Don't be a tourist. Be our guest!

I am not going to bore you with more pictures of people painting. So, here are a few pictures of what we are seeing on our tour. These pictures were taken in the garden located at the Mausole de St Paul in St Remy de Provence, which is the hospital where Van Gogh spent the last year of his life. Most of his famous paintings like the irises, starry night, etc…were done here.

It is still too early to have the lavender in bloom but it is starting.

Everyone took close up pictures of the red poppies.

The hôpital is still in use. It is only for women who are in distress. The therapy used is art therapy. All these paintings and sculptures were done by the patients.

The patient’s paintings were for sale so Holly and Betsy looked though them to see which ones to buy.

I decided to add a picture of Ghislaine painting since she was not in my series of pictures the first day. The olive trees she is painting are the same ones Van Gogh painted years ago (you can recognize the trunks of the trees on his paintings).

By the way, the group has been there for 3 days and they are already fluent in French, able to read the Figaro magazine. Amazing!

You too can do this. Check our list of tours in France, Belgium and Spain. In addition to painting tours, we also offer cultural and cooking tours.

Who says life is easy? Who says that being on vacation is a piece of cake? Today, the painters on the oil painting workshop to Provence have been confronted to a big challenge: painting the hilltop village of Gordes.

Here is Lynn Gertenbach’s painting in progress (Lynn is the teacher on this trip).

For the students, it was more of a struggle.

Bobbi and Betsy found a shady part but to get there they had to be a bit of a climber.

Holly was even more adventurous. After climbing, she went down a wall to be in the middle of a field with flowers. All the tourists coming to Gordes took pictures of her. She is going to be in pictures all over the world.

From Left to Right, Josephine’s easel (sorry Josephine, you are hidden behind Ghislaine), Ghislaine, Lynn (standing up), Lori and Patrish. They didn’t feel like climbing to paint. Besides, they like to paint a street going down towards Gordes to make it even more dramatic so they chose another spot by the side of a non busy road.

Oh, I do have a picture of Josephine. I can stand behind Josephine and she doesn’t hear me because she listens to her iPod.

Lori is advertising for me because she is wearing the “French Escapade” visor I gave each of them. You can tell by her smile that even though it was not easy to paint all those medieval houses, it was still fun.

But the trip is not all about painting. We went to an olive oil factory and the owner, Andre, gave us a tour of the factory explaining how he makes olive oil.

Then, the best part, was the tasting:  plain olive oil, basil olive oil, truffle olive oil and rosemary olive oil. Even though everyone’s suitcase was already heavy when they arrive, everyone bought the oil. How can you resist such a great first cold press, extra virgin fresh olive oil?

So far, it has been a wonderful trip. The group is great, very funny and everyone is getting along.

Great weather, great food, handsome people, what else can you dream of?

On the first day of our oil painting workshop, we stayed at the house or in our village of Venasque.

Here is Patrish painting from the courtyard.

Lori is doing a sketch before starting her painting.

Josephine chose to paint a little street in the village. She got help from the teacher, Lynn. Lynn is actually painting on Josephine’s painting to add some shadows to it.

Holly and Betsy, all equipped with their aprons, are painting an arch way, the unique entrance to the village back in the medieval time.

Bobbie is not painting, but prefers to chat. Ok, don’t listen to me (or should I say don’t believe what I write) because Bobbie did paint but here we were ready to go out for dinner.

But where is the last student? Ghislaine?? Actually Ghislaine took a nap while everyone was painting so I don’t have a pic because I didn’t dare to go to her bedroom just to take a picture!!! Anyhow, she is allowed to sleep while everyone paints because she is the fast painter in the group and usually does 2 paintings while the others do one.

Tomorrow, we are going to an amazing place: Gordes. Here is a picture of it (and me but that is less important, although….) so it will make you want to read more tomorrow to see what everyone painted there.

Stay tuned.

Lynn Gertenbach, an oil painter from South California, has arrived with her students for a week long in Provence.

Luckily, the weather is wonderful, even quite hot. Until last week, it had been chilly in France, even here in Provence, which is very unusual. But now the sun is here and the sky is blue.

We are staying a week long at the same location, la maison aux volets bleus, in Venasque, a charming village in the Luberon.

Here is the group at dinner:

From L to R: Ghislaine, Holly, Betsy, Bobbie, Lynn, Patrish, Josephine and Lori.

