We arrived back in Paris this afternoon after an overnight stop at an Ibis Hotel on the edge of the Fountainbleu Forest. Ibis is cheap and largely you get what you pay for, but it was adequate for one night. For the next two nights we are esconced in semi-luxury at the Best Western near the airport.
Tomorrow we make another visit to Musee D`Osay. We wanted to see a Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera exhibit at l`Orangerie but it is closed on Tuesdays. Damn!
Home on Wednesday.
Time to say goodbye to Sally. We hope to see her in Seattle sometime and to return to Montcabrier ourselves.
Adieu.
Jean and Paul
Sally’s new kittens have grown since we left 6 weeks ago. They entertained us last evening as we caught up on news with Sally. She filled us with a delicious duck pie, nettle soup, hericots, salad and a great assortment of cheeses before topping off the evening with creme brulee and nuit calme tea.
Today we’re driving to Fountainbleu.
Paul
When we were leaving our Collioure house I couldn’t resist leaving some art behind on the kitchen chalkboard.
It has been a few days since I posted. These are busy days. With only one week in SW France we are trying to squeeze in as much as possible. That doesn’t leave much time in the evening for doing posts, however, there is time for photographs, sketching, and painting. With that in mind here is a whirlwind summary of our first days in Collioure.
We went to the Collioure public market on Sunday and our senses were assailed by the sights and aromas of foods, clothes, spices, and people. Today, Wednesday, the public market repeated and we attended. Much to our surprise the vendors were different! Our favorite frommagerie was not present. Our favorite anchoise vendor was not present. Our favorite vegetable vendor was not present. Merde!
On Monday we drove to the Maillol Museum in the Pyrennes near Banyuls-sur-Mer only to find that it was closed on Mondays. I blame this on my poor French because I read the brochure and mistranslated it. Ce’st la vie! We enjoyed the drive in the mountains and ended up with a marvelous visit to a seaside conservancy area. Paulilles Recreational Park is the site of a dynamite factory that Nobel helped the French establish in 1870. The installation was closed in 1991 and the process began to turn it into a seaside conservancy. We enjoyed several hours walking, having lunch, and photographing this now beautiful location. The historical exhibits about the dynamite factory also were interesting. The dynamite from here blasted the Panama Canal!
Yesterday we decided to visit Castlenou, a medieval town and chateau on the historic register. The claim to “fame” is that this was the seat of Catholicism in SW France during the purge of the Cathars. French Catholics roamed from this castle to kill Cathars and destroy their castles throughout southern France. It is a lovely small village and the chateau was somewhat restored in the late 19th century after being destroyed by revolutionaries in the early 19th century. However, not a word was mentioned of its role in the destruction of the Cathars. We did buy a bottle the Castlenou red wine!
Leaving Castelnou, we drove to Ceret to visit the art museum there. Our visit there two years ago stuck in my mind as a pivotal point in my artwork. I was anxious to revisit the collection. Pierre Brune was the artist responsible for bringing many Fauvist and other early 20th century artists to Ceret. He also founded the museum. In addition to Pierre Brune, the collection includes Jean Marchand, Maurice Canteuil, Andre Masson, Chaim Soutine, Pablo Picasso, Frank Burty Haviland, Marolo, Henri Matisse, Pinkus Kremegue, Arbit Blatas, Andre Lohte, and Joseph Maragall. Many of these may not be familiar names, but they share an exceptional ability to capture the essence and feeling of a place. Many use Fauvist colors, but drawing is the essential ingredient in their exceptional art. All are representational without being realistic. I was in heaven. There are no photos allowed in the museum, so you will have to visit to see for yourself! The links associated with some of the names above will give you a flavor for their work.
