Beautiful September weather

We have had the most beautiful, peaceful sunny weather, the first really settled weather of the summer. Mark Cazalet's two weeks saw temperature's at an ideal 29 C with very little wind.  David tried a new picnic venue - Brantes which is situated in a dramatic valley behind Mont Ventoux.

The village perches above the Toulourenc river and is a labyrinth of lanes, archways and stone
built houses.

The group also painted at the Abbaye St Hilaire near Menerbes, a religious site first occupied in 1240 by a community of hermits; Carmelite monks. The abbey fell into private hands after the French revolution and is now owned by René and Anne-Marie Bride who bought it in 1961.

The Abbey became a 'monument historique' in 1975 and is in the process of being restored.  It is an intriguing mixture of gothic and romanesque buildings.  It proved a beautiful place to paint, with its peaceful garden, cloisters and chapel.

and the Abbaye St Hilaire at Menerbes.

Raise a glass to Jeremy le Grice

The Penwith Gallery in St Ives is holding an exhibition of Jeremy le Grice's unseen work from July 12th-3rd September.  Private view Saturday 19th July 2.00-5.00 pm.
 

Jeremy taught at Les Bassacs from 1990 until illness forced him to retire which he did very reluctantly in 2011.  He died 9th August 2012 and is missed,  but not forgotten by us all at Les Bassacs.

Moon rise at Les Bassacs

We have had a week of the mistral which brought the storm clouds from further north skidding over us at great speed and lowering the temperature.  Yesterday evening the wind suddenly dropped, the clouds disappeared and we were treated to a spectacular full moon rising over the Perréal Hill, the site of an ancient fort (200 BC) occupied by the Vulgientes tribe.

Starlings

Congratulations to Jane Revitt, a Les Bassacs regular, who has just completed her flock of starlings land installation 'Swoop' at Blackley in Elland, to commemorate the start of the Tour de France in Yorkshire.

The flowing abstract representation of  560 starlings swooping across the hillside links the dramatic patterns made by the birds in their murmurations, with the movement of the cyclists’ peloton.  Jane had a trip in a 2 seater airplane to view her work from above and emailed me this picture. Read more about the installation here.

The tour is passing below Les Bassacs on stage 15 which starts at Tallard in the Alpes de Haute Provence, with a finish opposite the magnificent Nimes Arena on Sunday July 20th. We will try to take some photos, though last time this happened the peloton passed by so quickly it was barely possible to make out the riders in the blur! This time they will be going even faster as they will be going down hill towards La Tuiliere.

Rien à dire !

Christopher Malcolm

Christopher Malcom aged eighty five and a half can often be found at the head of the table when there are an unlucky thirteen.  The group from California who are here at the moment were off to visit the San Remy asylum that Van Gogh was detained in after he cut his ear off.  Not to be left out, Christopher Malcolm dressed up in a tribute to the great man, with bandaged ear, a palette and a jug full of sunflowers.

After everyone had gone he cut quite a tragic figure, bereft but noble.

Horses at dusk

Two of Olivier Augier's Appaloosa horses are enjoying grazing an abandoned vineyard in the fields between Les Bassacs and Croagnes.  David took this photo of them yesterday on a peaceful and calm evening just as dusk was falling.

Mistral

Our first two weeks have been bathed in bright sunshine which has been great for painting en plein air.  The strong sun has brought out a profusion of wild flowers, especially poppies. They are really astounding in the intensity and vibrancy of their colour. We stopped on the way back from Goult to admire this incredible field near Roussillon.

The tell-tale signs of the Mistral can be seen in the dramatic sky.  Though it is difficult to paint in, and sends us chasing around looking for sheltered painting spots, there are compensations.  Known in Provencal as 'mange-fange' or mud eater, the drying affect of the wind is said to bring good health.  It clears the air of any pollution and dust particles.  It is of course the reason so many have come to paint here; in pursuit of that very particular Provencal light.

Season 2014

We are excited to be starting our Season 2014 in warm sunshine, long may it last!

Spring

We have had a mild spring but with little rain.  It has meant the task of getting the house ready for the summer has been much more enjoyable, in stark contrast to last year's cold spring.  Then the fruit and wild flowers were at least 3 weeks late, whereas spring 2014 has seen everything well underway.

Last week we spotted our first Hoopoe. They overwinter in North Africa and head north as the mild air engulfs the Mediterranean.  This is an exceptionally early arrival this year.  David took this photo of a young Hoopoe who spent a long time sitting on our roof top, observing the cats in the garden below, completely unruffled by their presence.  It is a very welcome sight with its colourful and distinctive markings, spotted crest and elegant beak which it uses for digging insects out of the earth.  Hoopoe's do make it to the UK occasionally if they overshoot their migration routes, because of this they were recently featured on Tweet of the Day on BBC Radio 4.

Olivier Augier from the organic farm at Les Bassaquets has been preparing the large field immediately below the hameau which was formally fallow.  Last autumn they ploughed it up and imported some top soil.  In January they sowed wheat and this weekend he was out using his beautiful Appaloosa horse to roll the field.  He explained that he was breaking the stems of the wheat to make it grow more shoots from the base.

 

Olivier has started a business taking people on trips around the valley in his calèche drawn by his horses Apanor and Alize.  Perhaps one of our groups will give it a go!