Inside the Village

"Hilltown Pathway"
13 x 7, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2014

During the recent workshop with Maggie Siner, we painted inside one of the beautiful perched villages of Provence. These ancient villages--with their steep cobbled streets, odd shaped buildings, beautiful old facades, and cheerful window boxes--present a number of intriguing painting motifs. Such a feast for the eyes! It can be difficult to narrow your focus

to a single view to constitute the "rectangle" for your painting. In other words, it's hard to choose a single subject.

It can also be hard to find a place to stand. The streets are narrow, and if cars are allowed, there is no room for painters. Another challenge is that the light on the buildings changes very quickly. I started with a facade that was in sun, and by the end of the painting session, it was largely in shadow. 

Despite these challenges, I thought our group made some wonderful paintings in the village. Several people were drawn to the view up a narrow cobbled street. Here is a beautiful painting of that scene, by Sherrie Russ Levine:

Painting by Sherrie Russ Levine, 2014

Hope Reiss and I positioned ourselves at the opposite end of the same street. We were standing at the top of a slope, looking at facades cascading down the street. I thought Hope's painting (below) was especially lovely. (Apologies that my photo quality is not better--these are just snapshots from the workshop, and do not do my friends' paintings justice!).

Painting by Hope Reiss, 2014

Aeron Mack also had a very successful morning. She sold one painting right off her easel! Here is another of Aeron's village paintings:

Painting by Aeron Mack

When I finished my first painting (shown at the top of this post), there were a few minutes left in the session. I took my easel down the street, where I spotted a charming door and window that just called out to me. Here is my thirty minute painting of that inviting facade. I liked it for its simplicity and immediacy. No time to noodle too much when the van is coming to pick you up in a few minutes!

"Joucas Doorway"
9 x 8, oil on canvas
(c) Lesley Powell 2014

The next post will find us back in the countryside...