This is one of the most colorful villages in Provence and I love taking students to paint here. It sits on an island in the Sorgue river and has very colorful shops and restaurants. Each restaurant has its own color scheme, no two alike, really colorful.
We were here on market day. This market is one of the largest Provencal markets in all of Provence. We spent the morning shopping and taking photographs. Then while we enjoyed lunch in a restaurant the vendors packed up and left so afterward we could find a spot to paint. Great planning Jackie.
(In case you are wondering Jackie is the owner of French Escapade, the tour company that operates this wonderful trip. To learn about her trips click here http://www.frenchescapade.com/.)
There use to be waterwheels like this all over this area, now only about a dozen remain. Check out all the moss on this baby!
The pink restaurant
And the green one, like I said, a most colorful village!
Market color
more color
Linda finds one she likes.
more market color
happy dog, not sure about the Frenchman
This might become a painting.
nice reflections
I took this photo for my husband Burke. This guy was fly fishing right in the middle of town, not exactly the kind of peaceful mountain river kind of fly fishing scene that Burke likes. I did not see him catch a fish.
Linda C never missed a shot even if she had to use Jackie as her tripod!
And I loved her pink hat. I think workshop teachers should require all students to wear pink hats because I never once lost Linda, I just looked for the pink hat!
I photographed this lady sleeping on a cement bench in the park across the river from the colorful cafes. The bench she occupied would be the perfect spot to sit and do a watercolor sketch in our journal of the village. By the time we arrived after lunch, she had gone, the photo below was our view to paint.
Here is the scene we were capturing in our watercolor journals.
Jan’s tables and umbrellas
Jan’s work has a wonderful whimsical charm to it. She did many of these tiny sketches throughout the trip and all have her individual style.
Linda A did this one I think. She finished it after I took this photo, but since this is the only photo I can find, I am posting it. Again another artist captures the charm of Isle sur la Sorgue.
I think this is Margaret’s drawing. Barbara did a charming one too but it was in light pencil and I don’t think I was able to photograph it.
Everyone else left the cars out of their sketches, but I included them in my sketch because they gave me the opportunity to say “this is Europe”. The cars in Europe are smaller and different in shape than most of ours in the USA. I kind of liked this one as an ink sketch so I did not add color to it.
2 comments:
all the village inks are nice, but I too like the cars. I gives the sketch a sense of people and motion that the architecture and umbrellas don't quite do on their own. Think of the color with the umbrellas and cars in the scene... Europe seems to do color so much more... a sign that the grays of winter are gone.
and all the grays of winter were gone...we were so lucky to have sunny days. Martine (owner of the B and B) called it "July in May".
I love the color and texture of Europe, especialy in the tiny old stone villages like those Jackie took us to. Paintings were everywhere we looked!
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