Catherine Stock's Blog, page 2

A colourful harvest (at last)

 In May and June my potagé or communal garden was a swamp. Then in July and August a brilliant hot sun dried it all into a cracked desert. I worked the soil and planted it up three times in vain, then finally at the end of August I opened and tossed out some packages of wildflower seeds in disgust.

Was thrilled to find these flowers two days ago, which I collected, brought home and painted. I really should try to do a picture every day.

A drizzly second week

This is the first year that we have had rain in the second week of the workshop when we plan to paint outdoors, so it's a real bummer.

We did manage to paint the interior of the 12th century Rignac church, a street scene in Gourdon, and a landscape, but much of the week was spent in the studio, where nevertheless some cheerful and bright work was produced.

Here is a sampling of the group's work.

 






 
 

Workshop revamp

After teaching summer watercolour workshops now for about fifteen years, I have been seriously considering discontinuing them.  It's demanding work as I not only teach but make elaborate lunches, with all the shopping and cleaning up that that entails, and have to sort out endless problems like lost pajamas and passports, minor car accidents, medical issues that arise, etc. The most tiring thing of all is just assuring that everyone is having a good time whether it be having a comfortable bed or progressing artistically, as although my class is pretty reasonable pricewise, people often have paid exorbitant amounts of money to get here and I feel responsible for making the expense and effort to attend the workshop worthwhile.



Yesterday I drove down to Albi on an errand. It's quite a long drive so I left early, intending to visit a few lovely small towns in the Tarn en route. I took my paints and managed this quick watercolour of Cordes-sur-Ciel where I had spent a night with a friend recently. We had stayed in a room in the tall medieval tower on the right and awoke in bright sunshine above swirling mists in the valleys below, with distant island hills poking though. Absolutely magical so I was pleased to have the chance to go back so soon.

There are many beautiful small villages this part of southwest France which escaped the ravages of the two world wars: St Antonin-Val-Noble, Castelnau de Montmiral, Bruniquel, Puycelsi, Najac, Sauveterre, and Belcastel to name a few I have visited.

Suddenly I realised that perhaps I need to turn the second week of the workshop into a traveling adventure instead of painting, again, the beautiful but too familiar scenes in the Lot I have been doing for years.

Here are some photos I took this last week.


The real Cordes-sur-Ciel St Antonin-Noble-Val, where last week we couldn't gain entry to the main square because Steven Spielberg was shooting a new movie called One Hundred Yard Journey. Charlotte Gray was also shot here, as well as Rignac, my village in the Lot. Two more shots of St Antonin-Noble-Val Two shots of the main square in Castelnau Montmiral
View from Castelnau Montmiral

September workshop: uninvited guest

I have never understood why some people are frightened by small harmless little beasts like spiders, mice, grass snakes and the like. So I found it rather amusing when one of my workshoppers shrieked and actually jumped up on her chair when the incorrigible Sushi cat proudly deposited his latest catch, a small grey field mouse in the studio.

Luckily Isabelle has a lovely sense of humour and was able to enjoy the moment as much as the rest of us...almost.

In spite of sudden inclement weather after a glorious sunny week camping at the beach, the first week of classes went very well with a nice mix of French, Australian, American and South African participants.

Sold! (Rats)

Just sold this picture- a very simple line drawing and one of my favourites that I did long ago and have displayed in my studio.

I rather hate to lose it but it couldn't be going to a better home or nicer couple.

La Sirène de Causse Gallery: August 2013

 
A lovely couple who stayed in my gite two weeks ago regret not having bought something from my gallery and asked me to quickly remind them of what is currently on the walls so they could choose something. I have folders full of drawings and sketches, so this is a small sampling of what's available, but gives a general idea of my work at least.

I took some rather substandard photos because of the poor lighting and angles used to avoid glare, and put them into a slideshow, which also necessitates very low pixels. However if anyone is interested in seeing better images of the work, I do have higher quality photos I can email or post.

Blaireaux!

It was a lovely evening with the full moon spreading it's silvery light over the hilly landscape, so I decided to walk home from my friend Ron's house with the dogs on Thursday after dinner.

As I descended the hill into Rignac, Thabo suddenly raced ahead and I heard a scuffly flurry of activity.  Then two small furry beasts clumsily sped pasts me on either side, one making funny piggy squeaks before they both disappeared into the hedge.

After twenty-three years in the Lot, that was only my second badger sighting. Absolutely thrilling.

Mozart at Castelnau Bretenoux

Saw Mozart's Don Juan (Don Giovanni) in the courtyard of Castelnau-Bretenoux last night, part of the Saint-Céré Festival. We had a picnic on the ramparts of the castle before the opera and the weather was perfect. All the previous performances had been cancelled due to bad weather, so we were very lucky.


The performance was so-so ( Don Juan was terribly young for a roué- see above- and what can you expect for 25 euros?) but it was a superb evening. And thanks to YouTube, I have found magnificent productions that I have been playing all morning.

Saw Mozart's Don Juan (Don Giovanni) in the courtyard of ...

Saw Mozart's Don Juan (Don Giovanni) in the courtyard of Castelnau-Bretenoux last night, part of the Saint-Céré Festival. We had a picnic on the ramparts of the castle before the opera and the weather was perfect. All the previous performances had been cancelled due to bad weather, so we were very lucky.


The performance was so-so ( Don Juan was terribly young for a roué- see above- and what can you expect for 25 euros?) but it was a superb evening. And thanks to YouTube, I have found magnificent productions that I have been playing all morning.

55 years later...

Christian Raby, a Parisian photographer who has a country house near me, is compiling a book of photographs of foreigners living in France.

He arrived with his lights and camera and most importantly, an old painted screen of the interior of a church that was used as a back drop in photographs a hundred years ago.

Christian invited me to use a prop, so I picked up my bear that I have had all my life and placed him on my lap. It was a slightly controversial choice: because I designed, wrote and illustrated books for children most of my professional life, some of my old art school colleagues refer to me as their friend who "refuses to grow up."