In the French department of Languedoc-Roussillon, vine leaves bring summer to a spectacular end with beautiful colours. And a bountiful harvest of grapes for ‘bottled poetry’. Two excellent reasons why impressionist’s loved living and painting there…
Tag Archives: France
Wild Beauty
Evening on the lagoon at Gruissan, in Languedoc-Roussillon, France.
Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert
Shot during one of my French workshops, in which a couple of the participants can be glimpsed taking a well earned coffee break in the little cafe…
The Wild Beasts
Fishing Boats in the harbour at Collioure. The little French fishing village became a centre of artistic activity when a penniless Henri Matisse arrived after deciding to give his artistic career a push. He arrived in Collioure in 1905 and was immediately transfixed by the astonishing character and charm of the historic village, with theContinue reading “The Wild Beasts”
The Tour Barberousse
Or Redbeard’s Tower in English, stands above the coastal village of Gruissan in the Aude départment of France. The tower is all that remains of a castle built at the end of the 10th century to observe the approaches to the harbour at Narbonne and to guard against seaborne invasions of the city by theContinue reading “The Tour Barberousse”
Trompe l’oeil
Trompe l’oeil is French for ‘deceive the eye’; an artistic technique using realistic imagery to create an optical illusion in which the depicted objects appear to exist in three dimensions.
Pub Culture
Pub culture – or bar culture, it’s not the same everywhere …
Balance of Nature
“On the old door creepers spring,And a stillness reigns in the air unstirred by the beat of a wild bird’s wing.Those who see believe the old house grieves with the grief of a sentient thing.”Paraphrased from The Deserted Homestead By Edward Dyson
Le Petit Café
The delightful Art Nouveau facade of Le Petit Café de Collioure in the south of France.
Minerve and the Cathars
A decorative wrought iron cross next to the Marie’s (mayor’s) office in Minerve, a village in the Hérault department of southern France; in which a group of refugees sought shelter in the village after the massacre of kinfolk at nearby Béziers in 1210. Followers of Catharism – a Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14thContinue reading “Minerve and the Cathars”
La Maison Jaune
French street in Arles, Provence…
Bell Rope
Every Leaf is a Flower…
the impression given when vines in the commune of Saint-Chinian develop autumn tints around a quintessential, pink, French farmhouse; a spectacle that’s been a regular event for some 25 centuries.
Sunday Evening
Village ladies have retired for the night and in another scene echoed over most of France, a young guy, out for the evening, is strolling along a sunlit street in the coastal village of Gruissan in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.
Mirror Mirror…
A collection of mirrors on a French flea market stall, offer a glimpse of the sky, trees and a young woman adjusting her lipstick… It all seems innocent enough, but mirrors can evoke strong feelings – powerful tools for changing our perspective and seeing parts of ourselves that are usually hidden as we look outContinue reading “Mirror Mirror…”
Cloisters
A solitary silhouetted figure wandering through the remaining ancient cloisters at the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France.
Le Petit Train Jaune
Also known with affection as The Little Yellow Train, Le petit train travels through stunning alpine scenery via small villages frozen in time.
Big Brother is Watching…
A little way from Avignon’s Palais des Papes featured in my post of two weeks ago, are some Trompe L’oeil wall paintings of historic French people gazing out of what would-have-been blank windows. Realistic figures keeping a friendly “eye” on the passing young lad. While a 21st century street camera is also watching street activity…
Still life at Gruissan
Fishing implements silhouetted in the lagoon at Gruissan, in Languedoc-Roussillon, France.
Palais des Papes
The main gate of the Palais des Papes in Avignon, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azurin, Southern France, a fortress, palace and the seat of Western Christianity during the 14th century.
George Munday Creative 