St Martin and St Cirq

Another local trip was to another teeny village, St. Martin, where we found paintable scenes around every corner. My choice was a quiet corner marked by a sign : "Prive" (private). I couldn't resist setting up to capture the inviting scene, but was soon engaged in a lively conversation with the across-the-street neighbour, an elderly lady who assured me that, despite the sign, I was actually welcome to tour the garden, because Monsieur was away (at least I THINK that's what she said!). I was gratified when she pronounced my painting "tres belle" anyway!Frequently (and deservedly) voted the prettiest village in France, St. Cirq Lapopie was our last group day trip. Although some diehards set up to paint, Frank and I simply enjoyed the sunshine and the lovely village, which was festooned with hollyhocks at every turn. Frank bought me a beautiful amber ring from an artist here, which will always remind me of one of the nicest days of our trip. The quilt picture is for you, Eva!



Here's the view of Elizabeth I will always associate with this week with her--painting bag over her shoulder, straw hat firmly on her head, striding off to find more paintable views! What a treat it was to study with such a talented yet modest and approachable artist. I'm sure it will be many months before all the things I learned from her filter through into my work, but I know I will benefit for a long time to come.The rest of the group left early on Monday, while we stayed on for several more quiet days at Domaine de Haut Baran. We certainly enjoyed our time there and hope to return some day to sample more of William and Rosalie's hospitality. After a very long two days of travel home, we were tired but glad to see the familiar sights of home!

No whining here

On one of the infrequent sunny days, our schedule took us to paint at the beautiful winery of Theron. Although I'm no connoisseur, the wine we were served with our delicious lunch (make-your-own Salad Nicoise--yum!) seemed wonderful to me! We also learned a lot from William's informative tour of the winery itself (at least we LOOK as if we are listening!). And I LOVED the imaginative banner in the tasting room!

The views were equally wonderful, and resulted in some of the trip's best works for quite a few of us. Even Frank was inspired by the old chateau behind the modern winery! We also benefited greatly from a demo by Elizabeth on painting fields.





In the newly-planted lavender field here, I managed to snap a photo of the ubiquitous hummingbird moth, which hovers just like a hummingbird in order to insert its long tongue into the lavender flowers. Amazing creatures. And while I'm showing insects, here are a few more interesting French critters...look closely to find the bee in the hollyhock and the beetle just above the blossom!

Sarlat

Later in the week, we took a day trip a bit farther afield to the market at Sarlat, a bigger town. Although the persistent drizzle made setting up to paint an impossibility, we enjoyed the colourful market stalls and the beautiful old buildings that showed layers of building styles from Roman times to the present day. Even the parking lot was pretty--these wrapped trees were worthy of an installation by Christo!



In the impressive church, Frank's eagle eye nevertheless noted crooked windows--here he is pointing them out to our host, William!

On the way back to the Baran, we screeched to a sudden stop to take advantage of this pretty photo opp--Giverny, move over! I'm sure there will be many beautiful pastels based on this scene created over the next few months!

As well ( I THINK it was on this day--that's the trouble with doing the blog after the trip!) we stopped to view the hilltop castle of Beynac, a frequent setting for movie shoots (including the recent film Ever After with Drew Barrymore) and also to view the Cro-Magnon caves above this riverside town. Amazing to imagine our far-distant ancestors living right there! We also visited the famous Lascaux caves where some of the earliest cave paintings were discovered. The original caves are now closed to the public due to the threat of damage from the humidity brought in by heavy-breathing tourists, but the re-creation is exact in every detail, and absolutely marvelous--very moving to see evidence of such artistry and sensitivity among our predecessors of so many centuries ago.