Postcard from Paradou

Only one postcard from Paradou – as most of our few days in Paradou were spent with family, catching up and relaxing after our long journey from Devon.

Paradou 1However, as luck would have it, our visit coincided with the summer fete. This included, on the Saturday, an Abrivado: a day of bulls running through the streets, being chased by young men trying to show off to the local lasses.

The Sunday was also fun: a festive meal for 600, hosted by the mayor (a lady), in which we were served tomato and mozzarella salad with French sticks of bread, a dish of steaming paella (a popular Spanish dish in France?), followed by cheese and then ice cream. And as much rose/red wine as you can consume.

We were entertained by a brass band and there was much laughter and dancing. It was a long day!

The one art experience was a visit to Les Baux-de-Provence, to see the fantastic exhibition at Carrières de Lumières which is open now until 7 January 2018.

 

Carrieres de Lumieres: Bosch, Brueghel and Arcimboldo. Fantastique et merveilleux.

The exhibition focused on Bosch, the Brueghel dynasty and Arcimboldo, prefaced by a tribute to Georges Méliès, the cinemagician.

For just six minutes, the audience shares the life of Georges Méliès, who is credited with being the inventor of the first special effects in film-making.

Then, for the rest of the show, Bosch, the Brueghel dynasty and Arcimboldo, these major 16th century painters, with their unbridled imagination and extraordinary creativity, are brought sharply into focus by the presentation of their images on the walls of this amazing venue.

Within the exhibition space – effectively a cave, with no natural light – the floor is sandy and as uneven as the walls. The projections – using cutting-edge laser phosphor projectors – fall on all surfaces, including the ceiling.

The complete ‘show’ lasts for about 45 minutes, and there are plenty of ledges on which to perch or sit and take in the atmosphere.

It’s not a static show. With accompanying music, the images are brought to life through clever transitions.

 

Hieronymus Bosch
Bosch: The garden of earthly delights

Bosch: The garden of earthly delights

As an example of the method of transitions, within this image, a tiny extract from Bosch’s The garden of earthly delights, various body parts of the people depicted – heads, arms, legs – moved back and forth to create the impression of a film, rather than a painting on canvas.

The original painting is a triptych, housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939. It dates from between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch would have been 40 to 60 years old, and is probably his best-known – and most ambitious – surviving work.

Projected onto the walls and ceiling of the Carrières de Lumières, mermaids and giant strawberries glide past knights in shining armour astride flying fish.

It’s all very weird and wonderful!

And, definitely living up to the title of ‘sensual excess’.

 

The Brueghel dynasty

Works by all three of the Bruegel dynasty were featured: Pieter the Elder, Pieter the Younger, and Jan Brueghel.

The chosen musical accompaniament – a waltz – particularly suited the Breughels’ paintings. The image ‘rocked’ in time to the music, so the otherwise static images in the original paintings looked like they were actually dancing. Very clever.

The transitions worked well also when applied to crowded landscapes, with movement across the walls enhancing the sense of movement of those in the scene.

 

Guiseppe d’Arcimboldo

His Four Seasons were outrageous fun!

This is Autumn, with every part of the face created from seasonal produce.

 

Would I recommend you to visit this exhibition?

While the ‘art’ was impressive, the transitions brought everything to life. Discussing it afterwards with others who had visited the exhibition previously, this ‘modern’ approach to art is clearly not of universal appeal.

However, whether it was the addition of snow flakes gently falling on a wintry scene, or butterflies  flitting across the sky, or heads, arms and legs moving, in my opinion such wizardy made the message more vivid and more immediately accessible.

The finale ‘Staircase to Heaven’ was particularly poignant.

Yes, definitely worth a visit!

 

This post is one of my POSTCARD series, sharing all things ART with you when I go travelling. It’s the first one for this particular trip. Watch this space!

Delivery trip to the South of France …

delivery trip

Dawn at South Pool Creek

Delivery trip?

Yes, this past week, Anne and I have been on a delivery trip to the South of France – three paintings purchased last year by my brother, Brian, and his wife, Anna.

