Musee Toulouse-Lautrec

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Paul

On the way from Sarlat to Cuxac Cabardes we stopped in Albi to visit the Musee Toulouse-Lautrec. This museum houses around 1000 works by the artist.

At the time of our visit there was a special exhibit of his poster prints done to advertise music and arts exhibits around Paris at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Many of these are very well known images.

The permanent collection caught my interest. The first room had portraits of Lautrec done by his contemporaries. They show a short man whose visage changed dramatically with the years. He only lived to 38-39, and his genetic abnormalities and broken legs that stunted further growth wrecked havoc on him.

I had never seen a large number of Lautrec’s works. Many museums we have visited had a few of his paintings. I had no idea that he had a particular fascination for and painted many horses. Horse in a field, army horses, race horses, horses of royalty, he painted them all. Another interesting find was his outstanding portrait work. I had ben familiar with his portraits that border on charicature, but he also did fine portraits. His mother was one of his favorite models. Please click on the museum link above to see examples from the collection. I am more impressed by Lautrec’s talent than I ever have been by viewing the samples at other museums.

Finally, a brief note about the building itself. The museum is house in the Palais du Barbie, the bygone palace of the Catholic Bishops of Albi. It is currently undergoing restoration inside, but the building outside is magnificent. Built between the 13th and 18th centuries, it is an imposing structure with beautiful stonework, tall towers, and many nooks and crannies.

Au revoir,

Paul

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Welcome to Cuxac Cabardes

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Paul

Yesterday we arrived at our next gite, Chez Providence, in Cuxac Cabardes, a small mountain village about 20k outside of Carcassonne. It is at an elevation slightly over 500 meters according to our GPS. And, yes, we do have wifi in the apartment!

Our gracious hosts, Christina and Nico, met us and showed us around the apartment. They also have a B&B upstairs. We had prearranged dinner with Christina due to our travel plans. She welcomed us with a marvelous dinner: pate foie gras and white wine for entree, and potato salad, smoked chicken, deviled eggs, assorted vegetables, all on a lovely vinagrette salad. For dessert Jean had orange slices topped with contreau and creme fresh. I passed on dessert.

Cuxac Cabardes’ 500 residents are in stone houses terraced on the mountain side above a small river. It is a great village for walking if you like ups and downs. The terraces switchback to create an interesting maze. A small part of the town is across the river. There is one store, one boulangerie, one butcher (no beef), one pharmacie, and little else. The entry of Chez Providence dates from the 12th century. Our apartment was added in about the 15th century. The stonework in this town is very interesting as you can see in some of the photos. The church is a historic site as it dates from the 8th century. Cuxac Cabardes was a crossroads during the Cathar wars when the Catholic Church led crusades to rid the region of the Cathars. There are ruined Cathar castles throughout the region.

Today we adjusted to our new surroundings, took a walk around town, and are having the local Monday night dinner specialty – pizza. A pizza maker comes to town on Monday evenings and parks near the river. People order by telephone in advance and then he makes and bakes them on site in his truck. We will walk down at 7:00 to pick up our pizza!

More soon!

Paul

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Au revoir from Sarlat . . .

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Jean

A final post . . . a new pastel painted on our patio . . .

This will likely be the last post for awhile as we don’t expect to have regular internet access for the next few weeks. . . but you never know.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ambois Field

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Sarlat by Night . . .

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Jean

The quiet lanes, gaslit and layered in shadows are home to some very fine street performers. Here are a few of them, including the mime who tells the story of the Marionette who cuts her strings and for a magical time knows what it is like to be human before she returns to her box, and a wirewalker who becomes one with his wire and once he has done so he walks it with impunity.

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Je suis très désolé, je ne parle pas français

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Jean

Our attempts to learn French before we came here were less than successful. Not that we thought we would be able to become conversational in French, but we had hoped to pick up the basics. It didn’t happen. We both gained a basic vocabulary, but despite listening to French language tapes, the written word still does not sound like the spoken word to either of us.

