The year of the hollyhock

The cold spell in the winter which saw off some well-established plants and favourite trees, has been a boon for the hollyhocks of Les Bassacs.  There are over 20 different colours to be found in the centre of the village. I took these photos this morning, in the peace and quiet,  after Paul's group had left for L'Isle sur la Sorgue market.

All the way from America

Marie Gabrielle and her group from California enjoyed two weeks of pleasant, sunny weather which saw the poppies redden and ushered in the start of the strawberry and cherry season.

The group worked hard, fitting in as many picnics as possible to take advantage of the chance to capture the beautiful early summer landscapes. 

While not forgetting to enjoy themselves in the evening, and ending their two weeks with a celebration in the studio.

Marie Gabrielle in front of her beautiful watercolours

Escapees

This month I have been photographing unusual poppies, escapees from gardens into the ditches by the side of the road between here and St Saturnin les Apt.  They lent a rather exotic air to the already abundant mix of wild flowers.  This morning, the dreaded FAUCHAGE (mowing) sign went up and the mairie are out busily cutting them all down!

David's week 26th may - 2nd june

Unusually for David's week, which has the reputation of suffering bad weather even when it is in July, the sun shone!

This was a week with no formal tuition but plenty of concentrated painting time.  The group painted at the Abbey of Senanque (http://www.senanque.fr/) where there was a tantalising hint of blue on the lavender bushes.  At the height of the season the Abbey is too crowded to make painting there a pleasant experience, and indeed, one or two of the students found themselves the object of curiosity, but on the whole people were left in peace.

A picnic at Cucuron on Wednesday proved a popular venue.  The villages on the south side of the Luberon have quite a different feel to them, a bit more open and less defensive.  Cucuron, with its huge central village pond shaded by trees made a good cool subject in the middle of the day.

David painted the reflection of the plane trees in the pool. He always photographs what he has painted for reference back at the studio.  Like the photo, the painting works equally well upside down as the right way up. 

You can see more of what David painted on his blog at http://davidatkinsonart.blogspot.fr/

The palest poppy

Discovered in the car park, a miniature poppy with delicate peach coloured petals. 

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.