Last day in Dinan

Already packed and leaving here in 10 hours to Rennes, take the train into CDG airport, fly to Iceland and then to Dulles. Sixteen hours total travel time.   Top of Castle of Dinan hiding in the shade.  

Holding up this giant fireplace in the Castle with Ron Maree. 

 Paintings chosen by committee to be given to the town of Dinan. 

Visiting the Castle of Dinan after lunch at Cecco's.

Our days here are winding to a close. Managed to finish several more paintings. Twenty seven days of pure beauty of the landscape and of the  people of Dinan. Twenty seven days of painting, sketching and exploring most of Brittany within a three hour drive from our cottage at the Port of Dinan facing the River Rance. I feel so lucky to be able to be here with my friend , Marni and her sweet husband Ron. 

 

Today we visited the Castle of Dinan sitting on the gate of the South East corner of the medieval city. 

As you can see , we finally have a sunny but cold day. 

 

 Here I am in front of a real Xmas tree painted white , showing off my new fancy socks. ( I lost a pair at the laundry)

 

We ate at a fabulous restaurant called Cecco for a three course meal of salad , dessert and beverage with a very good white wine. Marni and Ron treated me to this delicious lunch. 

 Ron and Marni on top of the Castle of Dinan overlooking the Mediaval city. 

Three more days to go, three more crepes to devour

Quiet day today in the studio. Nothing special going on today for me. I've been trying to finish up a few paintings. We leave in 3.5 days.  This is the painting that the committee chose from my exposition last night. I learned that the painting will become the property of the town of Dinan. It will be in a major exposition that they hold every 2 years. 

Weather has been nice the past few days. 

I fell into n love with this guy, the organ grinder at the Dinan market. He just made me giggle and laugh. What a character he was. 

Exposition today , Xmas decorations at night

We had an exposition and reception this evening , we had over 17 people come visit including journalists from 2 news journals and a local artist,Cappuchine and her husband, Michel. The committee from the museum chose a painting from each of us to be donated to the town. They were so friendly and really seemed to like our paintings.  

This evening they lit up the town with Xmas decorations. It was so beautiful !!

 

Beautiful Day in Cancale with view of Mont St Michel in the distance

Feeling under the weather past few days with a bit of bronchitis. I'm not in the mood to paint, but I still splash around on the paper hoping it will turn into something special. Tomorrow Marni and I will go on a tour of the Musee Yvonne Jean-Haffen , the house  at the top of the hill above our cottage. Each day we walk along the River Rance and climb the cobble stone road up 35 stories to get to the center of town. It's quite a walk, and we spot new and different things to photograph and paint every day. 
 

Taken in Cancale, this is an older couple eating oysters  with a fresh lemon.  The shell fish comes fresh from the English Channel and sold by a local merchant .

This scene will be a future painting for me. 

Artist in residence Dinan , France

The oainting above was created after being inspired  our road trip to Cape Frehal yesterday. This scene was when the tide was out and mud flats were exposed.  Looking out our window from  La Vignette. The double rainbow was magnificent to see this evening. 

 

This abstract is from the English Garden in the historic section of the city. 

Exploring the Emerald Coast

Spent a good part of yesterday gathering more photos and ideas   o bring back to the studio to paint. It's much too cold to plein air paint. We traveled up to Cape Frehar which is on the coast North of Dinan about an hour and a half drive. Spectacular views from the lighthouse grounds. Everything was closed as it is off season now. This is overlooking the English Channel at Cape Frehar. 
 

 I thought these birds were most unusual. Not sure what kind they are. 

 

The tde is out ,leaving some boats stuck in the sand. We found some really pretty scallop shells and an old fisherman's galosh on the shoreline,  left behind from a storm. 

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Regarding the French language here , I've learned that there are several different dialects spoken here in Brittany. No wonder I have trouble communicating with some of the people here, even using my Google Translate app. Btw-this app is heaven sent, I've learned so much French using it. 

