Travel another way

What can be more emotional for painters than being where Van Gogh painted his most famous paintings? We went to St Remy de Provence and visited the St Paul Mausole where Vincent was hospitalized the last year of his life. The garden full of red poppies made for a beautiful picture: contrast of blue sky, grey building and red flowers.

Linda couldn’t stop taking pictures and had to be VERY close to the flowers.

The cloister with old and new arches was full of flowers in bloom. Sandy, Barbara and Linda A spent a few hours painting it while Bonnie got her inspiration for writing.

The place is full of paintings of Van Gogh (well, posters of his paintings). The most expensive one that is worth 45 millions of dollars is in a private collection: the irises

Linda C is our techy. She spent most of her time either on her ipad, her iphone, texting, checking her emails, using mobile me, etc… Even her grand kids call her: techy grand ma.

The weather cooled off a bit which was perfect. Instead of 39 degrees Celsius, it was 25.

Another French escapade day ends. Check our all our painting tours at www.frenchescapade.com

Due to its privileged position, its exceptional charm and its typical architecture, Gordes has been listed as “one of the most beautiful villages of France”.

The houses of white and gray stone rise up in a spiral around the rock where the village is set. At the very top is the church and the castle which face out onto the hills of the Luberon.

Sandy and her group sat on what is called by the locals ” the monkey cliff” to paint this incredible view of the hilltop village of Gordes. Many tourists were more interested in them than in Gordes and started to take pictures of them.

While strolling around the tiny streets which climb up between the tall houses, we discover here and there beautiful old doorways, arcades and walls of flat stone perfectly restored, and on the other side, there is the panorama of the valley and mountains of Luberon.

The weather has been so perfect since day one allowing us to have picnics every day.

Lunch is always a time for camaraderie and good laughs.

There is also a lot of shopping to do. Margaret found the perfect gift.

Window shopping is a delight.

Roussillon is one of the most beautiful villages of France: the houses and the soil are red, yellow, orange and all the colors in between. The reason is the ochre. Roussillon used to be the biggest ochre mine in France.

Picture 1:

Here is some of our guests looking pretty on the ochre trail in Roussillon:

Jan, Sandy, Linda, Margaret and Barbara

Pic 2: Barbara and Linda are wearing their French Escapade T-shirt. That is the new model for 2011.

Pic 3: During the day, everyone chose what inspired them the most for their painting. While most of us, climbed to the top, Linda C decided to sit in the middle of the city hall plaza to paint the world go by. She was wearing her big pink hat, that makes it easier to spot her on the picture.

Linda with her pink hat painting on the main plaza in Roussillon

Pic 4: At the end of the day, we went to one of the two restaurants in Venasque, overlooking the valley. Picture 2: Jan is making fun of me taking a video of Bonnie looking for the sunset.

Pic 5: Here is the sunset you were looking for Bonnie!

Sunset in Venasque

Tomorrow, we go to the jewel of Provence: Gordes.

We are back in Provence. A new painting trip has started. This time, the teacher is a watercolorist from California, Sandy Delehanty. Sandy has been teaching on three of our trips already and this is a fourth one, although the first in Provence.

For the last month, the weather has been gorgeous. It is not a May weather but a July weather. If the farmers are not happy about it, we sure are, especially our painters.

Margaret, who have already been on our painting tour to Belgium 2 years ago, is painting the entrance of our charming Bed & Breakfast. The inn has the right name since it is called “les volets bleus” meaning “blue shutters”.

Margaret painting the entrance of the inn

All shutters are blue, even the ones at Bonnie’s room. Bonnie is our star. It is her fourth tour with us. She follows her teacher Sandy everywhere and especially on our tours. By the way, Bonnie is the one who had me started on painting trips….I will always be so thankful to her.

Our star Bonnie

Here is the entire group for our welcome dinner at the inn. From left to right: Jan, Barbara, me, Sandy (the teacher), Bonnie, Linda C, Linda A and Margaret.

Our first dinner

Food in France is delicious but at the inn, it is exquisite: here is a little sample:

Our hors d'oeuvre called "entree" in France

That was just our first day.

Stay tuned for more adventure.

Jackie

Following Linda’s broken foot to Isle Sur la Sorgue, the painters had an amazing array of subjects to paint ranging from the orange umbrellas of the Cafe Bellevue, the deep blue green water of the River Sorgue,  paddling ducks below, and underwater life.

Kerry's painting of Isle sur la Sorgue

Painters convened to lunch on fresh trout, salmon steak and cod in shrimp sauce at Cafe Bellevue and view their scenes from the opposite side. After their fabulous lunch, a refreshing walk along the river revealed the water wheel of an earlier moulin (mill) and continued reflections of glorious flowers and fabulous architecture.