We are able to communicate face to face, especially Paul, who has a facility with Spanish that is helping him with the French. Between our vocabulary and sign language we get along. Mostly, we get along because so many of the French people we meet have a good grasp of English. And under the right circumstances they are willing to use it.

Rick Steves recommends remembering the basic courtesies and he is correct. Always, you say Bonjour or bonsoir, madame or monsieur and merci beaucoups and au revoir. One other acknowledgment is, Je suis très désolé, je ne parle pas français. I am very sorry, I do not speak French.

This, we’ve found is an open sesame to good will and communication. Yesterday, waiting in line to purchase tickets to the Lascaux II caves, I saw this vividly demonstrated. Two couples in line ahead of me had very little French. They stumbled through a conversation with the purchase agent and both left with tickets which they were pretty sure were for the English language tour, but they weren’t sure. The purchase agent did not speak a word of English to them to ease their concerns.

When it was my turn I said ‘Bonjour, Madame. Je suis . . . .’ Immediately she smiled warmly at me, and said, ‘Ah, do you speak English?’ From there we communicated easily and I walked out certain that I had the tickets we wanted.

It is so simple. Be courteous, apologize for your poor French, and most French people who have English will use it. If they don’t have English they will still be polite and smile and make every effort possible to communicate with you.

We’ve had many English speaking people tell us how rude the French are. We’ve just not found it to be true.

Aurevoir, mes amies. Passez une bonne journée.

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Upcoming Internet Access Limitations

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Paul

Tomorrow we leave Sarlat and head to SW France. Our gite is in a very small village, Cuxac Cabardes, and we do not know what internet access will be like. I thought I should warn our friends that there may be silence for a couple of weeks unless we can find a good connection. That’s one of the thrills of traveling in very rural France. The cities have internet coverage, super markets, regular open air markets, boulangeries, gas stations, etc. Villages have few of any of the above.

Our next two stops: Cuxac Cabardes and Saint Martin de Crau are both tiny villages. However, both have good sized towns nearby. With luck a Tabac in one of those towns will have internet access. We might even find a McDonald’s for access, but I don’t count on finding any Starbucks out here like there are in Paris. Cybercafes seem to be nonexistent in rural areas.

Anyway, we will post when we can.

Au revoir,

Paul

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Sarlat la Caneda

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Paul

We have been in Sarlat since Sunday, painting plenn aire, touring the Dordogne Valley, seeing chateaus (castles), taking a lamplit walk through the old walled medieval city, and enjoying La Bouquerie, our wonderful house for the week. Here are some observations.

Sarlat’s old city is a wonderful mix of ancient architecture, modern street performers, great cafes, small shops, and a thousand foie gras stores. Although most tourists flock to the Dordogne River to see the chateaus and paddle the serene waters, we found the crowds daunting. It is beautiful, but there are few places to park without a fee, few parking places available due to the number of cars, and lots of other wonderful towns and countryside away from the river. We have enjoyed several drives in the country on back roads to small towns that aren’t as famous. Corn fields (to fatten the geese), wheat fields (to make baguettes), sunflowers (to make oil), walnut groves (to make oil and nuts), and (surprisingly) tobacco plots. I had no idea they grew tobacco here, but recognized it immediately from my youth in southern Wisconsin where they used to grow tobacco before it was proven to be a dangerous substance.

Foie gras is the big gastronomic news here. It is sold everywhere. Farms give tours where you can watch them force feed the geese that corn we saw growing. Foie gras comes in a confusing variety of “purities.” It’s as serious as choosing a single malt whiskey! Most guides say that the “entier” or top of the line foie gras is too strong for our proletarian tastes. It is essentially canned whole goose livers. On the other hand the Pate foie gras is only about 30% goose liver and may not be fit for high society. The middle of the road is Bloc Foie Gras. This is goose livers made into a rich, creamy pate that melts in your mouth and clots your arteries. We have no clue about which to try. The pates and terrines are quite good to our tastes.