Today we began by visiting the market as previously mentioned. Then we went to the waterfront to do some sketching and painting. It was a glorious day in the 70’s and there were so many views to paint it was difficult to decide. However we each settled on a spot on the rocks and painted. Then we moved to a cafe across the harbor where we settled in chairs with glace and water to sketch and paint some more. Here are some of my scribblings from the day:
Late in the afternoon we boarded the Little Train for an hour long tour of Collioure, the surrounding hills, and Port Vendres. This tour took us to the 300 meter mountain that separates the two towns and back along the coast. It was a wonderful trip with unbelievable scenery, old forts, terraced vineyards, cork trees, and roads that I would not care to drive. We met an English couple, Peter and Janet, who now live near Beziers, chatted, and exchanged contact info.
After the train ride we stopped at our favorite late afternoon apertif locale, Les Templiers. This hotel/restaurant’s walls are covered with an extensive collection of Fauvist art. The famous names have been sold long ago, but the art that remains is impressive. What a way to end the day drinking wine surrounded by art.
We walked back along the quay at dusk, savoring the light in the sky and the stark outlines of the familiar Collioure waterfront. Tonight we dined on take out pizza – the local special with anchovies and one with creamy chicken and cheese with herbs. This was accompanied by our Castlenou wine of course.
A great several days in Catalonia!
Paul
On Friday after dropping JP at the Avignon TGV we returned to the Camargue. This time we visited a new area where the saltworks and the mouth of the Rhone dominate the scenery. It was a fitting end to our stay in Provence with magnificent sun, scenery, flamingos, horses, bulls, the vast salt works, and of course the Mediterranean Sea.
Yesterday we packed up early, said goodbye to Marie-Noel, and drove up into Les Alpilles for the last time. It took us over an hour to go the first ten miles. We drove on the old road to Les Baux, which we hadn’t tried in our month in St. Remy. It is spectacular! The views of the mountains are wonderful and when you reach the crest Les Baux sits across the canyon on its mountain. This required mandatory photo stops every few hundred feet. (Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating but Jean doesn’t think it is.)
Of course, we had to move on. We attempted to go to Aigues Mortes in western Provence. We had seen this walled fortress two years ago and hoped to spend a few hours exploring on our way to Collioure. How were we to know it was the day of one of their festivals, many streets were blocked with barricades, and they were running bulls? It took a while to find our way out of the bedlam, but eventually we got back on the road to Collioure.
Upon arrival in Collioure the first task was to find parking. Our house is on one of the narrow medieval streets in the lower old city. Parking options include street (chancy) and parking lot (expensive). The parking lot closest to the apartment said “Complet” but we entered anyway. The entry gate refused me six times before it finally gave me a ticket to enter. We found a spot and then found an attendant to purchase a week parking pass. This does not ensure a space, but it does ensure a significantly reduced rate.
We then had to negotiate these sometime unmarked medieval streets without a map and with only our GPS to guide us. There were a few wrong turns because we couldn’t tell which way Suzie (our GPS) wanted us to go or she lost satellite reception. Eventually we found what appeared to be the right address, but there was no key box visible. A woman coming up the street asked if we were English and lost. We smiled and explained that we were looking for our rental. She smiled and pointed out that we were standing in front of it. The house has two apartments. The lower one (which was by the house number) is not the rental. We climbed the adjacent stairs and found the key box as directed.
After exploring our apartment we headed out into the old town for some exercise, aperitif, and dinner. After wine and nuts at Les Templiers we settled on The Safran Bleu for dinner. Les Templiers is a hotel, restaurant, and bar decorated with an extensive collection of 20th century art, mostly Fauvist in nature. The owners collected throughout the century hung their collection everywhere. It’s a great place to have a drink and take in the art on the walls. At Safran Bleu we split a single prix fixe dinner and added an entree of anchovies and wine. It was wonderful.
Today began with a trip to the bi-weekly town market. We walked to the square and meandered among the stalls. After some vegetables and cheese found their way into our bags, we came home to unpack. Then we packed our pleinn air sketching materials and went out to explore the town. After a circuitous walk through much of the old town we ended up on the quay where the old church sits. We each settled into our chosen spots and sketched. Although the air temp today was only in the upper 60’s there were many folks sunbathing on the beach and swimming in the Mediterranean. I was sitting on rocks against a rock wall, facing the sun. It was hot! When the temperature in my nook reached 90 I was sweating profusely and decided to leave.
