Day Four Without A Car

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Paul

Just a brief update. Europcar could not produce a replacement car within 100 miles today. There will be no further action until Monday or Tuesday because many businesses close on Sunday and Monday. We have been unable to communicate with the agency to negotiate termination of the rental, which would free us to rent a car.from another company. We are responsible for the car until the contract is terminated or we are given a replacement. What a farce!

Art has come to a standstill because we are spending our time trying to communicate with Europcar by phone and internet. It is difficult to get in a frame of mind to paint. Sally, our hostess at Atelier de la Rose has been wonderful with her assistance and moral support.

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The Car Saga Continues

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Paul

We are coming to the end of day 3 of our French car saga without an end in sight. Tomorrow we are due to arrive at our house in Provence, but have no means to travel there. EuropCar cannot find us a car even as far away as Bordeaux, which would be no small journey to pick up a car. They offered to pay for train tickets to Provence, but with our art supplies and personal luggage that is impossible. Therefore, we are sitting in Montcabrier waiting for the magic call from EuropCar. If we wait until Monday or Tuesday our original car may be repaired.

It appears as if one of Sally’s artists who was due to arrive Sunday is not coming, so we can pay to stay here a few extra days if necessary. I can think of much worse places to wait for the transportation Gods to act. Sally has been helpful above and beyond reasonable expectations and continues to smile through all the phone calls.

Last night we took Sally to dinner (actually she drove since you might remember that we don’t have a car). She chose a lovely little restaurant in Castelfranc, a village that sits on a cliff above the River Lot. Restaurant du Pont has a fine menu of regional delicacies. I started with an apertif called Fenelon that was wonderful. It is a delicious blend of creme de cassis, walnut liqueur, and cahors red wine that drifts over your tongue and melts into your throat like ambrosia. Yes, I am smitten. (Today I found a Napa Valley vineyard that makes walnut liqueur!) My entree was a casoulet of duck gizards in a thick red wine and walnut sauce. The geziers were tender and the sauce was so rich it clung to the fork. I really stretched my eating habits for the main dish when I ordered a filet a beef in a red wine walnut sauce with a side of cooked cabbage in the local style. I can’t remember the last time I had rare beef, but I must say this was unbelievably tender and flavorful. It reminded me why I used to eat rare beef. The cheese course was a small round of cabecou, the very soft goat cheese popular in this region. It is traditionally served with cracked peppercorns and drizzled with honey! I never would have thought of that combination. The flavors blend beautifully in your mouth. For desert Sally convinced me to return to the flavor of walnut liqueur drizzled over ice cream. This feast was accompanied by a bottle of 2004 Chateau Cenec Eulalie, a Cahors red wine. This is their premium wine that is 100% malbec. The bottle was opened at the table and as the meal progressed the wine improved with exposure and the last glass with dessert was most impressive. Walnuts, Cahors wine, duck, and goat cheese…that’s about as regional as we could get. Jean and Sally had some other dishes, but I will refrain from commenting on them since I did not taste them. However, judging from the purring from my dinner companions I assume their meals were as wonderful as mine.

Okay, so we aren’t exactly suffering during our enforced extended time at Atelier de la Rose. Tonight Sally is making dinner. We have a hiker staying as well. Although I have packed my painting supplies, I may get out some watercolors and do a few sketches.

Life goes on.

Paul

Posted in Art, Atelier de la Rose, Friendship, Photography, Travel | 8 Comments

Dead Car

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Paul

Yesterday we spent a wonderful morning painting in the Lot Valley near the Chateau Nozieres, our favorite winery. The day had begun with clouds, but the sun broke through as we painted. It was one of those great sunny days with big fluffy clouds floating overhead. We each did some pencil and color sketches, Jean’s in pastel and mine in watercolor.

At 1:00 we broke for lunch at a Creperie in Prayssac. A leisurely lunch with crepes and wine would put us in the Theze Valley near Montcabrier just in time for late afternoon light for more painting. However, our plans were not to be completed.

On the way over to the Theze a warning light and sirens erupted from the dashboard. They told me the ABS and Parking Brake were malfunctioning and I should seek assistance immediately. Of course we were on one of those typically narrow country roads with no place to stop, so I continued a couple of kilometers to the small village of Pomarede and pulled into the parking lot of a hotel/restaurant named Chez Jeanne. It was then that I discovered that my cell phone was dead and Jean had forgotten to take her phone along. The folks at Chez Jeanne helped me call Europcar and report the problem. Europcar said they would dispatch a mechanic within an hour and we settled down to wait. I called Sally (after calling Amy to get Sally’s number because she was inadvertently left out of the current phone book) at Atelier de la Rose to let her know what was happening.

