A Walk in the village of Fontaine-Fourches, France

First photo is of a wonderful rose bush. Flowers are popping up all over, and roses seem to be a favorite.

Second photo is of the barn, where the studio is on the second floor. These doors have been painted many times, by many artists.

Third photo with the white shutters is of the main house, fourth is from our walk one afternoon...beautiful skies! Makes me wish I had been able to be outside painting en plein aire...

Last 2 photos are of the church and an outbuilding. Very low key, very old...some structures are 250+ years old. 

Later this same evening, we were invited to come to a street party in the village. Their population is 535, and this was a party for one of the streets. Everyone brought what they wanted to grill, and a side dish. It was held in a triangular area between 2 streets, kids rode their bikes, adults visited and networked. The sun was going down and created a glow to the afternoon that would have been impossible to capture with a camera. 

Neat thing was that they had tables set up in a long row, with real tablecloths...setting for probably 50 or so.

Leslie B. DeMille does a still life demo in oil

One evening we walked to the farm and selected some items for the still life. Les has a method of cutting melons so they won't be perfect. We had carte blanche to pull any item from the house for his selection for the still life. Something hard, something soft, something metal, something shiny...then...

WOW! in a matter of a couple hours (3-4) we go from  nothing to something! Darn Lisa, she bought the finished canvas before we could even draw straws or talk about it, or ANYTHING.

It was a nice break from painting models. Never enough time, though...we would have all loved to paint a still life too...and maybe have something GREAT to show for all our effort. Painting from live models is a bit stressful...and he has 60 some odd years experience.