Dreaming of Provence on a Snowy Day

View from my studio window

While it was snowing all day, a friend came over

and we shared stories of travel in Provence.

My past travel, her upcoming trip.

St. Rémy de Provence, a view par la fenêtre du Musée Estrine.

That was the trip on which I didn't bring my camera, 

but I did fill 2 sketch journals. 

A little drawing, 4 X 6" made this morning 

from the initial sketch.

Blogger La Table de Nana has been posting photos

of her last trip to Provence. She loves it there,

but then again, she finds & shows beauty wherever she is. 

Click here to visit her exquisite blog.

The Language Exchange of Portland Maine

Meet La Fofolle. The idea of her 

as well as her name came from 

Valérie Guillet, the founder of 

Portland Maine's Language Exchange. 

She is part of the new logo & website for the school 

& its wonderful Immersion Programs & Trips.

To see her in her context, 

& to check out the school's offerings Click HERE .

La Fofolle is full of joy because at the school 

she has learned to communicate in the native language 

of the foreign country in which she is travelling! 

And she gets to learn more of that language 

when she travels with

The Language Exchange's Immersion trips!

Click Here to visit the Photo Gallery of 

Valérie’s magificent photos of past Immersion Trips.

My favorite happened to be the Lavendar Trip en Provence.

  It was one of the most enchanting experiences of my life!

The day we went into the mountains to see, to experience 

& to smell the amazing fields of lavender 

I'd forgotten to bring my camera. 

So I had to sketch like never before!

But now I am delighted to see Valérie's photos in her gallery!

The French Series

Based on a book shop in Arles

I will be visiting some old French study group friends 

who asked me to bring some of my pictures 

of France, the ones I used to sell. Most of them have sold.

Here are a few of the old ones:

 Based on a street scene in Paris.

Artist's collection.

La maison aux volets bleus, Venasque

 Two hilltop villages in Provence

 
Arles

Paris

 
Paris

Paris

Maybe someday I'll go back to France...
These days my sketches and drawings are made 
right here in my beloved Maine. 

A Carnaval Tradition~ en Provence

My sketch, 6 X 9 inches

One March, in the hilltop village of Venasque in Provence, while on an immersion trip with Valérie Guillet & the Language Exchange (click here to see this semester's French offerings) we were surprised by music & costumed villagers (des villageois déguisés) parading through the streets. It was le Carnaval de l'école (school children's carnival), which occurs each year on a Saturday about 40 days before Easter, just about the time that other cities are having Mardi Gras celebrations. Some people in the parade held signs that had messages like "No to war" (Non, la guerre) or "Neither violence, nor misery"  (Ni la violence, ni la misère). The final destination of the parade (le défilé) was the square just outside of the rampart, the defensive wall built by Romans in 1347, where a huge paper maché "evil" octopus ( une pievure maléfique) was waiting.  

  

Photo taken by Jean-Paul Guillet, the father of Language Exchange's Director, Valérie

The villagers, especially the children had written messages about things they wanted to let go of. Perhaps they were wrongs they'd commited, perhaps they were cruel aspects of life, I didn't know for sure because they were written secretly & folded up. They were gathered & placed in the lap of la pieuvre maléfique. La pieuvre had a log (un bûcher) under it which would have been set on fire, so that all would be burned, except drizzly & windy weather didn't allow it (we heard it got done later in the week). This ritual's purpose was to chase away evil spirits (pour chasser les mauvais esprits).

You might ask: How much power can a ritual like this really have, be it Christian, pagan or any other religion? Well.  I came to Venasque on the previous day with 3 mauvais esprits: a toothache, (mal aux dents), a backache (mal au dos) and broken out skin (une maladie de peau). By the next day, all 3 had disappeared! I'm not kidding (Je ne blague pas)!!

To my French readers, including Professeur Guillet: Please excuse any errors of French, &, as always, corrections are welcomed!

The First Trip to France

If I were allowed to keep only 1 journal, I think it would be the one from my first trip to France: Paris & Provence, 2003. 

I made this trip many years after I first experienced, in my youth, the longing to go to Paris. As they say, "life happened" inbetween.  

My French classes  at The Language Exchange, beginning in 2002, had been the spark that re-ignited the dream.

I have few words at the moment to describe the magnificence of this trip, but it's OK. I have the journal...

I'm glad to share a little bit of it here in this way. And I love the blogs I read here of the trips & homeplaces of others.

Pizza Pierrot & His Van

"Pizza Pierrot: Artisanal Pizza",  April 15, St-Rémy-de-Provence. My first thought was, "Oh, No, not American fast food in traditional St Rémy!" Still, I was attracted to the little van which only comes several times a week, & compelled to sketch it. And then I was drawn to wander over. After a friendly set of "Hello's" in English with an Asian couple, I had a slice of the most delicious pizza I've ever had, ordered from the most handsome & good natured pizza man I've ever encountered. It's good to look beyond pre-conceived judgements, isn't it?

The Sketch Artists at Place Favier

A most delightful memory from my French Trip: One morning a tourist couple at my hotel invited me to ride down with them to Aix-en-Provence. Reluctantly, I said no, because I wanted to do more wandering in St. Rémy. I hadn't yet found a certain square & fountain that I'd remembered as being quite magical on a previous brief visit, & soon I'd be heading back to Paris. On this day I stumbled upon a postcard of the square, which I learned was Place Favier. I asked the shopkeeper where it was. She took me to the door & pointed: 

"C'est par-là!" Right there!

I set to sketching when all of a sudden I was aware of some people standing near me. As I glanced up, I saw one black Moleskine sketchbook, then another & another. It was a Travel Sketching class, "Croquis de voyage" from L'Académie Libre d'Aix-en-Provence!  

Aix had come to me!

We shared drawings & our books, discussed art, shared tips,compared pens & materials...My sketchbook & I were bursting with joy as we had been feeling a bit lonely. I was touched by these folks' warmth & excited by their drawings. And there was extra happiness because I was conversing in French, this language that I love so dearly & which I study back home, conversing on the subject of a shared passion! Eventually they dispersed to sketch in the square, while I stayed where I was, sketching them. 

 They invited me to go to a café afterward for hot herbal tea on a chilly April day (the mistral wind was blowing). We continued to sketch & to share, & the teacher gave a lesson on using color to fill backgrounds.  Un grand merci à la classe de Nicolas Doucedame!!

A description of the class: 

"Apprendre à voir, donc à dessiner, à croquer. Acquérir des bases suffisantes de croquis et d'aquarelle 

pour poursuivre son carnet de croquis en autonomie."