An hour later a tow truck arrived with a French speaking driver. We attempted to communicate and he agreed to try to call his garage for a translation. However, by this time the restaurant staff had departed and the woman left behind would not let us use the phone again. Therefore, we agreed to ride in the tow truck to the garage where someone could speak a little English. An hour at the garage with a computer hooked to the car determined that it required a new sensor in the left rear wheel. This is a part they would have to order. Therefore, we called Sally who came to our rescue.

She arrived and spoke to the chief mechanic who said he would call in the morning (today) to let us know the situation. He called this morning to say the part had arrived, but that it would not be repaired until sometime Saturday. We have to leave on Saturday! Therefore, we called Europcar to tell them we needed a replacement vehicle. I used the English line, but got an agent whose command of English was only slightly better than my command of French. After much wrangling Jean went to see if Sally could translate fore us. She came to the studio and talked to the agent for some time to determine that we wanted a new car and when and where. He promised to find a car and call back. It has now been 3 hours without a peep from Europcar. Sally had to go do some errands (after all she does have a business to run!) so the phone is not being answered for a while. If they find us a car nearby she will give us a ride to pick it up. If it is not close Europcar will pay for a taxi to take us to the new car.

We must leave Saturday because we have a house waiting for us in Provence. Furthermore, Sally has the rooms rented Saturday night and a new artist arriving on Sunday. We are hoping to get a new car today or early tomorrow so we can get it packed and ready to leave Saturday morning.

Paul

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Artists Invade Montcabrier!

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Paul

This morning a silver van pulled into the village square and disgorged about a dozen people carrying easels, boxes, backpacks, and other gear. There was no mistaking artists on a plein air outing. They spread out around town, each picking their spot. When all seemed to be settled I grabbed my camera and wandered around to say hello and see what they were doing. It turned out to be a group of pastel painters in a class under the guidance of Richard McKinley! I quickly returned to the studio to tell Jean. We didn’t want to intrude on their 2 hour session in our village, but did chat with several of the artists and offered Richard directions to St. Avit for a possible plein air site. It was great fun to see all these folks drawing quick and detailed field sketches. The day was tricky due to big clouds moving over. The light would change from warm and bright to cool and dim in a matter of seconds. They all seemed to rise to the challenge and enjoyed Montcabrier. One of the artists, Theri Dufour, gave me her website where she features her quilting art and has a link to her pastels.

On Sunday I joined our friends Sally and Amy to go to an art show. A large manor a few miles away hosts art shows in their remodeled barn. Two of the present artists are Sally and Amy’s friends Pierrette Vergne and Brian Plews. Pierrette does beautiful paper art with wonderful textures and rich colors. She uses unique papers from Japan and Nepal and superb German inks. A series of three caught my eye – each a different tree – oaks, olives, and pines. You can see them on her website if you click on her name. Brian designs posters. Part of his display included a room of his rock and roll posters from 1969-70. That sure took me back in time! Those were done with screen printing, but today he works on a computer and had some current posters on display as well.

Over the past few days we also did some exploring of the Lot Valley. Autumn is defintely in the air. Temps have cooled and we have had rain often. Hikers stayed at Atelier de la Rose a couple more nights, giving us the opportunity to practice our French. They are so patient with us! Due to the cool evenings we are no longer eating on the terrace, but have moved into Sally’s kitchen. It’s a very welcoming place where we enjoy good food, good wine, and terrific company.

On one trip we returned to Chateau Nozieres for more of their great red Cahors wine. This little family vineyard in the town of Vire-sur-lot is a gem! While there we met a family from Great Britain and shared tasting with them, talked about our art adventures, and heard about their travels. Pierrette, one of the owners, graciously poured for us and chatted with all. We left with our case of red to explore the valley.

After the winery we took a meandering route through many small villages in a circle back to Montcabrier. There are so many beautiful scenes to paint it would take a lifetime to make a dent. Therefore, we took lots of photos and will be painting the Lot Valley for a long time to come.

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In four days we move on to Provence!

Dinner on the Terrace

Dinner on the Terrace

Paul

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Paul’s Paintings – 3rd Week At Atelier de la Rose

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Paul

We have ended our third week at Atelier de la Rose. I played with new (to me) techniques and ideas.

