Isle sur la Sorgue, France on market day

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.

Gordes Village, France May 25 Watercolor and ink sketching

I have returned to California after three wonderful weeks traveling in Europe. My little netbook computer that I "blew up" with an electric serge during a thunderstorm, is waiting for a complete make over so it will work properly again. By the end of the trip it had become so cranky it would not connect to any website accept yahoo no matter what wi-fi connection I was using. So now that I have downloaded my photos into my desk top I can pick up the blog where I left off, in the middle of our "French Escapade" in Provence.

So, lets turn the "way back machine" to May 25, 2011 and the photo I took of the Abbey of Senanques.

Too bad the lavender was not in bloom, it looked spectacular on the postcards for sale in the gift shop.

We often had picnic lunches, more time for painting that way. Jackie did the grocery shopping and it was fun to learn what the French labels meant and explore new foods. I especially enjoyed the tuna with green olives in it, and the wonderful cheeses she purchased. And we all enjoyed the bread she would buy each morning at the Boulangerie.

These bottles were in the lovely shop at the olive growers farm where we had our picnic lunch.

This is Gordes Village as seen from a nearby hilltop. We decided to challenge ourselves and capture this view of the village in our watercolor journals instead of painted somewhere within the village. This is no easy task, so I demonstrated my process for breaking down the complicated scene by choosing one key point and working out from there. I chose the church on the top and then worked down the hill first on one side and then on the other comparing each building with the previous one. The idea is to capture the essence of the scene the tiny village cascading down the mountainside like a waterfall of stone buildings.

This is Linda A's lovely ink and watercolor sketch of Gordes.

And this one is Margaret's cute painting.

We were sitting on the edge of the road near a view point all working away on our paintings not noticing that we were the subject of many photos being taken by tourists. Jan was nearest the road and she said people kept asking if they could take our photos in French. Even Americans asked her in French! Maybe it was our hats that made the tourists think we were French painters.

After completing our watercolors we went into the village of Gordes to take photos and find ice cream. Love these old walls.

Close up of the same wall, yummy color and texture, this will be a painting.

I thought this graffiti was cool, have no idea what it means. Hope it is not nasty...

The church in Venasque at night...beautiful end to a beautiful day.

wifi gremlins have caused blog to be interrupted

Hi everyone,

I am fine, but the blog is not.

Several people have emailed me worried because I stopped blogging because that is how they keep up with me when I travel. I am fine, just attacked by dreaded wifi gremlins.

I got so busy teaching and having fun with my students on the French Escapade I ran out of time to update the blog with all the cool photos I took of the rest of our trip. So I thought I would just upload them all from my computer when I got to Collioure the French coast town where I am vacationing with my friend Sylvia. We have an apartment here for a week so plenty of time to update the blog.

Here in Collioure there seems to be only one public wifi connection, in a cafe if you buy something. However the owner of the cafe has not kept up his security certificate so google (who operates blogspot where this blog is located) won't let me upload anything to my blog. So the blog is dead in the water until I find a better wifi spot, probably after I get home June 10. I am writing this in an internet place but can't use my own computer here which has the photos I want to upload.

The French Escapade was wonderful. This seaside town is so cute and full of good artists I love it and plan to rent the apartment again in the future. Sylvia and I are off on Monday to see Barcelona then fly home on the tenth.

more after June 10.....

French Escapade, Roussillon

Roussillon's ochre mines are famous the world over. No longer operating, they are now a tourist attraction bringing a boost to the local economy. The locals discovered that ocher, a blend of iron, sand and chalk, makes a permanent paint (think French cave paintings) and that was the beginning of mining here. They also used the ochre to paint their village creating a lovely "red" village loved by all who visit here.

This could be an abstract painting.

Bonnie and Linda stayed in the village while the rest of us took a trail through what was once the mine. It kind of reminds me of Bryce Canyon accept the shapes are man made instead of natural.

Here is the village of Roussillon. When the walls are in direct sun they look more of a greyish pink but in the shade they appear more redish. The last time I visited Roussillon was a couple of days after Katrina hit the US, with Sunny Reeves and her painting trip with instructor Susan Blackwood. I remember because a nice lady came out of her shop to inquire if we had families in New Orleans and were they all right, when she heard us speaking American accented English.
It rained that day and the entire village changed color, when the ochre paint gets wet it turned a much deeper red. No rain today, Jackie ordered up another perfectly sunny day.

Linda sitting looks so serious in this shot.

The other Linda and Margret perched on this narrow stairway up to the bell tower to paint. Many people snapped photos of them, but the interesting part was that most of the would be photographers asked for permission to take their picture in French. Even an American lady asked in French.

This lovely arched window was the subject of Linda's painting.

The last time I photographed this window it was raining, look at the lovely sun and shadows today.

Tourists come in all sizes and shapes, and in various states of dress and undress!

Love this tiny window in the stone wall.

Spandex reigns...everywhere we go we see people touring Provence on bicycles. These guys spoke English with a strong British accent.

old door, new lock

A quick watercolor sketch in my journal while enjoying a cold .drink and glace' under the shade of a cafe umbrella. The best part was the mister that came on every couple of minutes. Feels more like July in Provence than May.

Just another lovely day creating watercolor sketches in our journals.

Breakfast still life.

Our first day of painting will be here in Venasque. The ramparts will built in the eleventh century.

Only in France would a village post office have a trellis of iron work painted a lovely lavender and hanging baskets of flowers. Note the beautifully fashined iron sign announcing "La Poste".

The Venasque Boulangerie (bakery where you buy your bread and other baked goods). The village is too small to have a grocery store or a green grocer, but every village no matter how tiny has a boulangerie.

Bonnie painting the boulangerie.

Margret using her "go-figure" to measure an angle.

At the end of the first day everyone had created at least one painting and some were on their second one. No one offered there paintings to be photographed for the blog however.

We had critique along with aperitifs and then enjoyed a very tasty and filling dinner on the terrace again, then everyone crashed in bed for a good night's sleep.