Snow!

Its snowing in Les Bassacs, a bit slushy, but little by little . . .

Menerbes

I am reading Elizabeth David: A Mediterranean Passion by Lisa Chaney and in the book there is an account of Elizabeth David's winter spent in Menerbes with a picture of the house she rented with some friends.

The house is Le Castellet which those of you who have been painting in Menerbes will instantly recognise as the distinctive house at the extreme western point of the village. 

 On a particularly cold and windy day like today, I was amused to read about her struggles to cope in a draughty house in the middle of a Provencal winter.  She says "the weather has been a disgrace, the place as cold and wet as Charity". They battle to keep warm around a log fire that they have to keep stocked with prodigious amounts of wood whilst being driven mad by the “relentless screaming” of the Mistral.  Well its not as bad as all that here, but I know the kind of winter she is writing of.

I have a vintage (tattered and torn) treasured copy of her book French Country Cooking, with beautiful illustrations by John Minton, from which I often cook.  She was reading the proofs of the book whilst staying in Menerbes.

2013 diary online

The 2013 diary and course details are on-line.  Go to www.artsinprovence.com to see what is on offer this year. 

Late autumn, Les Bassacs

We are closing the houses up for the winter, packing away all the paraphernalia that gets us through the summer.  Someone left me a beautiful miniature sculpture in one of the bedrooms.

  


















Out in the hedgerows the cognassier (quince trees) are heavily burdened with their fruit and people are foraging for quinces, persimmons and sloes.  We are preparing for a sloe gin soaked Christmas.

We have already had a tremendous autumn storm accompanied by a ferocious wind that uprooted many of the pines in the woods beyond Les Bassacs and deposited some bright, white fresh snow atop Mont Ventoux.  There is talk of a harsh winter to come!

Meanwhile, we are struggling to nail down the dates for the 2013 season.  It is slowly coming together and we will post news of the programme when it is all confirmed.

Couvent d'Ô - Eglise Louise Bourgeois

 The Couvent d'Ô, owned by banker and artist's book publisher Jean Claude Meyer, on the lower slopes of Bonnieux, is an unconsecrated chapel with work commissioned from Louise Bourgeois.

This hidden treasure, built in the 17th century but sold by the church in the French revolution, has had many lives, even functioning for a time as a silk-worm barn.  It is rarely open (July and the first half of September) but we managed to sneak a visit there one September Sunday.

the font in Carrara marble

It took two years for Louise Bourgeois to conceive and make the pieces for the space and the work was installed in 2001.  Before she began, she was asked if she believed in God to which she did not respond.  However, the work evokes and embodies the spirituality of the chapel and her fabric dolls of the crucifix and the Virgin Mary are very tender. 

tiny felt crucifix

Virgin Mary

bronze spider

A stark bronze cross made from a 'suffering arm' and a clenched and unclenched fist completes the stunning mix of sensual and glacial.

Abstracting with Terry Thompson

Terry's week, the last of our season had a rather unpredictable start with mixed weather and occasional rain.

By the middle of the week the situation was much improved

and the group were able to have the last picnic of the season at Venasque looking out across the valley towards Mont Ventoux.

David's week 15th-22nd September

David's week was blessed with beautiful weather, a perfect temperature (28C) for painting en plein air. The group settled into a routine of working in both the morning and afternoon sessions, something that in the heat of the summer is rarely possible. 

Saturday brought a change in the weather that was marked in Les Bassacs by this beautiful but apocalyptic sky.

Journee du Patrimoine 2012

Once a year historic monuments and gardens in France are open free to the public.  We took  David's group to the Jardin de la Louvre - "garden of the she-wolf" in Bonnieux.  The garden was accorded the status of 'jardin remarquable' in 2007. It was designed and built by Nicole de Vésian, a designer with Hermès, who took on a series of fallow terraces and transformed them into this beautiful and tranquil oasis of contrasting aromatics and hedging.