I experimented with watercolors using multiple thin washes. In addition to a plein air watercolor of Chateau de Bonaguil I did some still lifes of objects in our garden. Sally Gaucheron, our hostess, keeps many found rusty farm implements, pots, pans, tools, and other things around the yard for artists to use as models. The old apple tree provides many wonderful windfalls for painting as well. I took advantage this week. It was great fun to play with lost and found edges. Sometimes the watercolor determines the edge for me.

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We spent an afternoon at a small 11th century ruin of a church called St. Avit where I completed my first plein air oil painting. It was an interesting experience to take my pochade box with oils out into the field. Since I’ve learned to limit the use of water and simply wipe my brushes with paper towel to clean them, I don’t need much water and thin with oil. That means I can pack everything I need – canvas, brushes, paints, knives – into the box and only have to carry that and a tripod into the field. In the studio I painted an intimate scene of the tiny ferns growing on the church’s stones. They were on the dark side of the wall with the sun just lighting the tips. Please excuse the glare spots on the photos. The paintings are wet and we do not have ideal lighting in the studio for taking photos.

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I returned to an old theme for another oil painting – the simple roses outside our studio. This time I used a palette knife and kept the painting loose. It is very different from painting with brushes and makes me use different parts of my brain.

Roses web

Finally, here are a few of my sketches from the week. Click on an image to enlarge it.

Paul

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Third Week at Atelier de la Rose

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Paul

Painting, sketching, making new friends, eating fabulous food, the experience goes on. The painting recap will wait for the weekend. However, I thought I should at least try to summarize the other events of the week.

We have done more walking on area trails and visited sights. One of those is St. Avit, a small 11th century church ruin about 2 kilometers from here. In the late afternoon and evening the light is unbelievable. We also have returned to some of the trails that come into Montcabrier as alternatives on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route honoring St. Jacques. These trails are peaceful walks through forested hills with occasional swings through a farmer’s yard.

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This week Sally had a reservation for a walker on Tuesday night. Marie Cecile called in the afternoon to say she had a toe injury and wasn’t sure she could make it. Sally arranged to meet her at a road close to her location and Marie Cecile came to Atelier de la Rose. Her foot was quite painful so she decided to stay two nights and then return to Paris, prematurely ending her hike. Although we were sad for her injury it was a pleasure to get to know her over breakfasts and dinners for two days. She is a social worker working with homeless people in a Paris suburb, likes literature, movies, and is interested in North America so we had much to talk about. Perhaps she will pay us a visit in Seattle when she comes to Canada to visit a cousin?

Marie-Cecile

Marie-Cecile

We visited Chateau du Bonaguil for some sketching and painting. It is a big castle sitting on a hillside overlooking a picturesque village. Our vantage point was across the valley.

Chateau du Bonaguil

Chateau du Bonaguil

Thursday we returned to the Fumel market. Jean got a vinyl table cloth to use for an art drop cloth and I got a photo vest with lots of pockets for plein air painting. It was only 10E. Okay, it’s a woman’s size XXXXL, but who cares? I’ll get used to the zipper being backwards. I also picked up some new sandal/shoes at the local department store. My Coleman hiking shoes developed a large hole in the sole after little use. I won’t be buying those again. My first pair lasted two years, but the last two pair have both had construction problems.

Tonight more hikers will be staying with us. That means we get to practice our French and make new friends.

Paul

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Week Two – Jean

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Jean

Yes.  It has been a busy week, as Paul has described in his posts.  Walking, weddings, new friends, eglises, markets, and more wonderful food from Sally, our host at Atelier de la Rose.

And art.  Lots of art.  I finished the soft pastel sunflower painting I was working on when I did last week’s post.

Sunflower - Soft Pastel

I had no sooner finished the sunflower, when we went to the market in Fumel and I’ve been experimenting with still life arrangements in between our plein aire outings.

First the still life experiments.

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And then the plein aire sketches.

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And finally, a mystery:-)  Let me know if you think you know what it is:-)

Guess - Nope not an abstract

Thanks for taking a look.

Jean

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Yes, This Is An Art Residency

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Paul

It’s time for my weekly summary of art created in the past week. As you have read in the other posts it was a busy week with lots of activities and social events. Despite that I did manage to do some ink drawings and paintings this week.

From my attendance at the dedication of the new altar piece at a nearby church I painted Le Benetier. This translates roughly as The Holy Water Font. This ancient font was just inside the door of the church with sunlight coming through the open door.

