In the small town of Lourmarin in the Luberon Hills of Provence, Christine and I were introduced to the concept of time in the life of the French. Our gite (apartment) named La Petite Maison was accessed on the high point of the village after a modest walk up very narrow cobble stone lanes or one lane roads. The gite was within a tiny square (Place de l'Eglise)which contained other dwellings, an art gallerie and an historic Catholic church. Near the steps of the small church was a fountain where the sound of the water spout was comfortable and constant. Here is a painting I did while sitting on my porch. This square was frequented by daily tourists passing by. Pretending to be locals we watched them from the porch on the second level. The church tower bell sounded every hour, one gong for each hour, and one gong on the half hour. Everyone wears wristwatches now of course yet town time was still marked by the church bell.
Someone purchased this painting today and I will have it framed and then it moves from my studio to its new home. I painted the fountain en plein air, and enjoyed the reflections, the soft bubbles rising to the surface, the contrasting green vines on the bleached wall, the sunlit stucco walls of the house in the background and the wonderful contrasting light blue shutters of the window and door. Shutters are always closed for the night and invariably these were pulled shut around supper hour even with three hours of sunlight remaining. We foreigners tended to close shuttters just before bedtime.
The someone referenced above is a husband and wife who today, August 29th, 2009 celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Congratulations my dear friends.
I admired this painting from your gallery... it must be both exciting and a little sad to sell a painting. Exciting that someone else sees the beauty or the "moment" that you captured... but sad that a little bit of 'you' just left your house.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!