  • Dawn at South Pool Creek
  • Paddling at Burgh Island
  • Sunlight on Avon River

Dawn at South Pool Creek is an acrylic painting of the view from my studio window. It’s rare for me to be up so early. I am a night owl and enjoy sleeping late. However, my wife, Anne, is always up before dawn and, if it’s an especially beautiful one, she will wake me. I take photos and go back to bed, and she returns to her computer.

Paddling at Burgh Island is a painting which captures one sunny day when Anne and I visited her friend, Sheila, and we walked across from Sheila’s house to Burgh Island.

Sunlight on Avon River shows a tree-lined river bank. The dappled light competing with lively reflections is a huge challenge for the artist. The sound of constantly moving water is a delight to hear but, sadly, I cannot capture that within my watercolour painting.

 

delivery trip

Paddling at Burgh Island

Why are we delivering these paintings?

Brian and Anna came to our home, to meet up with our Canadian cousins who were visiting us in Salcombe, more than a year ago. But flying, without a baggage allowance, Brian and Anna couldn’t take the paintings home with them.

The previous time we’d seen them was on our wedding day, eight years previous, but now we were invited to their holiday home in the south of France – and to bring the paintings with us.

Drive? No!

We’d prefer to go by train and to take advantage of the places en route: London and Paris.

 

The route: Totnes to Paradou
delivery trip

Sunlight on Avon River

So, Anne and I have done the trip, mostly by train.

  • Taxi to Totnes
  • Train to Paddington
  • Overnight stay in London, taking in a show: 42nd Street – amazing!
  • One morning in London, shopping, and then the Eurostar to Paris
  • One morning in Paris, sight-seeing, and then TGV to Avignon
  • Car to Paradou
  • And relax!

It’s a straightforward journey and provides lots of time to read / write / paint. I have a watercolour kit with me …

Our return trip, after a brief weekend with the family, will take in three nights in Paris, so the next blog post will be a ‘Postcard from Paradou’ followed by a ‘Postcard from Paris’.

 

Do I deliver in person, usually?

Not usually!

But if you live somewhere exotic and would care to invite Anne and I to visit …

SOLD! Watchhouse to Ferry Steps

SOLD! Watchhouse to Ferry Steps

It’s always a delight to sell a painting, but even more so when I meet the purchaser and learn why they chose the painting and what it means to them. I always want my paintings to go to a good home!

 

What made me want to paint Watchhouse to Ferry Steps?

As a child of six, my first recollection of visiting Salcombe was with my parents in 1949 by way of the East Portlemouth Ferry. My father had prudently driven from our holiday accommodation in Littlehempstone to East Portlemouth,  preferring to pay for a ferry ride for his family, rather than a parking fee.

Scampering up the steps past the Ferry Inn had my mother racing after me and my brother, while my father popped into the Ferry Inn for a beer.

Later in life, waiting for the ferry gave me time to enjoy the lovely views of water, boats, town and the back drop of farmland.

Ultimately, 60 years after my first visit, I got down to creating my version of this iconic view.

Watchhouse to Ferry Steps sketch

60 years on: Sketch of Watchhouse to Ferry Steps

What attracted the buyer to this painting?

As with many of my original paintings, the image of Watchhouse to Ferry Steps was turned into a fine art greetings card. At the recent Salcombe Town Regatta, I was supporting this worthy cause by selling my cards in Island Street.

One customer exclaimed ‘My house!” and pointed out the Watch House as a family holiday home. The lovely lady enquired if the original painting was still for sale. I was so pleased to tell her, yes.

On the Sunday, now selling cards in Whitestrand to support Salcombe Town Regatta, I had the original with me. The lady (and friends) came to examine it and I’m happy to say it is now with the ‘right’ owner.

 

The history of the Watch House

I have subsequently discovered – thanks to a book called A Salcombe Photographer: Images of the collection of AE Fairweather, compiled by Tim Burr and Nicola Fox – that, in 1896, the Watch House was occupied by the Coastguard.

 

Affordable art – helping local charities

In 2018, I will start selling cards to help local charities. My Hope Cove image has been used for the Hope Cove Lifeboat, and I’m in discussions with organisers of other good causes about which image might be used to boost their funds.

If you would like to get involved with this project, please contact me.