My Postcard from Provence

....will be winging its way to Travels with a Sketchbook this June!

This summer, I'm renting the home of Postcard from Provence painter Julian Merrow Smith and his wife Ruth Phillips (Meanwhile, here in France......) for three weeks in June while they visit England.  I'll be packing and getting ready to set off in exactly three months time!

Rousillon and the Ochre Cliffs, Provence
Coloured Pencil 8.27" x 11.75"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

However the really good news is I won't be on my own! 

At long last I'm achieving a long held ambition and will be going on a painting holiday with no tutor - just good friends.  The house party will include Sarah Wimperis (Muddy Red Shoes in Cornwall), Robyn Sinclair (Have Dogs Will Travel from Tuscany) and Ronell van Wyk (African Tapestry on the Loire) who will be coming and going at various times.  We're hoping to have all four of us there at least some of the time.

We are anticipating much sketching and painting of landscapes and enjoyment of good French food and good company.  We might also find time to visit a vineyard and try a glass or two of the local vintages.

We're certainly going to hunt down some lavender fields which should be about ready to peak!

House and Lavender Field - by Julian Merrow Smith (June 2009)

I'm also looking forward to going back to places - like Rousillon with its ochre cliffs - which I first visited when painting in Provence some 20 years ago.  (Did I ever tell you all about being filmed by the BBC Holiday Programme while painting? No?) 

A postcard from my walk in Provence!

This all means I get to take A Postcard from my Walk to the next level - the international postcard drawn in another country and really posted abroad! :)

It'll be fun to do postcards sat in a French field with fellow postcard exchange enthusiasts Robyn and Ronell and to sketch water with my Watermarks compatriot Sarah!

I'm going to start writing about plans for the trip over on Travels with my Sketchbook in the near future so if you haven't subscribed yet now might be a good time to sign up!

Postcard from Provence

One of my very favourite blogs - and probably the reason why I started getting into blogging - is "Postcard from Provence", a diary in paintings.  

You can see what June looks like in this particular part of the Vaucluse Departement of Provence on Julian's website which may well act as our guide to finding places to paint!.  See the last six years of paintings in June in June 2010, June 2009, June 2008, June 2007, June 2006 and June 2005.

If you've never been able to secure one of the paintings, you can still have your very own bit of Provence with Julian's wonderful book Postcard from Provence: Paintings by Julian Merrow-Smith.  I've already got a copy (and you can read my book review if you click the last link below)!

My previous posts about Postcard from Provence - for those who have not read them before - can be found here:

• Postcard from Provence - my first post five years ago in February 2006 when his blog was already getting 1,000 visiters a day - just before it was profiled in the New York Times after which visitors grew at an exponential rate!
• "Postcard from Provence" - new in site auction system - a year later and the quantity of visitors dictated a new system for selling Julian's gorgeous postcard paintings
• Postcard from Provence: two years on which marks the achievements over two years
• The 1000th Postcard from Provence which includes an interview with Julian 
• The very best painter of French cheese I know... - in which I review Julian's book (now available on Amazon)

Meanwhile - back to surveys of Julian's paintings and Ruth's photos of Provence in June! Suggestions for places to see/do are also most welcome.

I can't wait!

[Note:  There will be more updates  on Travels with my Sketchbook on plans - between now and June - and about "being there" in June.]