New world painters appreciate old world charm

Our first ever Australian group proved a great success, with a lively and sun-filled two weeks.  For many of the painters from Brisbane this was their first experience of plein air painting. They all took to it with great enthusiasm and with a seriously high level of concentration!

Picnic at St Remy

Though they did find time for a bit of relaxation as well . . .

Boules tournament

Autumn at Les Bassacs

The beginning of September was ushered in with a thunderstorm to signal the end of summer.

Now we are well into the season of early morning mists and mellow fruitfulness . . .

view across the Luberon from the route de Murs

deep autumnal shadows raking across Gordes

Mark pioneers new painting spots

David used Mark's two week stint at Les Bassacs to try out some new painting venues . . .

Ochre caves at Gargas

From the edge of the enormous wheat field at Murs

Font Jouval Gorge

Rebecca's week 11th-18th August

Rebecca in search of her students

We have had beautiful weather this week, hot and sunny but with fresh evenings and mornings.  The fields are all cut giving light patches in the landscape which contrast with the deep green of the vineyards. 

Rebecca took her students to paint in the countryside above Lioux where the farmer had just completed what must be the world's longest stack of lavender stooks.  Apparently the smell was intoxicating.  David's photos give you a good sense of the scale of the farmer's harvest.

Jeremy le Grice died at home, 9th August 2012 at dawn.

We had very sad news from Lyn le Grice, that Jeremy died on Thursday.  He was being nursed at home and died peacefully with his family around him.

Jeremy has been a big part of Les Bassacs since we started in 1990.  This year was the first year that he wasn't teaching his popular oil painting course. This was due to his ill health.  His inimitable style, his zest for life, his enthusiasm and energy and his good-humoured optimism will be sorely missed by us and those who knew him.  We send our condolences to Lyn, his children, Tom, Anna, Harriet and Jude as well as to his grandchildren.

The funeral Service is at St Buryan Parish Church on Thursday, 23rd August at 2.00pm. Family flowers only but donations, in his memory, for The Cornwall Historic Churches Trust may be sent to Marcus Wilkinson, Alfred Smith & Son, Funeral Directors, 31 Clarence Street, Penzance TR18 2NX.

 

Jeremy's website is a great source of information about his painting and his views on life. It is a fitting tribute to him. Go to  jeremylegrice.com

summer break

Liz and David are on their two week break!

Kieran's week 21st-28th July

The beautiful hot, still summer nights of Kieran's week captured by David, not a breath of wind, Les Bassacs glowing in the dark . . .

The Oil painter's essential equipment

Tom Benjamin's week was blessed with hot sunny weather which was a relief for everyone coming from the grey British summer.  Tom completed 12 small paintings of his own whilst teaching here.  Most of his work is carried out en plein air even in the UK where he is used to dodging rain showers.  The hot weather meant that he could paint early morning and in the evening.  He has an ingenious pochade box which stores all his paints and brushes and has space for small panels in the lid.  Tom's website shows evidence of his time spent painting in the Luberon.

The last of the Americans

Yesterday, we said au revoir to our last group of American painters for this year.  We celebrated the 4th of July with them with a barbecue buffet on the terrace.  As the sun went down the group sang the star-spangled banner and we surprised them with a patriotic trifle in honour of the land of the free!

John, Trish, Tiffany and non-painting Ben who cycled to the top of Mont Ventoux instead!

Some of the work from Maggie Siner's oil painting week

Susan Abbott's Watercolour group

What a difference a day makes

We have a group of American watercolourists here for two weeks.  We have had exceptionally hot weather with the temperatures drifting into the high 30's.  Then on 1st July we woke up to a chute in the temperature down to 15 C and drizzle.  The 3rd of July, the summer returned.

from one extreme to the other

Paul's week 16th-23rd June

The weather settled down this week into hot, bright sunshine. In these temperatures, the necessity of finding shade when painting, becomes a pressing problem . . .