After dinner, we had a great surprise. The little tiny village had a special festivity planned: a latin night. There was a DJ playing not only salsa, rumba and merengue but also some disco, hip pop, etc…

Eight of us went to check it out (while Patrish decided to stay at the hotel and read). The minute we got there, Holly and her mother Betsy went on the dance floor and never left it.

Holly and Betsy danced all night long…

Well, the dance floor was gravels since we were on an outside parking lot. Lori, Josephine, Ghislaine, Bobbie, Lynn and I joined them. Luckily, the DJ taught us the moves for all the latin dances so it became sort of a line dance. There were 4-year-old kids dancing the night away as well as older people. Some were really excellent some were just trying out but the most important is that everyone had a blast.

We called it a night around 11PM. Nice start for our week.

To follow the full itinerary of our painting week in Provence, check our site www.frenchescapade.com.

After a real but almost surreal breakfast (because it is sooooo good), we head off to Figueres to the Dali museum.

Dali (with his famous mustache), was born in Figueres in 1904. He has his first exhibit in Figueres, where the musem is now, when he was 14. He was an accomplished artist, a genius, as he called him self. Some will argue that he was crazy and Dali never denied it. Crazy or genius, at least, he is famous and will always be remembered as the father of surrealism.

He designed and created his own museum, dedicated to his art, in his home town, Figueres. The museum opened in 1974 and is considered the biggest surreal object in the world. It is really worth a visit.

After this surreal experience, we drove to Besalu to visit the only mikvah in  Spain, from a Jewish quarter established in the medieval town in the 13th century. The Jews lived in peace with the catholic before they had to build a ghetto in the town. After the ghetto, they were expelled. This is a picture of the medieval bridge of Besalu, restored after the civil war.

Our tour guide was excellent, very knowledgeable and cute.

Doing the visit under the rain made the experience even more medieval said Karen who loves everything medieval.Woody lent her jacket to Karen but the size wasn’t really the same!!!!

No comment on this one!!!!!

Besalu has cute little shops and since it was raining, we had the town and the shops for ourselves. To be protected from the rain, we entered this pottery shop but of course, we didn’t just look. Some of us had to buy..

Rima never stops taking pictures but this time she is in Mary Ann’s box while both of them are in mine…

Tomorrow, is another day, with different adventures ahead.

Join us next year on our Spain trip at www.frenchescapade.com

Who? A special group. All returning guests. Laurie (aka Pr Drabble), Chase, Rima and Karen are joining French Escapade for the fourth time after their cultural tour to the French Alps, Provence and Belgium . Diana, Mary Ann and Woody are coming for the 3rd time and Connie is there for the second time.

They decided to form their own group to come on our new tour, a cultural tour to Barcelona and the Costa Brava.

The tour started yesterday when I picked them up in Barcelona. Two of them, whose names I will not give, had a late wake up (past noon) for a pickup at 12:45… The mark of their pillow was still visible on their faces.

Here is a picture of the group at our welcome reception:

From Left to Right: Laurie, Diana, Rima and Karen.

From front to back: Chase, Woody, Connie and Mary Ann

Today, we went to the medieval village of Pals and had a private guided tour of the village. In addition to the history of the village, we discovered the local specialties such as olive oil, wine, rice, chocolate and ham (I should say Spanish specialties because the famous pata negra itself is a specialty from the South West of Spain). I guess it doesn’t matter because as you see, no-one cares about ham but about …chocolate.

We then went on to the rice mill. The specialty of Pals is the rice. It is the only part of the Costa Brava that makes organic rice. Esther, our guide, was very sweet. Everyone thinks she looks like Valerie (for those who know her).

We finished the visit with a two hour lunch that included many  catalan specialties and of course a paella with the brown rice from Pals.

Stay tuned for more adventure tomorrow in Dali’s world. You can also follow the full itinerary of our cultural tour to Spain on our site at frenchescapade.com

We are now in Barcelona on day 6 of our painting workshop.

Today, we didn’t expect to met the giants. Not the sport team from San Francisco but the giants from Barcelona, the ones made out of wood and clothing.They are part of the Catalonian tradition. They use them on special occasions. They walk and dance in the streets. So Dee and I had the chance to see them perform on plaza Reial.

