Rain

Bryan working in the studio

It's not always sunny in Les Bassacs and we have had a rainy start to John's week.  People have been painting around the house, doing views out of the windows and working on still lives in the studio. The local toads are happy though and singing each evening. There is sun forecast for tomorrow which will warm us all back up again. The rain is much needed and when followed by sun, brings out all the fresh greens which highlight the abundant wild flowers in the hedgerows.

Before the rain . . .

The roses are prolific and beautiful at the moment, although they are looking a bit battered after 2 days of rain!  Before the rain came two women arrived in Les Bassacs on bicycles looking for the 'chemin des rosiers'.  They had been told by friends about our rose display and had come to take photos.

The roses are all David Austin roses planted by a neighbour, Denny, who was passionate about them.  There must be twenty different roses giving a huge variety of colour and scent.  He used to attentively dead-head them all summer to keep them flowering.  We have less time to spend tending them, though they do remain healthy and reward what little effort we put into them a hundred fold.

Albany's week

Li from New York with Albany at Saignon

Sunny weather with some blustery windy days kept everyone busy finding sheltered spots from which to paint. 

Albany's enthusiasm for teaching is self-evident, but he still finds time to grab a few sketches of his own. (Thanks go to Marc for letting us use his photos for the blog.)

Poppies

The hedgerows are peppered with poppies and the valley is striped by the occasional field of red presenting a worthy challenge to Albany's watercolour group.


This field edged with poppies was Van Gogh's first painting executed at the asylum in Saint Remy in 1889, it beautifully captures the freshness of an early summer landscape in Provence.

Start of 2012 season

Saturday saw the start of our season 2012.  After a showery but warm April, the valley is alive with a feast of fresh greens in the trees and hedgerows and a scattering of spring flowers.

bleu de travail

Les Bassacs has been bathed in warm spring sunshine for the last two weeks which has meant that David and I have had no excuse to avoid starting getting the houses ready for our start in May.  This is my favourite garb for working in - my bleu de travail - now 25 years old and comfortably ill-fitting.  Bleu de travail or bleu de chauffre are the traditional workman's cloths in France.  In the 19th century the colour was produced by la "Guesde" or woad. They were developed to be a garment that could be worn safely by workers, without extraneous pockets that could be caught in machinery and that could be boiled to clean them.  In France the word "bleu' is associated with getting ready for work as in 'On passe notre "bleu" pour aller au travail' and that is indeed what David and I have been doing for the last couple of weeks!

Jane's cushions

 Jane Revitt, an artist and designer who regularly comes to Les Bassacs, is producing a range of cushions using vintage Ordnance Survey maps. At Christmas she started selling cushions featuring her local area of Hebden Bridge and now has these for sale at a National Trust property in Dartington.

I am trying to find a beautiful map of the Luberon that Jane could use to make our own Les Bassacs cushions!

Jane is a freelance artist and designer working in the theatre, museums, schools and public spaces.   Her ingenious mix of careful design and playfulness makes her installations a joy to see.  Her work often includes the use of text and the spoken word. Have a look at Jane's work on her website and her talking chairs blog.

Salford Museum chair

Calder High School West Yorkshire

story chairs

Royal Armouries Leed

Anemones

Pablo Picasso 'Three Nudes and Anemones'

The weather is mild with a hint of spring in the air, though not warm enough for us to be posing nude with my vase of anemones!

 

David's sculptural interpretation

Man grows moustache

 Mark Cazalet is currently ensconced in Conneticut U.S.A. on a residency with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation http://www.albersfoundation.org/ , where one of his first acts was to grow a moustache!

 Mark has been working on two recent themes mirror-scapes,  reflected images and repeated images used as diptychs, and working in the (full) moonlit. 


"The lake is an amazing source of inspiration.  I particularly like drawing on it at night from one of the Kayaks, the wind turns the canoe around making fixed observation a little disorientating but so serene and sublime.  Last night there was no moon nor wind so the canoe glides across the inky surface with the stars incredibly bright without and visible artificial lights."

Billy Goat!

The six rams have now been joined by a friendly goat who lets out a bleat like a balloon deflating when you walk past him.