Exploring Provence France

My Watercolor Workshop with French Escapade in Belgium ended on the 12th of September and my students and I departed in various directions.  Sylvia and Bill Gude and I took the TGV train and headed south to explore Provence France.

 

We spent the night in Avignon, then took the local train to Arles.  I was amazed at the crowded streets and cafes as we walked to our hotel, but when I heard what sounded like cheering coming from the old Roman arena I figured we had arrived during some kind of a festival.  Turns out that day, Sunday, was the third day of the fall festival of Bullgames and real Spanish Bull Fighting.  Bullgames is the French bull fighting tradition where the bull is not killed and competitors (in this case from all the local towns in Provence) each try to be the one to grab a ribbon from the horns of the bull.   Bullgames And the little city of Arles goes craazy!!!!   I shot a video with my new camera of a hilarious drunken French band jamming in a side ally restaurant, but my computer is missing the software to run it, so I can't view it or upload it to my blog.  Darn, it is probably good for a laugh.  Here are a few photos I shot around Arles that beautiful sunny day.



The ancient Roman arena here in Arles where the Bullgames and Spanish Bull Fight took place.  We had no tickets so could not view the games but enjoyed the celebrating outside the arena.  This arena was constructed by the Romans to entertain the people, but  no lions here, just local wild animals like bears and bores.  I find it remarkable that the same area is still used to entertain the people today.

One of the bands in the parade, this one was jazzy!



Spanish Paella was the "special" at almost all the restaurants, and vendors and shops alike were doing brisk business selling bull and bull fighting souvenirs.  Bill noticed a bull carved into the stone on an old building which showed the bull and we assume bull fighting has been popular here for a very long time.



These locals wearing their Sunday church clothes, sit on their favorite bench and watch the celebrators.

 

End of a fun day.

Wrap up French Escapade Watercolor Workshop Belgium

Bonnie's painting of the hotel with Monique's cute car.

OK last evening I goofed when I typed in my blog that Bonnie painted at the hotel when the others painted in Damme. I forgot that Jackie took Bonnie and Bill to see the World War I trenches and museums here in Belgium. Very sobering and they learned things they did not know about that war and the men who fought it and the nurses who helped them.

Now I want to complete my blog about my painting trip to Belgium with French Escapade tour company by posting more of the paintings and drawings my students created. Many are not finished and will get the final touches added at home, but I want their friends and families to see Belgium through their eyes.

First up, Bonnie's work. Bonnie is an early riser, most mornings she had been painting for a couple of hours before the rest of us came down to breakfast. So I have more Bonnie paintings than others, and they are more complete. Bonnie's passion and joy of painting shows in these works.

The bench in the garden at the hotel by Bonnie.

The owners of our hotel are very talented interior decoraters, everywhere you look you see a perfect still life just waiting for painting. Bonnie captured this shelf, even if she did not get it done, its wonderful.

Catherine was our true beginner. She has taken exactly 4 drawing classes and no painting classes prior to this trip, but was drawing constantly. She created a cute watercolor of pots in the garden (her first ever) and a watercolor of the street in Damme, but somehow I did not get photos of them. This is her drawing in pencil of the fountain in the front driveway of the hotel. It is hard to belive she has taken only 4 drawing classes when you view this drawing.

Here is an ink drawing by Catherine, also a first for her. I hope she will continue to draw and paint when she returns home as she clearly enjoys it.

Linda was off to a good start with this painting of the cement sheep, hydrangas and front window of the hotel, but she ran out of time. Hope she completes it when she gets home.

Margaret captured the grey stormy sky and its reflection in the canal in Brugge. We crowned her Queen of Skys.

Here is another of Margaret's grey skys, this one with the bright red sails on the Damme windmill makes for a fun painting.

Sorry about the photo, but this is a light pencil drawing created by Sylvia of the rooster weather vane. The day she drew this the sun was out and it was warm, the next day it flipped the opposite direction with the cold north wind.

Teresa spent two days exploring Brugge on a bicycle, once with Bill and Sylvia and once on her own so she did not paint, but did get some nice drawings done. She did this nice value sketch of the drapery in the corner of the dining room. She also become our waffle and chocolate expert and every group visiting Belgium needs such a specialist in the group!

