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(c) Lesley Powell, 2016

One of my favorite days from the recent workshop in Provence with Maggie Siner was the day we painted in and around the tiny hamlet of Les Bassacs. Les Bassacs served as our home during the workshop, and I found that as I got to know it better and better, I grew to love it more and more. This feeling is due in no small part to the hospitality and encouragement of our host (and fellow painter), David Atkinson, and his wife Liz. Better hosts could not be found! 

(c) Robyn Spence, 2016

Sometimes when you become familiar with a place, your eye grows numb to its beauty, and to the potential paintings that it holds. Not so with Les Bassacs, at least not in my case! The top painting is mine, from the morning we painted right in our own backyard. I loved that tall, odd shaped building, and its rough plaster surface and irregular windows. When I saw the interesting shapes presented in the top painting, I just had to grab them. This turned out to

be my favorite among all the paintings I did on the entire trip. I tried to "tell it all" with a very small slice of the scene.

(c) Gail Jensen, 2016

Gail Jensen painted the same building I did (directly above), but from an entirely different point of view. I love the way her painting shows the curved shape of the building, and the warmth of the sun on the plaster. And beautiful shadow shapes too!

(c) Catherine Antoine, 2016

Fellow painters Catherine Antoine and Robyn Spence found a spot to stand in a little alleyway running behind the hamlet. They both did beautiful paintings, shown as the second and fourth images in this post. They each made something lovely from something very plain. We had been studying about the color of light and shadow, and both of these paintings  truly convey the feel of the light in that space.

The surprise of the day (below) came from the brush of Steve Milliken. Steve hiked down to the end of the road and painted the trash pick-up site. Who knew that you could make an interesting and appealing painting from garbage cans and the walls that shield them from view?? Steve gets the award for the most original and surprising subject matter of the day, hands down! We called this one "White Teeth". Stay tuned for more adventures from the workshop...

(c) Steve Milliken, 2016