13, unlucky for some

This week there are 13 around the table, so as is traditional at Les Bassacs, Christopher Malcolm has put in an appearance at the head of the table to bring the numbers up to 14.  He is Hazel's bear and is now probably 80 years old.  As you can see he has suffered rot and damage and has been extensively patched up.  I think that he was a Merrythought bear, but he has lost his label and is entirely bald except for some tufts of mohair on his thighs and in his ears!

Oil Painting with Jeremy le Grice week 2

There can be nothing better than a Sunday afternoon painting in the sun and dappled shade of an olive grove in Provence . . .

la petite ruelle à nuit

Les Bassacs at 22.30 tonight

Early morning St Saturnin

Today the group painted above St Saturnin les Apt, looking down on the village over the pea green reservoir.  During the morning ominous black shadows appeared in the water.  They turned out to be large cat fish basking in the sunny shallows.

Choosing a painting spot isn't always that easy . . .

Yesterday was Murs

As a bit of an escape from the heat down in the valley, Jeremy's group went painting in Murs. We parked under the beautiful ancient oak tree at one end of the village where some people stayed to paint, whilst others wandered into the village itself.

Tragapogon Still Life

 

Goatsbeard

David succeeded in bringing home an intact giant dandelion head.  It is still in one piece after a week, and showing no signs of falling apart.

Oil Painting with Jeremy le Grice

Jeremy on the terrace this lunchtime, already a bit sun-burnt from a morning in Roussillon.  The weather is already hot, with thunderstorms threatening in the evening, but not much rain.  Last year Jeremy's group were rained on for nearly two weeks, which is almost unheard of,  so they deserve a bit of a break this time.

Jeremy's wife, the interior designer Lyn le Grice, is staying at Les Bassacs for Jeremy's two weeks, and is  painting in oils for the first time in a long time.  Yesterday afternoon, she set up a still life study of some beautiful roses in the shady kitchen courtyard.  If the weather stays like this, the group will be out painting every morning while the light is good, and spend the afternoons in the studio, not straying too far from the pool.

After the vernissage . . .

John's palette of colours

Fontaine de Vaucluse

John's beautiful colour palette

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morning in Joucas

Bill and John discuss the mornings work

Some of the group stayed in Les Bassacs to finish off work, while John took the rest to Joucas painting this morning.

















The view from the village looking over the valley is always a rewarding subject

The view from Joucas this morning