15 Days in Provence #8

"La Calade - Tourtour"
6"x6" oil on canvas panel

Claude and Martine Genet of Maison de la Treille

"La Calade" is the last of my plein air paintings from Tourtour. There will be more paintings from this area later from the sketches and photographs we all took. And we are planning a show at the Yarmouth Frameshop and Gallery in the coming winter. Stay tuned for more info on that.

I can't let the blog leave Tourtour without mentioning our wonderful hosts at Maison de la Treille, the B&B where we stayed in that wonderful village, Martine and Claude Genet. They made us feel so at home, cooked superb meals for us, sent us to wonderful restaurants, and just generally took the best care of us. If you want to visit this area, I can think of no better place to stay, have tea, or eat lunch or dinner.

15 Days in Provence #7

"Rue de Lavoir - Tourtour"
6"x8" oil on canvas panel

"Rue de Lavoir - Tourtour" in process

Tourtour has many twisty and hilly streets with tall buildings in terra cotta, stone or pastel shades. The shutters add more bright splashes of color. I stood in a corner of the "place", where outside cafes and restaurants serve drinks and meals, to paint this one. I had my picture taken several times and got quite a few comments (in French) from passers by. A far cry from Great Brook Farm where I usually paint!

15 Days in Provence #6

"Rue des Moulins"
6"x6" oil on canvas panel

This wonderful little house is behind Maison de la Treille where we stayed in Tourtour. I was attracted by the pinkish color and the bright blue door. And the lovely rosebush.

15 Days in Provence #5

"To The Sea"
6"x6" oil on canvas panel

It rained on Tuesday and we painted from our upstairs balcony, which was wonderful. Such a fabulous view, out towards the sea, which is just beyond the farthest mountains. Ever since we arrived they have been barely visible (as in this painting), but on Tuesday night there was a tremendous storm followed by clear skies and now all the layers are there, in varying shades of blue.

15 Days in Provence #4

"1-2-3-Soleil"

6"x6" oil on canvas panel

On Monday we painted next to the primary school, where a lively game was going on that invloved lots of shouting of the words 1-2-3-Soleil(sun)! It was gorgeous outside and we were all struck by these cypress trees. Here's Kitty's version.

15 Days in Provence #3

Tourtour Nocturne

6"x8" oil on canvas panel

On Sunday night we decided to go for it with a nocturne. I can think of three kinds of nocturne: the moonlit scene, distant lights, and looking into a lighted area. This is the second kind, since there was no moon. I wanted the terrain, but had to do it from memory. There was plenty of light to paint by outside the Mairie in Tourtour, with a lively boules game going on nearby.

15 Days in Provence #2

"Provencal Hilltop"
6"x8" oil on canvas panel

This was my afternoon painting yesterday, right before a late dinner. The light on the rooftops and the interesting terrain caught my eye. Of course I was chasing the light, because the shadows just got more interesting. I did this one with only a #6 brush (big) and loved it.

15 Days in Provence #1

#1 - "La Mairie"

We have arrived. After the flight from Boston to Paris to Marseille, we made our way to Tourtour yesterday and did some exploring. Today was our first day of painting and I was nervous. We have looked forward to this trip for so long and the scenery is so beautiful, what if I can't paint? All I wanted was to show a sense of place, no worries about doing a great painting. And we each did three! We are on our way.

I'm going to post them in order, one each day. La Mairie is the town hall, and a wonderful building, with round turrets at each corner. Everything in this midieval village was built to defend, and la Mairie is no different. Add in the spiky cypress trees and who could resist?

Off to Provence!

"Sunflowers with Blue Pitcher" - SOLD

24"x24" oil on canvas

Tomorrow I leave with three friends for 15 days painting in Provence. This long awaited trip is going to be tremendous fun and I plan to post paintings as we go. To celebrate our departure I offer this painting from my first solo show (in 2003). I'll bet you can figure out which Provencal painter inspired this one...

I hope you will join me, Suzanne, Joelle, and Kitty on our adventure. Stop by and check out our progress over the next few weeks.

"Casco Bay Nocturne"

"Casco Bay Nocturne"
6"x6" oil on canvas panel

When Carol Marine was visiting after her class last week, we were out walking one night talking about nocturnes, paintings done at night with the help of a headlamp or book light. She did a really nice one here. Liz Wiltzen did some lovely nocturnes in her 100 plein air paintings in 100 days earlier this summer, and Marc Hanson is about to embark on a month-long nocturne adventure tomorrow. So I got psyched, and with the beautiful weather last weekend I tried one myself. This was done about 10:30 at night, with a 3/4 moon and a headlamp. Here's what I learned:
- It's beautiful outside at night, and so peaceful (until the fireworks started...)
- I was painting loosely because I couldn't really see!
- You have to make the whole painting a lot darker than you think - I'll go darker next time - it's all about the relative values.

I think I'll try again next week, during my "15 Days in Provence" painting trip, which starts this weekend. More details on that in the next post.