View of Isle sur la Sorgue

As we met by the river to leave the village, Victoria noticed a free-wheeling young fellow named Michael riding his bicycle in his flip-flops, whom Linda and she had met on the train from Paris to Avignon as they were all moving heavy luggage, mindful of the “broken foot” and his flip flops.  Michael explained he was wearing flip-flops because he had blisters from the hiking expedition in the Himalayas from which he was returning to his lovely village home in Isle Sur la Sorgue.

…And so continue the footsteps of the broken foot which will lead  Linda tomorrow to London as we all disperse and depart from our charming Maison aux Volets Bleus in Venasque.

writer: Kerry, one of the guests on the French Escapade tour

Our group (from left, front to back then from right, back to front): Pam, Linda, Kerry, Tina, Victoria, Lynne and Marty

The funniest painter, Linda Walsh, broke her foot 2 days before coming on the trip. She arrived nevertheless and has been a trooper, carrying her cumbersome foot through Provence.

Lindas' broken foot

Linda, with her broken foot, has excelled at broken colour whether at Monet’s gardens at Giverny or at Van Gogh’s hospital at Mausole de Saint-Paul in St. Remy de Provence. Our mentor, Victoria Brooks, internationally renowned plein air painter from California, covets Linda’s broken colour but not her broken foot. This morning our entire painting group painted Van Gogh’s olive grove and les Alpilles from the vantage point of his original painting.  Victoria demonstrated an extraordinary composition and then provided instruction on mixing all of the colours in the scene before her. She also illustrated the benefits of painting  first the darkest darks, the lightest lights and then medium values.

Victoria demonstrating how to paint in St Remy

Victoria encouraged all of her painters to create the scene in their own style.  In the afternoon, the painters followed the footsteps of Linda’s broken foot to the far corner of the sunflower garden and painted the sunflowers lighting up the church!

Mausole St Paul in St Remy where Van Gogh was hospitalized

Linda’s foot led us to cheap wine at the local cafe in St. Didier. Following Linda’s foot, we found excellent wine, salads and pizza at La Pizzeria “Cote Cour”.

Linda and her good wine in St Didier

Smoked salmon salad

Tomorrow we follow Linda’s foot to seek out beautiful landscapes described to us by charming residents of Isle sur sur la Sorgue!

writer: Kerry, one of the guests of the painting trip with French Escapade

Today we went to Gordes, one (if not the one) of the most beautiful villages in France. Hilltop village built around a castle on a cliff. What else can be better for painters?

Pamela, Linda and of course teacher Victoria painted the hilltop village while Tina, Lynne, Kerry and Marty went shopping on the weekly market in the village.

Victoria helping Pamela for her painting in Gordes

They bought different gifts for friends and family from apron to lavender soap but also cheese, ham and baguette for our picnic.

We had a picnic at the Clos des Jeannons, at Andre’s shop. He makes wonderful olive oil including basil and truffle olive oils. He gave us a bottle of rose wine for us to drink later. What a treat.

More painting in the afternoon before going out for dinner.

Victoria, Lynne and Marty at the restaurant, toasting for their leader...

After dinner, more shopping, but different since it happened in my room: French Escapade shopping.  Some women bought wonderful T-shirts they will wear tomorrow with their French Escapade vizors.

Linda, Kerry and Tina with their new French Escapade T-shirts.

A busy day but so wonderful under the Provence sun.

New group, new faces or almost. I already knew artist Victoria Brooks since she came and taught for me in 2008 in the French Alps. She is back with a new group of art students. This time is Provence. Yep, Van Gogh, Cezanne,…they knew where the light is best for painting so does my new American group.

Today, our first day, demo by Victoria: first, how to set up the easel, then how to use  colors.

Victoria doing a demo of plein air painting

Lynne and her wonderful apron:" A bad day in the studio is better than a great day in the office,"

The view from the guesthouse we are staying at is breathtaking. Maybe overwhelming for some who chose to paint a  vignette: a flower pot, some grapes, some hanging flowers. The idea is to get used to painting outdoor.

View from our guesthouse in Venasque-Provence

The group visited an artist gallery. The artist told them to go and paint by the cemetery in Venasque. “It is very quiet there” he told them. And quiet it was !

After a marvelous picnic with duck mousse, salmon rillette, French baguette, fruits and so on, the bravest went to the cemetery to paint ..not the graves but from there, we had a wonderful view of the hilltop village of Venasque, where we are staying.

