My wife and I will be having an exhibition in Château de la Treyne on the Dordogne river, in the Lot region of France this coming July.
All of the small paintings were painted on site last summer, when we had an opening in the lockdowns here in Europe. The larger paintings were painted in the studio this winter, either finished from plein air starts, or enlarged from sketches done in the field.
Bend in the Dordogne. 100 x 140 cm, oil on linen.
It’s a stunningly beautiful area, and this is the second summer we have spent painting there. We are normally based near Domme, as we work with the V&A Gallery in Sarlat-la-Canéda, but for this trip we worked much more to the east, to try to paint areas closer to the Chateau.
The castle itself is a spectacular property and we received a very warm welcome from the wonderful owners.
Afternoon Light, Château de la Treyne. 80 x 100 cm, oil on linen.
One thing I really love about the Dordogne is how clean the water is. The areas where we were painting were full of water crowfoot, with bees pollinating the flowers that sit just out of the water. And it’s great to see such a large river so teeming with fish and frogs.
Passing Cloud, Château de la Treyne. 100 x 80 cm, oil on linen.
Walnut Grove. 90 x 120 cm, oil on linen.
Above are all the larger pieces fresh from the studio. Below are all of the smaller, plein air work from the summer. The first group are the ones I used as reference for the studio paintings.
The Dordogne from above Pinsac. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.Afternoon Light, Château de la Treyne. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
Passing Cloud. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.
Walnut Grove. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
Banana Tree, Martel. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.
Canoe Rental, Pinsac. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Reilhaguet. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.Château de Belcastel. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
Milling Stone, Moulin de Cougnaguet. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel
Reflections, Pinsac. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Castelnaud-la-Chapelle Castle. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
Gardens at Château de la Treyne #1. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.
Gardens at Château de la Treyne #2. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.
Gardens at Château de la Treyne #3. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.Cutting Garden. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.
In a recent post I wrote about landscape painting in the Gers region of France. Here are the paintings from the rest of our summer trip. We bounced around quite a bit of the country as we had to be here and there for workshops and to work towards future exhibitions.
After the Gers, we traveled over to Bordeaux for a few days, then down to the coast between Sète and Agde for a week on the beach.
Rue de Pessac, Bordeaux. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Allées de Tourny, Bordeaux. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Place des Quinconces, Bordeaux. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Place Amédée-Larrieu, Bordeaux. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.Agde. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Sète. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.The Canal du Midi. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Chapel near the Thau. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Les Copains, Sète. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Afternoon light, Sète. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Mèze, on the shore of the Thau. 20 x0 30 cm, oil on panel.
After the Gers, we traveled over to Bordeaux for a few days, then down to the coast between Sète and Agde for a week on the beach. Next we had to head up north for a workshop near Laon, so we stopped for a few days in the Loire Valley.
The Cathedral, Tours. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Passing Storm, Amboise. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Château de Chenonceau. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.Blois. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
In Laon we had a workshop, so I didn’t get much of my own work done. We were on a beautiful property though, so I tried to paint as often as I could.
The Side of a Pond, Fourdrain. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.Cows in the Sun, Fourdrain. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.The Farm Buildings, Fourdrain. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
Lily Pond. 35 x 25 cm, oil on panel.
After Laon we had a couple of days to kill so we headed over to Normandy to paint in Honfleur. I’m always trying to find places where my favorite artists worked, and Boudin, Seago, Jongkind and Monet (among others) all painted in and around the small port there.
Honfleur. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Morning, Honfleur. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Boats, Midday, Honfleur. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.Evening Light, Honfleur. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
From Normandy we drove back down to the Dordogne, to paint local scenes for the V&A gallery in Sarlat-la-Canéda.
The Dordogne from Domme. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.
Sarlat-la-Canéda. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.
Water Study, the Dordogne. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.Beynac from the Dordogne. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
Child on a Swing. 25 x 22 cm, oil on panel.
These are most of the paintings but the full summer’s oeuvre was posted at the time to my Instagram account.
Overall it was a great trip. The painting locations across France are varied and stunning, the food was amazing, and the people were wonderful and welcoming. We’ll be back again in the summer of 2020 as we have an exhibition and a couple of workshops.
