Ochre Quarry near Roussillon

I'm on my way back to Vermont from Marseilles, with a few more Provence watercolors in my bag to post when I'm back home. This one was painted in an abandoned ochre quarry--the color in nature was really too bright for my ochre pigment to capture! Like Cezanne, I'd really need to return here again and again to understand these colors and forms.

View from Joucas

A quiet view towards the blue Luberon mountains from the village wall.

Road and Lavender

It's been hotter and drier than usual here this year, and lavender is being cut earlier than on my past July visits (including this field, which was de-flowered the day after my students and I painted there.)

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.