Today we visited Lascoux II cave. Lascoux (the original cave) was closed in 1963 due to the damage caused by humans breathing in the cave. The French government undertook an 8 year project to recreate two of the large rooms in the cave. It is incredible to experience how they built this artificial cave duplicate to a likeness of 5mm! The artists who recreated the paintings used cro-magnon methods and materials while measuring and placing the paintings in exact location. The engineering and artistry are stunning. Then one must consider the artistry of these ancient humans. Many of the paintings show a remarkable depth of field, range of vision, and style that looks modern. The four giant bulls in one room each display a distinct artist’s hand. I called one realist, the second impressionist, the third post-impressionist, and the fourth an amalgamation. We don’t know in what order the figures were painted or even exactly how old they are. Metallic oxide pigments can’t be dated. It is all very fascinating. No photographs are allowed!

Last night we walked down into the old city after dark. The narrow lanes and plazas are lit by gas streetlights and cafe lights. Magic seems to be afoot. In the lanes one feels like a character in a Brother Cadfael mystery. On the plazas the atmosphere is like a night time circus. People sit in cafes and watch street performers who seem to rotate from one location to another on some sort of agreed upon schedule. We saw an amazing tightrope performance that was a ballet set to beautiful music, a couple of jugglers, a statue-mime who is incredible, and musicians of all sorts.

Tonight is is sprinkling so we decided to stay home. Tomorrow will be a stay at home painting day and we will go down to the old town again after dark. The local lizards that are slamanders in French abound in our courtyard and will keep us company throughout the day. In the mean time here are a few pictures to give you a little sense of our week.

Au revoir,

Paul

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Été; enfin trouvé!!!

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Jean

Summer; found at last!!!

It has been warm enough here in Sarlat to go in short sleeves, from morning through the evening. We’ve been eating on the patio. It’s delightful; as is our gite, two down two up, plus a bathroom and toilet. It’s that interesting French custom of separating the toilet area completely from the shower/bath facility. We have the windows and doors open and, as in Chambray, the only sounds are occasional conversations and birdsong . . . lots of birdsong.

Pure bliss.

Today we painted plein air for the first time . . . well, I did. Paul had painted plein air at Chambray, but I was set up inside because the rain was too constant a companion and my pastels too hard to move quickly.

I’ve been experimenting some, trying to put into practice what I’ve been absorbing of the impressionists and post-impressionists; playing with color; painting fast; and not trying for too much detail or exactness. I’m fascinated by van Gogh, but have not yet tried to capture with pastels what he did with oils. When we visited Auvers sur Oise we visited the statue of van Gogh, done by the sculptor, Ossip Zadkine. What is most amazing about this sculpture is that Zadkine did capture in bronze what van Gogh did with oil paint.

We brought along the David Dunlop DVD series, Landscapes Through Time, and have watched several of the episodes relevant to the areas where we’ve stayed. It’s a thoughtful series, full of painting insights and art history, with just the right combination of each. I love the series and have learned a lot from it. But when it comes to van Gogh, I don’t think Dunlop got it right. I see van Gogh paintings and what I observe is a very careful use of paint to create daunting emotion; the energy in his paintings coruscates across the canvas, but I don’t think he splashed on the paint in the same way that Monet splashed paints on his canvas. Van Gogh was much more deliberate.

Below are a few recent pictures and some of my recent paintings.

Au revoir . . .

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Chanonceaux

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Paul

On the way to Sarlat we spent one night in Chanonceaux, a charming town outside of Amboise. It is best known for the Chateau Chanonceau, the third most visited chateau in France. We didn’t have time for the chateau, but did walk around town and may return in late September to see more.

We stayed at La Roseraie, recommended by Rick Steves. It was lovely and dinner was outstanding. Here are a few photos.

We are now in Sarlat, a jewel of a midieval city. Our house is just outside the old wall. In a few steps we can be wandering a warren of narrow lanes filled with shops, churches, homes, etc. More about this city soon.

Paul

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Chambray Paintings

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Paul

I managed three paintings during our week in Chambray – one little watercolor study of lily pads (guess the inspiration), one big watercolor study of a Van Gogh field, and one acrylic of the rose bush next to our house.

Paul

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