Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Art Journey to France October 2013

Arrived in France October 5,13 and welcomed by our Hosts: Rob and Anna Beenham
at their home in Hambye. Visit the chateau with the link below....
Chateau d'Hambye, France
                                                    
Lin Souliere watercolour workshop begins...... (You can see more pictures in the Artist Excursion folder above)
 



Lin Souliere finishing demonstration painting
 
 
Oct 6th: First workshop at the grounds of Chateau Hambye. The gardens within the grounds offer open spaces as well as a private enclosed walled garden.
 
Front view painting ~ Bev Morgan
Side view painting ~Bev Morgan

 
Oct 7th: Our group journeys to the north coast of France. We spent several hours painting in the historical village of  Mont-Saint Michael.
Leaving Mont St Michael
Sketch & Painting at Mont St Michael
Reference of typical window boxes

Oct 8th: Our group spent the day painting within the grounds of the chateau.
Oct 9th: We travelled to Dinan, a village of cobbled streets and half -timbered buildings, typical of the French Northwest.
Two small paintings at Dinan by Bev Morgan

Because of rain, we sat under the protection of an outdoor café





Oct 10th: Our group stayed the day again at the Chateau painting and catching up with our individual laundry. ( So good to have laundry facilities at our chateau).
Oct 11th: Not far from the chateau is a small town of Constance. Because of the cooler temperature and rain, we spent a few hours inside the "Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Coutances"
Alter of Cathedrale Notre Dame de Coutances
 
Oct 12th to Oct 13th: Time to say Good-bye to our wonderful hosts Anna and Rob Beenham at the Chateau d'Hambye and we travelled to Honfleur, France. Honfleur was one of the favourite locations for the French artists to paint. The old streets and half-timbered houses appear in many of the Impressionists' work including Monet, Sisley, Boudin and Dufy. Artists were drawn to Honfleur by the special quality of light in the Seine estuary, the unspoiled medieval town and beauty of the surrounding countryside.


 
Oct 14th: After breakfast, we left Honfleur for Giverny for an afternoon visit to Monet's Garden, home and studio. Our tour guide gave us an interesting stroll throughout the gardens and gave us Monet's life story. Lin challenged us to do a quick sketch with a small block of watercolours to focus our attention. I chose to paint Monet's stairs to his studio. As I sketched, I reflected how he would go up and down with his art supplies to paint in his garden.



 
Oct 15th: Tuesday, after breakfast, our bus left Giverny and arrived in Paris for 3 days of discovery. Be sure to visit my file on my home page ARTIST EXCURSIONS for more photos!

Follow my Art Journey to France. If able, I will be posting images to this blog while
travelling!