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.