Painting in Dinan -15 th day

I am halfway through my stay here at L'artiste de Vignette and the weather has been mild and pleasant. I spent most of the day painting some abstracts. It's been a struggle the past few days to paint something that I am pleased with. We also took a drive to some of the surrounding small villages in search of mottes, which are round wooden castle mounts of dirt , and a monolith in a field . 

I've included 2 of the paintings I created today. 
 

 

14th day painting in Dinan

Rainy day here, spent most of day painting. I'm trying this new mixed media paint I picked up the art store in Rennes. It's by Pebeo and it's supposed to create metallic hammering and honeycomb effects on any foundation such as paper, metal, canvas etc. I'm not impressed by it, but I'll keep experimenting with it.   

Since we are living in the Port of Dinan I couldn't help but be inspired by all of the boats at dock on the river Rance. These are two watercolor paintings I did yesterday. I'm really having a fantastic time here and I'm so grateful to my husband for encouraging me to go on this trip.  

 

Marni's husband Ron arrives yesterday. He'll be staying with us until the end of our journey. He knows his history and geography inside out and has so many interesting stories to tell about France and wartime etc. 

Artist in residency Dinan , France. Nov 14

Monday- Thirteen days here and it keeps getting better. Really starting to get a good feeling of the town and people who live here. It really helps me to capture a certain mood I'm looking for in my painting. I love seeing the town cats everywhere on window sills, running across the road, walking along concrete walls and sitting on steps. It just feels so French to me to see them sitting in a window with lace curtains. 

Today we drove to Rennes to pick up Marni's husband Ron. It's a nice and sunny day, but didn't get much painting done. I am walking a lot every day. And I can't seem to get enough of the baguettes to munch on each day. 

 

 

 

France, Dinan Nov 13 Sunday

We painted most of the day and into the evening yesterday. This painting was of a forest where knights in shining armor were supposedly known to horseback through here in the days of King Arthur.  

This next painting is an abstract of a field of sunflowers that we passed that was as long as a mile. 

 

This is the original photo that inspired me to paint the abstract. It was a fun painting to work on, trying to keep my choice of  colors to just a few shades of ochre, black, grey and hints of blue gray. 

 

Sunday was bustling with people and all of the art galleries and clothing stores were open today. Church bells ringing all day , very nice to stroll the town and see it all come to life. 

Dinan Nov11-Friday

Sunny ,slightly chilly day. Headed to Rennes taking the scenic route to buy art supplies. Marni and I painted so much yesterday (not) that we ran out of some supplies. I got some Sennelier watercolor blocks and an acrylic flat brush #16, since I brought only small sizes with me for this trip. 

Here are some nice shots of the country side. 

 

This is the entrance into Chateau du Hac in La Quiou, just South of Dinan. 

 While in Rennes Ibstopped and got my first French crepe made with butter and salted caramel. It was heaven!  

 

 

This is La Vignette, where we are staying and painting for one month. 

Thursday Nov 10- Eighth day in Dinan

Went into town this morning to the weekly market before settling into paint the rest of the day. After trying on different hats I settled on two to buy for myself. Finally, we see so many people out and walking the streets. For days ,Dinan seemed like a ghost town with many of the businesses closed. Cars everywhere, traffic slowed to a crawl on the main streets. Apparently Thursday being market day is very important for people to get out and walk around. Also, it's first day of blue sky and mild temperatures. Being an abstract painter I am used to painting big, so I need to modify my style to accommodate smaller sheets of watercolor paper. I'm hoping that I can transition from plein air of buildings and scenery and into a looser more abstract way. 

 This is a view of the backside of the easel I use to work in the studio , looking out onto the front yard.  

November 8. Weds

Strolled around town in between rain showers. Discovered some new tiny streets with great views. So much more to paint now.  

Tuesday nov 2

Bon jour mes amis . It's been a whirlwind of a trip so far,traveling from De to Va to Iceland to Paris. I was up for over 24 hours yesterday ,yet managed to squeeze in a visit to he Eiffel Tower. I took the lift to the top having to stand in line after line to get a ticket , and more lines to get from one level to another. Well worth, I'd say. Tues ,Nov 2 ,sitting in railway station with Marni waiting for our train to Rennes.