Le Benetier - Oil

Le Benetier – Oil

My other featured pieces this week are still lifes in ink, watercolor, and oil pastel. I’ve been really working at the ink wash drawings and enjoying the effects. However, I continue to paint a few watercolors and experiment with oil pastel.

Paul

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Sketching, Geocaching, and A Wedding

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Paul

We began our day with a short trip down the valley to a place we had seen last week where the River Theze is dammed, creating a small lake. Limestone cliffs rise from the water’s edge and demonstrate the ancient power of this river. With the reflections it seemed like a great place to do some sketching.

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Since arriving in Europe I have been trying to get my phone GPS to recognize the local satellites. This is important to do geocaching here because the car’s GPS doesn’t get us as close to the target. However, today I decided to try the car’s GPS on a cache a few kilometers from our sketching. We drove to Villefranche and the GPS took us to the road next to the town’s old lavoir. That put us within about 100 feet of the cache. I used the clues and photo given by the cache’s owner to get closer then used geocaching sense to find the little box. My first find in Europe!

For those of you for whom the previous paragraph is a complete mystery I have included a link to an explanation of geocaching. It’s a great way to explore out of the way places.

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We returned to Atelier de la Rose for a little lunch and to settle in to paint. However, my painting was interrupted by a wedding at the village church. The front of the church was decorated and cars began arriving, crowding the central square of this small village. Soon the crowd entered the church and the bride and her father arrived. After the ceremony everyone gathered in the square to throw rice, greet the couple, and line dance. Line dancing is a big fad here. All of the wedding attendees gathered in the square to line dance en masse to a Spanish song that repeated the work Amor. What a sight! In a short time the entire party departed in a blaze of horns and shouts. The bride and groom drove an old pickup truck decorated in a fashion to show the groom what married life would be like.

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Paul

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Chateau, Market, Hiking, Dinners

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Paul

It has been a busy three days since my last post. In addition to painting and sketching every day we have seen more of the area and made some new friends. Wednesday we painted and hiked. Although our little village is a true cul de sac (only one road enters the village and exits by the same gate), on foot there are many more options. I think we have found five trails that enter Montcabrier from all directions. Not all of them can be made into loop hikes, but all are fun to explore. Wild elderberries and blackberries crowd the field edges. Streams arise from springs and trickle through the valleys. Walnut trees are everywhere and they are filled with almost-ripe nuts.

Montcabrier Trail

Montcabrier Trail

On Thursday Sally took us along for a trip to the weekly market in Fumel. This market stretches through several streets of the old part of the city. Anything you want is for sale. (With the curious exception of men’s clothes.) Our first goal was a certain fromagerie and their aged cheese we had sampled. Of course there were many other cheeses to taste and bring home for our lunches…goudas of several different flavors, soft runny goat cheeses, bleu cheese, the list goes on.

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We have had company this week at Atelier de la Rose. Dominique and Anna stayed in the other guest room for 3 nights. It was great practice for our French and they proved to be quite patient with my scrambled pronunciation and phraseology. Last night they asked Sally if they could stay for dinner and we made a party of it. Jean and I led off by opening one of our bottles of prosecco, which we shared on the terrace. Sally served us sumptuous dishes of salads and cold meats, a cheese course, and fresh strawberries bathed in a sauce including orange juice, rose wine, and grenadine. We laughed and chatted in our two languages, gave my smart phone translator a workout, watched the sun set, looked at the stars, and finally said good night. This morning Dominique and Anna left to continue their journey in Brittainy before going home near Brussels (but in France). It was such a pleasure to meet them. They made it a very memorable few days.

Anna, Sally, Dominique, and Jean

Anna, Sally, Dominique, and Jean

This morning we took a short drive to St. Martin le Redon, a small picturesque village nearby. Our goal was to do some sketching there, but we ended up taking photos and walking around the village. Then we drove over the hill toward Chateau Boneguil, a large and well-preserved castle from the 15th and 16th century. An overlook across the valley provided us with a perfect place to sit and sketch for a while. We plan to return to the Chateau for a close up visit.

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Tonight is the weekly small market here in Montcabrier. It is the time for many people to get together and enjoy a meal purchased from the vendors. They sell roast chickens, cheeses, wines, and other dishes. Of course we will be eating with Sally, but we might wander up to the market (100 feet from our door) to listen to the music and see what’s for sale.

Au revoir

Paul

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