Since I’ll soon be leaving my nice big studio space, I’m trying to fit in more time to enjoy it while I can. So yesterday I stayed out of the heat and finished up the French landscape painting I’d been working on of the Lot Valley:
“Market Day in the Lot Valley”
Oil on linen, 24×36″
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I found the light in this region was incredibly beautiful but very changeable as well. Large cloud formations could cover the sky and cast huge shadows one minute, only to break up and allow a flood of warm sunlight. It could be raining as you drove through the valley and then be blazing sunshine just over the hill. In this scene I tried to capture that transition.
Since this is a larger painting, some of the details have gotten a little lost in the photo of the whole piece. So I took a closeup to show the people walking to market, not only in the foreground, but also those crossing the distant bridges as well:
Jennifer
Young; Vibrant LandscapesOil Paintings and Art Prints Online
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What a gorgeous scene. I love that you put the walking couple in this one. I’m reading a book by Frances Mayes “Under the Tuscan Sun” about an American couple who buys and renovates a villa in Tuscany and walks into town everyday for all their shopping. I know this is France in your painting, but I can’t help but picture that fictional couple in this piece. Because I’m in the middle of the book, this painting brings all kinds of related images to mind, it really tells a story that one wants to contemplate. So much interest is created by your composition and focal point. Masterfully done.
Much appreciated, Marilyn! I enjoyed this one, though it took me a while to get back around to finishing it! I am becoming more and more interested in the figure for certain kinds of landscapes. For this scene, I have such a memory of the place and of that market, that I couldn’t imagine it without some people! I’ve read the Mayes book, as well as the first Provence book by Peter Mayle. They are both wonderful, and similar in spirit. Southern France and Tuscany have their uniqueness, but they similar in many ways. What is most special to me about both places is the lifestyle. The pace is slower, and people seem to take time to savor simple things like fresh flowers on market day. It could also be that as a visitor I’m in “vacation” mode when I’m there. But even when the markets are bustling, nobody seems in any great rush.