Luberon Valley after Storm

Every summer I paint at least one big, distant view of the valley behind Les Bassac, and it's always different. Weather, time of day, even the shifting darks of cloud shadows create endless variety in this wonderful landscape (and to add historic interest, Julius Caesar camped in this valley on his march through Gaul.)

Painting in the Cherry Orchard

Watercolor plein air painting: simple materials (paper, dried paint, a brush and water), complicated calculations (lines, shapes, lights and darks, colors, space, proportion and atmosphere, each component affecting the other), emotions (frustration and exhilaration) and practice (work and play).

Sunday Sketchbook: Provence

Another market morning, this time in St. Saturnin, our closest village.

Between Houses, Viens

Light and shadows, hollyhocks, and a view to blue hills from the high walls of a fortified hill town.

Looking into the Valley

The lavender is just coming into its peak color now, and combines with wheat fields, vineyards and hedgerows to make a landscape like a brightly patterned quilt thrown over rolling hills to the base of the blue Luberon mountains.

Mas and Field, Murs

A farmhouse by the bend in the road by the town park on a hot morning.