Paintings of France, Italy and Beyond

Another plein air from France; Market Day in Cahors

11 06 2008

It’s hard to single out just one favorite day from this French plein air painting trip, but at the top of the list was a visit to the large open air market in the town of Cahors.

drawing sketch of french market

This town had a fabulous ”true” market, not overrun with souvenir vendors hawking chatchkeys. There were linens and other household items (table cloths and such–I indulged in a couple of these!) But this market, while lively and bustling (and quite extensive) was largely there to service the residents of the city. The air was full of all kinds of armoas from the display carts of meats, cheeses, fresh fruit, veggies oils, soaps and herbs. And oh the flowers!

Being a fool for color, I set up in front of a vibrant flower stand set against the backdrop of a lovely old church. We only had about an hour once we set up and started painting, so I just tried as best I could to put down notes of color and value patterns as I saw them. By the time we had to pack up to leave, I’d gotten about 60 % of the work done. Here it is, nearly finished, once I got back to the studio:

french flower market plein air painting
“The Flower Stand, Cahors Market, (France)”
Oil on Multimedia ArtBoard

I will work on this just a little more, perhaps to resolve the group of buildings to the right. Surprisingly the most difficult part of this painting for me was the little dog (lower right). I’m not sure why, but he kept turning out looking like a furry blonde pig, so I may try to adjust him somewhat as well. Meanwhile, contact me if you have an interest in knowing more about this piece.

Like the first painting I posted from this little travel log, this was another challenging scene to paint, not only because of the complicated and constantly moving subject matter, but because folks really wanted to chat. Again, we as a group attracted many onlookers and inquisitors. It’s always hard to talk, focus, think and paint at the same time, but to do that while also struggling to communicate intelligently with my schoolgirl French doubled the challenge!

Any way, it was fun. And while I may not have been able to finish this painting on site, the experience of talking and laughing with these lovely people while they welcomed us graciously and appreciated our paintings more than made up for that. It was another wonderful memory that was well worth the trade-off.

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Date : 11 June 2008
Categories : The artist's life, Garden paintings, French Landscapes, Plein Air Painting, Art Travels

9 responses to “Another plein air from France; Market Day in Cahors”

12 06 2008: marilynmking (07:48:09) :

Lovely painting! Nice handling of the figures and beautiful color. The dog looks like a dog!
12 06 2008: jennifereyoung (07:59:53) :

Thanks Marilyn! I appreciate that. I’m glad to know the dog looks like a dog and not a pog (pig-dog!)
12 06 2008: Rick Nilson (10:18:07) :

Jennifer,
Why would those nice french people insist on putting their farm animals on leashes anyway? It’s just like them to think they can just start trends like that. A couple of suggestions just for graphic clarity. If it were pinker it may appear less like a dog. Or you could just paint a wheelbarrow with the pig inside. Perhaps its just not fashionable to carry farm animals in wheelbarrows. I have never been to that particular region of France so it must be a regional thing. If you just leave it looking like a dog then I suppose it could have been staged right there in Richmond and then what was the point? It’s a tough call. The painting and the sketches are beautiful.
12 06 2008: jennifereyoung (11:55:29) :

Thanks Rick,
Glad you like the painting. Good idea about the wheelbarrow. However, since the consensus seems to be that the critter actually does look like a dog, I fear painting him pink would lead people to wrongly assume that the French are now shaving their pets.
12 06 2008: Pat Meyer (20:29:59) :

Personally I am with you on getting all those beautiful color notes. The little dog is hardly noticed past the beautiful flowers and wonderful buildings. Lovely painting. pat
12 06 2008: Amy Sullivan (20:48:05) :

I love the color in the front of the painting (flowers). It feels shaded there. Then the brighter colored flowers closer to the wall. You have alot to work with here.
And the dog . why he looks like a dog :0 ). amy
13 06 2008: jennifereyoung (12:57:17) :

Thanks Pat and Amy

Beautiful color makes a subject easy to paint. I think I might seek out one of the local farmer’s markets and try it again.
16 06 2008: Tau (03:53:03) :

I personally like the scene on this paitning and know how people living there. The open air market is almost same with the open air market in Malaysia. Again, I like the green tree.haha
9 01 2010: priti (01:52:51) :

looking at your paintings is an education in itself for me.
priti