Jean had made some friends in her spot so I stopped to chat and took their picture. Lia came to look at Jean’s painting then her father joined her. After that Arnaud’s parents joined them. Jean (John in English) and Monique (happy grandparents) are vacationing in the area and their son Arnaud and his family came down for the weekend to visit. Notice Jean is holding her sketch/painting in the photo. It is so much fun to meet people on our artistic travels. They love to see people making art and enjoying their country. We love to share the French love for the good life.
Along the way back to our house we found a Russian artist painting a harbor scene. Ilya Komov has a colorful style that suits the bright landscape here.
After making lentil stew for dinner, I was ready to settle down to share this post with our friends back home. We will be back in the US in 10 days.
Paul
We have had several goodbyes in the last few days. On Wednesday we made our final trip to the weekly market in St. Remy. It is perhaps the largest market we have ever been to and we never saw all the stalls. JP joined us on our visit this week.
On Thursday we said goodbye to our art bags. After packing, weighing, repacking, weighing, labeling, and waiting for UPS our bags left Le Petit Mas for their journey back to Seattle.
Art Bags Awaiting UPS
This morning we bade JP adieu at the Avignon TGV station. We had a wonderful time together this week. He coined a new word for aspiring artistes – artlings – which I like very much. We have yet to determine when one graduates from being an artling to being an artiste. Therefore we will have to reconvene this discussion at some time in the future.
JP In The Camargue
Tomorrow we drive to Collioure.
Paul
The days are growing shorter and our time in Provence is coming to an end. We shipped our art bags home yesterday and will leave for Collioure on Saturday.
It has been a very fine time here, living in a wonderful house, Le Petit Mas, in the middle of an olive grove. We’ve had delightful hosts, Marie Noel and Franck who answered our many questions; explained that the strange sounds we heard in the middle of the night were sanglier (wild boar); printed documents for shipping our art bags home; plied us with treats of homemade pistou soup, breads and jam and olive oil; and who guided us to the best cheese and olives at the weekly market.
We’ve been blessed with a visit from our dear friend JP.
And we’ve been surrounded by the sights and sounds of Provencal and inspired by the spirit of Van Gogh who spent a year of his life at Saint Paul’s asylum which is within walking distance of where we’re staying.
Provence is famous for its lavender fields. Unfortunately, we have never been here when they are blooming, but we are surrounded by images of those fields. This painting is my vision of those fields dominated by my own personal tree.
Provencal Lavender Field
Three images have been my major inspiration this past month; the flamingos at the Pont de Gau in the Camargue; the stately plane trees that line the roads here; and the Alpilles mountains which frame the Lac Peiroou at the end of the road where our house is located. Most of my work has been plein air studies of these images, a continuation of my attempt to see shapes and lines. There are also a few pastel paintings. I’ve included a number of charcoal and pencil studies for completed paintings after hearing how much some of you enjoy seeing the process.
I’ve been fascinated by the plane trees since our trip in 2011 but didn’t know how to approach painting them. The drawing classes we’ve taken with Howard Hansen this past spring have helped me to find a way to see them. I still have a lot of plane tree paintings in my head. Here is one pencil sketch, and a pastel painting based on ‘test’ shadows that have made it out of my head:-) A test is a piece of paper I use to try out combinations of pastel colors while working on a painting. I finished one painting, washed the pastels off the test paper, liked the shadows that were left, and let them lead me to a painting.
The Alpilles at Lac Peiroou flow in sensuous shapes with mysterious caves. I spent a long time doing plein air sketches there attempting to capture those shapes. Then I came home and did something quite different for me: an abstract study.
On another day we climbed up into the Alpilles and did a few sketches high above Lac Peiroou where I indulged my color fantasies with felt pens.
Some days we painted on the patio out our front door taking inspiration from things we found while walking on the property, or inspired by the trees in the yard, and objects from inside Le Petit Mas.
