A week in Provence

Salle sous Bois - Drone region sketching and painting.

In June we spent a week in Provence with friends who kindly provided a fantastic range of activities and time for not only sketching but oil painting! I hadn’t taken my paints as we had travelled light, so I was thrilled that our hosts had bought their oils and were happy to share. We travelled light as we opted to go via train from Ruabon to Montelimar, a suprisingly smooth journey of 3 trains, the Paris underground and a bus ride, all taking only 12 hours. We arrived amidst the heat wave so I quickly deduced that sketching would be brief and seeking vantage points in the shade.

The heat was incredibly draining, so afternoons everyone slowed down, reading and napping. This gave me plenty to sketch, and hence I ended up with quite a few interiors as we hid from the oppressive heat. We also enjoyed shopping in the air-conditioned supermarkets or at the local open air markets, then cooking, eating and evenings of playing Scrabble. We cycled to a local village for morning coffee, walked up a hill to a old church with amazing views, visited small towns for markets, boutique shops, coffee and breads and of course visited some caves, where we sampled wines.

Our friends had wanted to visit at this time of year to catch the lavender harvest and it topped any expectations I’d had. By far my favourite experience was to be sat behind a trailer of freshly cut lavender racing back to the processing yard. On my last available morning I went out with oil paints to paint a neighbouring field of lavender. I had just completed a quick study when 2 tractors turned up, pulled into the field and cut the field. I’m so very glad I made the effort to get out and attempt to capture something of the glorious colours, the irridescent slices of purple that characterise that area at that time of year.

The light was so bright and clear, every day just calling out to be painted, I was in heaven.

Thank you to friends Steve and Sarah for an amazing opportunity to visit a truly beautiful and inspiring part of the world.