In the evening, I had a surprise for the group. We were invited at Julius’ house for dinner. We were served an incredible dinner with Catalan and Spanish specialties. It was a real feast.

Julius presented us the fresh fish and sea food he will use for the dishes.

We had a private dinner with 8 different tapas, 2 main dishes and dessert. The least we can say is that we were stuffed but in heaven…

Dee is presenting the Cocal de escalivada, the Catalan version of our pizza.

Karen decided to dress up to go to this very nice place, a clandestine gallery in the Barri Gotic.

One of the main dish was the Catalan Fideua with sea food and aioli. It is the “noodle” version of the paella.

We could barely walk back to the hotel after eating all that food but it was an unforgettable experience.

Join us on one of our tours to either France, Spain or Belgium at www.frenchescapade.com

As the temperature drops a bit, so does the number of students following Keiko. Here are a few more pictures of the people who are still painting. Some got tired and went off to do something else while 4 participants made it through.

From L to R: Diane, Sandy, Dee, Keiko and Valeria:

Shine or rain, Keiko paints her way through:

On the sandy beach, the number goes down even more. We are now down to 3 participants.

There is more than painting on this tour. A little culture too. We went to Figueres to see the Dali museum. It is actually the biggest surrealistic museum in the world. Very impressive and very crazy too.

Tomorrow, we are off to Barcelona. We are leaving this quiet paradise for more a much busier but beautiful place.

Hasta Luego.

All our trips, in Spain but also France, Belgium and Switzerland are listed on our site at www.frenchescapade.com

Yesterday we went to the medieval village of Pals, considered one of the most beautiful villages on the Costa Brava.

On the way, we saw fields of red poppies. The group made me drive through little narrow streets in the country side in order to get closer to the poppies. Well, that was not very successful. That didn’t stop them, they walked on the high traffic road to arrive in the poppy field. While taking the picture below, Sandra said that it could be a picture advertising for a discounted trip!!!! (walking by cars, in an non friendly environment rather than on a scenic road!).

The good news is that we finally made it to the poppy field.

In Pals, some of us got distracted from painting by the shopping of scarf and jewelry….I will not give any names!!!

Finally, we are in Pals.

Keiko did a demo in the main square of the village:

Judy, aka the general and also my photographer, played a trick in this picture with her mother. I would never dare to take that picture …

Picture of Judy and her mom on their terrace, back at the hotel. It is hard to leave that view even to go on day trips!

Stay tuned for more adventure as the trip continues. The full program of the trip can be found on the site www.frenchescapade.com

Today is day 3 of our painting tour.

Here are some of the paintings Keiko Tanabe did during these 3 days on the trip with French Escapade. Some of them were the demos. All have been done in one hour or less. Amazing isn’t it?

Demo in the medieval village of Pals:

View of the country side, from the medieval village of Pals:

Beach in Calella de Palafrugell (view from our hotel!):

Sunrise in Calella de Palafrugell (Keiko has time to do at least one painting before breakfast):

Boats in Calella de Palafrugell:

Mr Velcro’s house in Calella de Palafrugell: This painting is already SOLD!

Mid day in Calella de Palafrugell:

Streets in Calella de Palafrugell:

Cafes in Calella de Palafrugell:

To see more paintings by Keiko Tanabe, click here.

To see more details of the painting workshop to Spain, click here.

Our second day on the Costa Brava started with a beautiful sunrise. Here is the picture taken from the terrace of the hotel (I didn’t even have to photoshop the picture, the colors are just real!).

Let me introduce the group of artists on the trip:

From L to R (bottom row): De and Diane (Top row): Judy, her mother Lois, Karen,Keiko, Sandra and Valeria.

Today we went to the botanical garden of Cap Roig. It was designed by a couple, a Russian and his wife from England, in 1929. They built a castle and imported over 1000 plants from all over the world. The place is now a botanical garden open to the public. In July, they have concerts with artists worldwide. This July, Elton John is coming. Tickets are already sold out by the way.

Here is one of the paintings from Sandra Stohschein. She is the fast painter in the group. Four paintings yesterday and one painting this morning before breakfast!!!! This one is a painting of the castle in the botanical garden, painting number 6 already! Click here to check her web site.

The garden is so beautiful: cactus, flowers, trees and view on the Mediterranean!!!

Below is a whole in a blue door with the dramatic cliffs behind. It is not a painting or a picture. It is the real view you get from the garden!!