Bill's creative work is missing from my blog because his medium is video. He worked hard to create videos of all aspects of our trip and you will be able to view them in the future on the website www.frenchescapade.com and on You Tube.

I want to thank my students and Bill for being so much fun to travel with and so good to each other. Like a family they bonded quickly sharing ideas, laughs and chocolate. They rescued one another when a needle and thread was needed, a medical remedy, or a clever idea to solve a packing problem.

And a big thanks to Jackie for her organizing and preplanning efforts which as always paid off with a fun and smooth running trip. Her ability to learn each person's idea of the perfect trip for them and her flexibility to make it work for each one makes her trips very special for all.

Touring Brussels with Jackie of French Escapade

We spent our last full day in Belgium on our Watercolor Workshop organized and led by Jackie of French Escapade. The king was kind enough to extend his vacation making it possible for us to tour his Palace (above) I have never seen so much gold and so many crystal chandeliers in one building in all my life!

There are more Art Nouveau buildings in Brussels than any other city in the world. This one use to be a department store called "Old England" now it houses a fascinating Museum of Musical Instruments.

Jackie with her purchase from the famous Neuhouse Chocolate shop.

The Market Square in Brussels is the town hall and surrounding buildings, most built originally as guild halls. The buildings are magnificent, historically fascinating and the people watching is great.

Painting in the tiny Belgian village of Damme

September 10, 2009 saw 5 of my students choosing to paint again in the tiny village of Damme (home of the windmill we painted the first day). I love this photo because it shows just how friendly small town folk are when they see an artist at work. I have experienced this same reaction in small villages in France, Italy, Bali and in the good old USA.

Teresa chose to take one of the hotel's bicycles and petal into Brugge for a day of exploration, shopping and probably some chocolate tasting. Bonnie chose to stay at our lovely hotel and paint a still life she loves in the dining room, and finish other paintings she did earlier in the week. I'll post some of her paintings later.



Helping Margaret with her painting of the houses on this cute little street.

Here is Margaret's painting. Catherine was painting nearby and did a very difficult drawing of several little houses on this street, but somehow I did not get a photograph of her painting. Maybe Jackie will post it on her blog and I can copy it.

Linda, Sylvia and I found a cute little white house with great shadow shapes across from a little park where we could sit under shade trees. There was a cold wind gusting a lot, so we did not really need the shade.

Here is Sylvia's painting, she is not finished yet, but it is coming along so nicely I wanted to post it anyway.

Linda captured the fun of this scene with her painting.

Sorry I did not get a clear shot of my painting, I am using a new camera on this trip and it appears I need to read the instruction manual more carefully!

Watercolor Artists Traveling in Belgium

Brugge is our destination again today. These buildings date to 13th to 15th century and their step style roofs are typical of this part of Belgium.



Oh dear spell checker is not responding, and I am a terrible proof reader. Same thing happened last night and I misspelled some words in an email. Well I am an artist not a writer, so call it "creative spelling" if I make mistakes tonight too.

Bill, Sylvia and Teresa rented bycicles from the hotel and rode to Brugge, four of us rode in the van to paint in Brugge, and Bonnie stayed at our hotel to paint some beautiful still lifes in the living room. The sun never did come out today, but it did not rain, which would have put a damper on the watercolor painting.

Catherine is the picture of concentration as she focuses on her drawing of an old stone bridge.

Linda also utilizes one of the swan benches as her painting studio.

This is the scene we were painting. It is the old stone bridge that leads to the entrance to the Beguinage where in the 13th century independent women established a colony for unmarried women who did not want to be nuns but at the same time were very religious. The ancient buildings are beautifully maintained today and used by nuns. This scene was difficult to paint; lots of angles, and the grey sky did not provide shadows to help define shapes.

The old buildings here have a very unique architecture and are well maintained. Catherine's radar lead her straight to this chocolate shop (note the sign is in English not Flemish, they know who the big chocolate shoppers are!)

We ducked into this very modern restaurant for hot soup and cappacinos to warm us up. We were not sure why the last supper was on the wall, but we dicided it was an interesting backdrop for a group photo. Best tomoatoe soup I ever had!

I love this view of the canal with the very old houses on the left, but this was taken from atop a very narrow walk bridge, so no place to set up and paint.