Getting High

Conquering mountains on foot, getting a bird's eye view, painting the apex, getting air while jumping, teens having a beer with us in a plaza, riding a Ferris wheel to look out over the port in Marseille, being at the  top at the Chapel de Notre Dame...all the ways we're "getting high" this month....

Mt. St. Victoire Above Mas. original oil painting by Frank Bruckmann©

Frank spent a few days working on this vista, and all Aix-en-Provence residents see Mt. St. Victoire from varying directions, after all, it is the iconic view of this town and region. But to tie up your laces, pack a lunch and GO is an entirely different level of knowing a place. We spent a sunny gorgeous day plodding up up up last week and I was elated to reach the tippity top where the cross of Provence statue overlooks the surrounding farms, vineyards, villages, cities and the Mediterranean Sea. 

through Cezanne's pines, looking UP at Mt. St. Victoire

Delighted to find a monk's priory and chapel up on the top of  the mountain, recently restored, several volunteers buzzing around who make their 2 hour+ commute on foot.

Visiting Bonnieux with gusto!

Atop Bonnieux, a lovely park and a church overlook this valley.
Sleepy, quaint, gorgeous village sitting up high in the Luberon.

Along the old port in Marseille with Grandma. 

Kids took in the view from the Ferris wheel.

  

Teens in the plaza...Quinn from Monhegan Island
and Arlo are soon off to explore the EU this semester. 

Up high at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Marseille

Unbelievably gorgeous interior

January color....grass still green, some varieties of grapes have leaves still clinging onto the vines. so many curves. love it.

Frank and Hazel scout painting locations for the Workshop in May!
Who wants to come paint with Frank from May 17-25?

Lourmarin at dusk; as we left the cafe it was filling up
with locals watching football.

Practicing.Exploring.Gratitude

Practicing:
Frank spends a lot of time creating landscapes of his own interpretation and his work (most say) is pretty realistic, the colors are true and he is able to paint the best version of the subject on the whole. For instance, if a tree is in the wrong place for the composition, he'll move it. Artistic license gives him the freedom to make those choices. But, every so often I'll walk into the studio and gasp...because he's jumped into self portrait mode; a way to test himself that he can interpret with his brushes the one true thing he's always had....his face!  Unlike a landscape or still life, the portrait doesn't give you much opportunity to switch things around and remain true. I'm sure you agree, he has passed this recent test with flying colors....

Exploring:
Still so many villages, towns and cities to visit and paint...

Ansouis is a gem of a village....love this pic of Arlo in the foreground while Jorgie and I get windblown

Parked above the village and looking down at the charming Bonnieux, Frank found a parking spot that with his trunk swung wide open created an instant al fresco studio.











Hours into this painting, light has changed, Frank's taken a quick break and met some traveling muscians/artists who stopped to talk and burble over with excitement about his work.

Golden Hour over Bonnieux

A sunnier day, painting distant Bonnieux.
   

Wednesday fish market, Marseille

       

And into Marseille to meet with a friend and explore this gorgeous crumbly exciting port city

Gratitude: It's the season for thanks...it's always the season for thanks. Frosty morning beside the vineyards, autumnal colors, Frank and I painting together near the goat farm and vineyard in Rognes, my Thanksgiving vignette on the terrace, local bakery centerpiece: a boule emblazoned with the crest of our village, herbs and flowering shrubs in green glass bottles with nametags for table, wine from the vineyard next door, olive oil drizzle on salad from the olives WE picked, still lots of green things growing in the Provençal fields and forests,  old friends visiting from NYC, new friends from China and Provençe for Thanksgiving dinner, a favorite view of curving roads intersecting....which road do you take? 

  

watercolor work in vineyard

cleaning off brushes after a couple hours painting farmhouse w smoke

aforementioned smoke. detail. original oil painting by Frank Bruckmann

Those faces!

Calanque-ing and Canyon-ing on Weekends

We were invited to join a family at Jorgie's school to their "cabanon" aka, a rustic cabin down on the Sormiou calanque. If you don't know what a calanque is, then you will need to do a l'il research to an earlier blog post of last month....ok, now...in the states, I always laugh when someone says they have a "cabin" or a "cottage" and when you arrive you realize it is much better equipped than your full time home and you are probably underdressed.  Well, had I known we were going to a "cabanon" I would have worn footwear for rock climbing and packed our contribution to brunch in Tupperware, not a glass pie pan to be heaved up and over rocks for the 2 miles from the gate where security mandated we park and walk. Though not at all prepared, IT WAS GORGEOUS! And, our host was unreachable (no wifi, no electricity, running water) and late. We had no idea where to go beyond down to the sea. 

ahhhhhh, this view was startling.....on one side the center of the rocky cliffs open up to reveal the dense civilization of Marseille, the other side revealed the Mediterranean off of the Sormiou Calanque. I audibly gasped when the scene spread out before me...cant prove that, no one heard me, you'll just have to believe….

Heading down to Sormiou, outside of Marseille

Found their weekend cabanon, just beyond this tiny port, it was the LAST house before the sauvage coast! Thrilling!

The cabanon, surrounded with this terrain.....it is crumbly limestone and ancient sandy soil with tons of prickly pear cactus, loaded with their thorny magenta fruit,  scrubby indigenous thyme, rosemary, lavender, sage and others. All of these scents, including the air, sea, trees, and other wafting smells are known as the smell of the "garrigue". It is why the south of France smells the way it does, and it is a thing that will always stay with me.

Inside Frederic, Claudia and Lilly's cabanon, built in 1906 by his great grandfather. they would travel by donkey with building supplies, water, etc. Now a very rudimentary pump from the cistern brings up water.

Prepared to take in the view in his own way, Frank opened his pochade box and painted this gem.
(Margi Rosenthal, is this one for you???) There is a pic of me taking in the view my way....eyes shut, mouth open drooling, with a gorgeous turquoise sea backdrop.

Day Trip...The Grand Canyon of France

Eye-scrubbingly adorable mountain town, "Moustiers-Ste-Marie" which is the gateway to the  Gorges du Verdon...there were waterfalls and mossy slopes and mountain goats and a 16th century cathedral, small streets of endless outdoor cafes, pottery tradition of Faience.... and on the OTHER end of the charm, the first public WC toilettes I've seen this trip which was a hole in the floor with squatting footpads....

Pedal boating on the Lac de Ste. Croix through the gorges. BTW, if you have the chance to pedal boat, one hour is sufficient....my quads were screaming!

Blown away by the scene from above....endless canyon and rocky limestone walls.

This week, we had a special guest chef in our home! Our friend Salam Al-Rawi (from Westville's Rawa) dropped by in his jaw dropping 1964 Caddy that he had restored in Lebanon!.....He has spent the last month driving it through Turkey, Italy, Greece, and into France. After having some minor mechanical stuff mended in Avignon, he piloted that beauty up our dead end street and stayed overnight, but not until we got busy in the kitchen....we fused Chinese rice noodles with provencal grilled zukes, lots of turmeric and other ingredients (that stained my "new" old damask linens from the Acco Decco in Aix-en-Provence, c'est dommage).

 Au revoir Salam, it was great seeing you here, even though you think my romantic notion of  "Garrigue" is bullshit!