Keiko gave a demo about value and colors, with the castle being the subject.

Some people paid very good attention:

Some, even more serious, took pictures of it so they won’t forget:

While some others were more interested in having ice cream:

Ok, I am just kidding, the ice cream was at lunch time, not during the demo!!!

This was day 2 of our watercolor plein air workshop in Spain, taught by Keiko Tanabe.

Bon dia y Benvingut en Catalunya!

I am practicing my Catalan (I know about 10 words!!!) because I am now on the Costa Brava, running my  new trip.

It is a watercolor workshop with art teacher Keiko Tanabe. We are spending five days on the Costa Brava and 2 days in Barcelona.

Our little home base village of Calella de Palafrugell is a gem. The view from the hotel is breathtaking.

But let’s start with the most important: …painting…NO, food! Breakfast!

Here is a picture of the buffet at the hotel. It is actually only one part of the buffet. I couldn’t take a picture of everything.

For dinner,  we went to the best restaurant in town. You could choose your fresh fish of the day. You know for sure you are not eating frozen fish, from last year!!!! It was delicious.

Ok, let’s get serious and let’s paint.

Keiko, the art teacher, is a not only a great watercolorist but a very fast painter. Here is one of her paintings from this morning.

Everyone’s has been busy painting, inspired by Keiko’s demo and of course, the ocean.

I have also included Judy and her painting. Judy had never painted before. She watched Keiko this morning and then decided to give it a try. What do you think?

Ok, I am just kidding. The painting is of course from Keiko!!!

Stay tuned for tomorrow. I still have to take pictures of some of the other painters on the trip.

If you want to see the complete itinerary of this painting workshop to Spain, check www.frenchescapade.com

I continue my serie of pictures with what guests in my group do in Provence.

During their downtime, Cathy and Sandra like to rest and have a glass of wine:

Kaye prefers to just watch the world go by…

…while Carol spend her free time painting and making postcards:

But what are Kay and Susan doing? Nobody have seen them in awhile. Finally we got a phone call from Susan asking what is the name of the hotel we are staying at. What???? Where are they? They actually went to town, the town of Saint Remy, for some shopping and to buy a pizza for dinner. They walked back with their pizza, and walked and walked but didn’t find the hotel.

They finally stopped in another hotel and told them that they were lost. The gracious owner from the other hotel asked them what hotel they were looking for but they didn’t remember the hotel’s name…..They told the lady that the hotel had 2 swimming pools, the food was excellent and the garden very beautiful!!!! Well, that didn’t really help the owner to locate the hotel. They also told her they were part of Jackie’s group. I wish I would be so popular that the enitre town would know who Jackie is….The owner showed them a brochure with different hotels but they couldn’t find it.

Kay was concern….Not about  getting lost but she was worried her pizza would be cold! They finally asked the woman if they could use the wifi connection there and they called us to get the name of the hotel. So they walked and walked till they made  it home with ……a cold pizza.

Besides a cold pizza, the story has an happy ending. They made it back before dark.

On the trip, everyone has different interests. Lupe visited every church. When she could…because some of the doors were quite huge and heavy, too heavy for Lupe’s muscles:

Laurie preferred to go up and down the stairs:

Really, I mean it, she likes stairs:

Judy and Megan preferred to explore the culinary flavors of French food like lavender ice cream:

But Judy also liked to paint some wonderful watercolors:

And you? What would you like to do when you come to Provence with French Escapade?

It is not everyday that you travel to France and get invited into someone’s home. When you travel to France in a small group with French Escapade, you do.

Our guide, Jackie, had a surprise for us. She invited us into her house in France. Valerie, her friend was our host and had prepared a wonderful lunch for us.

Smoked salmon, rice salad with tuna and beans, hams, tomatoes and mozzarella, corn bread, cereal bread, walnut bread and of course wine. Here, Lupe, Susan and Kaye:

From L to R: Judy, Valerie (our host in the back), Carol, Laurie and Cathy:

Sandra and her mother Kaye:

Christine and her daughter Megan:

The other surprise was the celebration of Carol and Lupe’s birthdays. Valerie had bought some pastries made by the chocolate maker we visited in the morning. Delicious!!!!!

Here is our entire group with our host Valerie (front  right).

It was such a wonderful event and really unexpected. Make sure you go on a French Escapade tour to France to experience the same.