even though I was exhausted from the travel and lack of sleep, I felt energized by the beauty that surrounded me. So off I went with camera in hand to take photos of Le Vieux Couvant and the surrounding area.

So while it's a bit overcast today, the company is warm and engaging- and we are all ready to begin our workshop tomorrow!