It was the Camargue with it’s stunning landscapes and brilliant flamingos, a place that has haunted my imagination since our visit in 2011, where most of the images came from that I worked on this month. There will be more of these as well. For now, here are a few of the plein air sketches and a watercolor abstract that I did while visiting there. Also, a few sketches and two pastel painted at Le Petit Mas.
Thanks for joining us on this adventure.
Jean
To each and to all greetings.
I am writing from Saint-Remy-de-Provence where I am spending a week with Jean and Paul who are still meandering through France in search of the perfect setting for their art work. The setting is nearly idyllic, in the middle of an olive orchard, at the edge of town, in a rented house (the French call it a “gite”) with the momentous name of “Mas du Roi des Rois”, i.e. Home of the King of Kings. No wonder, I have been stuck in awe ever since my arrival.
My hosts being artists did welcome me at the TGV station in Avignon with huge paint brushes in hand, so that I would be sure not to miss them. And then since then, it has been slave labor: I have been initiated to painting with soft pastels, and forced to produce something almost every day. One misstep and as with apprentices of yesteryear, I got stuck with brushstrokes by the masters. I was even forced to take a walk in nature and go to the shore of Lac de Peiroou in the Alpilles; it is an artificial lake created during the first century BC by the Romans when they built a dam on the local stream. The landscape is spectacular and my modest rendering in no way does justice to the actual view.
Among other indignities, I was forced to come to town to an art show, to return to town on market day (absolutely spectacular) and to spend one day to go to Camargue to the ornithological park of Pont du Gau, the most distinguished denizens of which are pink flamingos who continue doing their flamingo thing with total disregard for their human visitors. Almost as distinguished are the mosquitoes who are supposed to feast on human blood, but a little breeze during our day frustrated their voracity, and you could have heard me sing, well hum at most, “O Freude”. Less famous, but certainly quite spectacular are beavers, carps, and other animals that are difficult to meet on an ordinary subway ride.
Each of you will be able to understand, I trust, why I anticipate with strong feelings the arrival of Friday when I catch a bullet train to Paris. Witness to my sufferings, some of my “artwork” is exhibited below:
Self Portraits After Too Much Wine
Landscapes
Miscellaneous
Also a sample of what I saw in St. Remy.
For those among you who remain clueless, Saint-Remy-de-Provence is where Vincent Van Gogh was interned; more recently Dr. Albert Schweitzer was also interned in the same place, although for different reasons, the latter because he was a German subject and it was not fashionable to be so during WWI. Among other titles to fame, Saint-Remy was Charles Gounod’s birthplace and it had already been so earlier to Nostradamus.
In spite of everything, as documented above, I cannot thank enough Paul and Jean for their kindness, their hospitality, and their patience and their permanent upbeat mood.
Jean-Paul Dumont
Since arriving Friday JP has been kept busy. Saturday we painted here at the house. It was great fun to have him here to contribute to the art and discussions. We all shared our works throughout the day.
Sunday we went into St. Remy for the the Route des Artistes, a monthly outdoor art show that occurs during the summer. This was the last one of the season. Artists set up stalls along the streets of the old town. In addition to seeing some terrific art we got to talk with many of the artists. They were quite fun to talk to, share ideas and techniques, and just make friends. Aymard Savinas had very interesting impressionist paintings of women in gowns. We talked with her and her husband, Henry, at length. What a great way to make friends with art! Of course we also stopped for lunch at a restaurant and glace late in the afternoon. It was a great day.
Today returned to The Camargue to introduce JP to this French jewel. Our favorite site there is the Parc Ornithologique Pont de Gau. It was a windy day that started cool, but became quite warm late in the afternoon. The wind kept the mosquitoes at bay. It also kept the flamingos relatively inactive, but the large flocks are impressive nonetheless. We walked one trail, stopped for lunch at the cafe, did some sketching, and then walked another trail to see the Camargue horses, and ended with a final loop through the lakes for more flamingos. It was a wonderful day capped with pasta, salad, wine, cheese, and dessert in our house. Here are some photos from my cell phone camera from today.
Here are a few photos from Jean taken today at the Camargue.
Paul
Travels With Picasso 