Linda using the painting knife for her oil painting

I picked Venasque on purpose. Listed one of the most beautiful villages in France but not touristy. How come? Well, no touristy shops, no cafes, no ice cream places… just wonderful medieval houses, church, fountain and medieval towers. Just what painters want.

Tomorrow will be a complete different day in Provence with French Escapade….

Today the girls went shopping. They didn’t have to go very far…inside the house there is my portable French Escapade shop: visors, shirts, table cloths,…Of course, all painters chose visors (not that they will use them now with this cold weather!!!!(.

Anne and Judy bought the same shirt also,looking like twins:

Judy and Anne and their new French Escapade outfit

Judy decided to wear her new table cloth as a skirt. Why not?

Judy and her new skirt

Niki and Nancy bought the same visor so I wanted to take their picture together but Joan wanted to be in the middle because she didn’t belong to any picture:

Niki, Joan and Nancy and their new French Escapade visors

The shopping was done in 10 minutes because they wanted more paint more or was it to eat more? For sure, for Joan it was to eat more. She admitted that she came on the trip for the French food and she was not disappointed.  She is now doing a little painting for the chef to thank him for his wonderful food.

Our chef, Mr Poulet

Check back tomorrow to see the painting of Mr Poulet’s food by Joan.

Today has been a rainy day so indoor painting for everyone; still life. Everyone painted a bouquet of flowers on top of a wooden chair with a French hat sitting on it. Ok, it is not a real French hat, it is actually Joan’s hat but everyone agreed that the still life with her hat looked very French. Below are a few pictures of our guest painting.

Judy painting

Joan painting

Nancy painting

Anne painting

But France is not only about painting but eating and drinking. Therefore, we went to the Chartreuse cellar, the longest liquor cellar in the world. We learned about the Chartreuse monks making the Chartreuse liquor. We know it is a mix of 150 herbs but they keep the recipe secret. I guess we don’t need to know, as long as it tastes good. They make 9 different types of liquor, from the elixir of long life at 75% alcohol to the fruit liquor at 21%. You can’t find them in the States. You can only find the green Chartreuse (55% alcohol) and the yellow one, called the liquor for ladies, because it is only 41% alcohol. We also got a chance to see the life of the monks in a 3D movie wearing great glasses…. Very good day after all.

Drinking Chartreuse liquor when traveling to France

Watching a 3D movie at the Chartreuse cellar

Stay tuned for more adventure with French Escapade

I am back in France on my first 2010 tour. A painting tour in the foothills of the Alps with art teacher Niki Reynolds.

What a fun group it is! small (5 women) for a lot of fun and laughter. The tour is not only about oil painting even if it is the primary reason for them to join the tour but it is about enjoying each other’s company, French food, French culture and having a good time.

The weather hasn’t been the best it can be. That is the least I can say. It is quite chilly, about 13 degree Celsius (55F), which is usually the weather for March.

That doesn’t stop our guests from painting: if it is too cold outside for some of them, they are painting inside.

Most are beginner painters (Nancy, Anne and Judy) while Joan is an experienced outdoor painter. By the time the beginners finish to set up their easel and paint, Joan has almost finished one painting. Oh well, they found that rather amusing. Me too!!!

Niki is a great teacher. You can check her art on her site at http://nikiparas.com/

She is spending a lot of time helping the newbies. That is the beauty of being in a small group. You get plenty of personal help from the teacher.

On thhe first day, we had a professional chef preparing dinner for us. Not just any chef, but Jean Claude Poulet has been the chef for the Louis Vuiton family. What a treat.

Jean Claude prepared  superb food for us. I didn’t take pictures of everything and I should have.  Below is a picture of him preparing the asparagus as hors d’oeuvres, then a picture of him with the bananas with cinnamon for dessert, a close-up of the banana and finally a picture of our group.

If you want to join one of our painting tours in 2011, make sure to check www.frenchescapade.com

Stay tuned for more tomorrow.

Jackie

Best,

Last year, we decided to make videos to show what our tours really are about. Whether about our painting trips or our cultural trips, we hope they convey our philosophy of travel.

Thank you to all of our guests who have participated in giving testimonials. We were not able to insert all of them in the video but we really appreciate your enthusiasm and time.

Here are 2 videos (1. our general tours / 2. our painting tours in Belgium)

Video 1

Video 2

We also offer painting tours in France and in Switzerland. For more information about all our destinations, check www.frenchescapade.com

I love my job because it offers a great variety of tasks: my favorite one being leading the tours, of course, because I enjoy interacting with my guests, sharing their joy and showing them wonderful new places.

