CHM Sunset - Remix

I decided to work a bit more on this view of the last rays of the sun raking along the little lane and lighting up the red wood cottages and wonderful pine trees. It has a little more punch now.

August Afternoon at the Back Bay

Here's the first of a whole new series of Newport Back Bay in preparation of next year's big exhibition to benefit the Newport Back Bay Conservancy. If I had to choose, I'd say this is my favorite place to paint. It's peaceful & quiet, with endless colors and shapes in the cliffs and lots of variations as the incoming and outgoing tides cut through the reeds.

CHM Sunset

Here is the last painting I did while staying at CHM. This was painted from around 8:00 to about 9:30 pm in the evening. The latitude where we were staying is very far north relative to us here in the U.S. It looks to be parallel with Nova Scotia or New Brunswick in Canada, hence the lovely long days with dusk lasting well into the late evening. The week we were there was blessed as well with warm days and only lightly cool evenings, so it was easy to stay out painting until it was almost too dark to see.
The next afternoon we were off, back to Bordeaux for the night, then up at 4 am in order to check in and catch the 8:30 flight to Paris, and from there back to the states.

Our stay in Montalivet was much too short...we hope to return, but who knows?

Late Afternoon at Avenue Californie

I love that the address of the cottage we stayed in was on Avenue Californie. I started this painting the same day I did the previous one. The light just kept getting better and better.

We came to CHM in Montalivet because my husband was participating in a photo workshop.  Every evening they headed down to the beach at 8:15 in the evening in order to shoot from 8:30 to 9:15, when the sun was just setting. So, while they were down at the beach, I did this painting, probably between about 7:00 and 9:00pm. When they came back we all would pile in to the car and go into Montalivet for pizza at 10! Amazing!

Blue Shutters in the Sun

I found so much inspiration in the path behind the cottage we were staying in, that I spent the next 3 days there painting. At one point, as I sat painting, dozens of runners in all states of dress and undress flew by me, running in a marathon. They each must have run passed me at least 5 or 6 times. Other times people would stroll by with their dogs or their kids or both. Many stopped to comment and chat, and I got plenty of practice with my German, and my execrable French. This painting and the next I gave as a thank you gift to our host, who was so generous in sharing his tiny cottage with us, and for going above and beyond in his role as host and workshop mentor by feeding us, and giving us incalculable help in a small emergency we had the second day we were there. We long so much to be back, although we heard that the rain has returned. It seems our week there was blessed indeed.

Cloudy Day in Montalivet

Our 3rd day at CMH started out with spectacular clouds as a storm system moved in. Our host told us that the entire month of July was pretty much one rainy day after another...very very unusual for that time of year there. Owing to ongoing jet lag I was up at about 5:30 am, and taking a walk when I photographed this amazing sky. Later on that day, I did another little painting behind the house, this time looking north. The sea there is due-west exactly, not like our slightly southwest facing beaches here in So. Cal. All the beautiful clouds of the morning gave way to a deep cool blue gray. It wasn't too cold though, so ok to paint.

Cottage in the Pines

Here is the first painting I did, the second full day we were at CHM, Centre Helio Marin.
The entire camp measures maybe 1/2 square mile, with many many small rustic cottages spread in a disorganized but orderly sort of way amongst hundreds of towering pines. The camp has been here since the 1950's and families from all over Europe, tho mainly from France, Germany and the Netherlands, have been coming here since then. Many if not most of the cottages have been owned by the same families for many years at a time. This is a naturist camp as compared to a nudism camp. The following definition from Wikipedia helps to make the distinction: "Nudism is the act of being naked, while naturism is a lifestyle which at various times embraced nature, environment, respect for others, self-respect, crafts, healthy eating, vegetarianism, teetotalism, non-smoking, yoga, physical exercise and pacifism as well as nudity." 


I must say that I have never felt more relaxed and un-selfconscious. There really was an other worldly feeling of innocence  and complete acceptance there. I would go back in a heart beat if I could.


I did most of the paintings near to the cottage we were staying at. The light there was lovely, and the clouds amazing. This view is from the path behind our cottage looking down the lane to the South.

Flying in to Bordeaux

We are back from our magical week in France. I had hoped to be able to post somethin everyday we were there, but overestimated how easy it would be to get to a Wifi spot in order to get online. So, now I'll put something up in the order I would have done if I had been able to post everyday.

I took these two photos looking out of the window just before landing in Bordeaux. The river is the Garonne, which flows through Bordeaux to the sea. Our final destination was a camping community just outside the seaside town of Montalivet, about an hour and a half northwest of Bordeaux.

Another Tahoe Painting

Here is a photo of the first painting I did in Tahoe that a very nice couple bought from off the easel! I was so caught up in talking with them that I forgot to photograph it. Luckily my talented photographer sister-in-law Stacy remembered and took this photo of the painting.
We are back home now, but will be leaving in a day for one week in France! I'm going to try to post from over there using my phone like I did this time from Tahoe, so stay tuned.