However, most of my tours happening between May and October, many people often wonder what I do then. No, I do not sit and relax for 6 months ! It is in fact when I have to do the toughest part of my job: marketing, selling and organizing.

However, having started my company 6 years ago, it becomes easier and easier: I have solid contacts and partners, and “word-of-mouth” makes wonders ! Right now, my cooking tour is really successful and Belgium is getting more interest than the past years . Belgium 2010 is  a cultural tour with an optional  writing workshop. My new tour in Tuscany  is getting filled. As for Provence and the painting workshops, they remain the greatest hits !

For more information and availabilities about all our tours in 2010, check  www.frenchescapade.com

Picture info. 1. Visit of a ranch in Camargue / Provence 2. Picture by Jan Hagan

Provence is the perfect inspiration for many painters. If Cezanne  and Van Gogh are the first names you would associate with the South of France, Picasso was not indifferent to its charms and spent a lot of time in Provence and the French Riviera..

In the beginning, the Spanish painter would often visit friends in the area before he eventually moved  there,  where he  painted some majors works inspired by the spirit of the place.

Here are his Provence landmarks:

• In 1912, he stayed with Braque in Sorgue near Avignon and painted “L’Arlésienne”
• In Vence , he would often meet Matisse
• In Saint Tropez,  he drew the “Odalisque” sketch
• In 1919, he stayed in Saint Raphaël for a while.
• In 1923 and 1924, Cap d’Antibes and Juan les Pins were his summer destinations, where he painted “Paul as Arlequin”
• In 1939, he spent some time at Man Ray’s home in Antibes and painted ” Antibes port at night”
• In 1946, he stayed in Menerbes , the village made famous by Peter Mayle’s books.
• In 1948, in Vallauris, he discovered the art of ceramics 
• In 1955, he moved to Cannes. There, he worked on his series “les Ménines” and also did  “Peace and War “ 
• In Les Baux de Provence, he acted in a Cocteau movie.
• In 1960, he finally moved  to Mougins, his last residence, near Aix en Provence, where he could see Cezanne’s dear Mont Saint Victoire. He died therenin 1973.
• He is burried in the park at his Vauvenargues Castle, in Mougins.

After the extremely successful “Picasso and the masters” exhibit  this fall in Paris,  mentioned on this blog on November 25, 2008, Provence will celebrate Picasso in 2009.

Here are the major events:

• May 25 – September 27: Picasso – Cezanne exhibit at Musée Granet in Aix en Provence
• May 27 – September 25: temporary opening of Vauvenargues Castle (reservations required)
• March 28 – June 28: Picasso 1945-1949 exhibit, 200 pieces from the Happy Years, at the Picasso Museum of Antibes .
• Starting February 29: the Cathedral of images in les Baux de Provence will project Picasso’s  works in the amazing quarry used as an exhibition room. Always a superb experience!

Both our regular tours and painting trips in Provence include Les Baux de Provence, Menerbes, Avignon, the Cathedral of Images and Sorgues.

Our painting teachers in Provence; For 2009: Jann Pollard; in 2010 Victoria Brooks

Poster for the new show at the Cathedral of Images, Les Baux de Provence.

Painters and art lovers                can discover                   Provence                    through           art, gastronomy     and painting workshops               organized by          French Escapade.

“Today, still raining! We started the day by heading to the Virieu Castle to paint but it was too cold and rainy up there so we headed for the town where our chef, Valerie, lives and had lunch at her darling home, shown here. Then we explored the town and took some photos while waiting for a school group to finish at the Berlioz Museum where Jac had hastily arranged for us to paint, out of the rain.

The museum is Berlioz’s home, with a concert hall added. There was a performance of his music going on in the hall, lovely female voices accompanied by a flute. Kathy painted in the kitchen, the fireplace and pots, Josephine tackled the marble bust of Berlioz and did a fabulous job, and the rest of us painted on the balcony under the eaves. The sun came out late in the day and we got about 45 minutes of sun and shadow for which we were all very grateful. We did not get finished with our paintings but we got close. We caught a bit of the French Open on Valerie’s TV at lunch, looks like its been raining in Paris too.” Sandy Delehanty, the art teacher on the trip. Extract from her blog at http://www.havepaintswilltravel.blogspot.com/

Here is our group eating at Valerie’s house.

Painting by Kathy Young Ross in the Berlioz museum (in the kitchen)

Portrait of Hector Berlioz by Josephine Takamato

Little window outside the balcony of the museum painted by Linda Carroll

Like always, Bonnie Crosse was not with the group!!! She was outside painting a Cafe.