"Holiday Villa", 12x16, oil on board, south of france, French villas, paintings of Provence, gardens, French gardens, French holiday

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"Holiday Villa", 12x16, oil on board

I am reading a book called The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain, which chronicles the story of Hadley Richardson, the first wife of Ernest Hemingway. At one point in the book, Hadley makes the fateful decision to bring all of Ernest's work with her on a trip to Switzerland to see her husband. Waiting for a train, she takes a short walk around the platform, only to find out that the small valise containing all of Ernest's writings of the last four years has been stolen.

What ensues afterwards is a dry spell for Ernsest, in which he finds himself unable to write in the wake of finding out that his work is gone.

It happens to me more often than I like to admit, a dry spell when I can't paint- though I certainly can't blame a spouse who has lost or destroyed my paintings!

Today I took a devil-may -care attitude about beginning a painting, refusing to allow the inner voice inside my head to start telling me I couldn't do it.

It worked. The painting came out pretty quickly and effrotlessly, and I am hopeing that that is the end of my current dry spell for  awhile!

If you would like to take a holiday to the south of France, you may purchase this painting and visit this beautiful villa every day of the year. Now how's that for a nice offer?

Visit my website here to view more of my original oil paintings.

"La Bicyclette", 12x16, oil on board-paintings of Lacoste, Provence, palette knife, bicycle, A Good Year

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"La Bicyclette", 12x16, oil on board (Note- Please click on the image in order to see the impasto clearly.)

A modern day bicycle, sits against a crumbling wall in an ancient village in Provence. Numbering under 500 inhabitants, the streets of Lacoste are deserted right now,  as  it's that magical time of day when Provencal folk either nap, eat, drink, argue in a pub or have sex, "under the roof".

La Bicyclette waits patiently for the return of its owner who will meander down the cobblestone paths  any minute now, smiling at a distant memory and emerging with his face slightly flushed after polishing off a bottle of old red straight from the vineyard of Max Skinner, and which he imbibed alfresco-style at the lovely Cafe de France in the heart of the village.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then go watch "A Good Year" with Russell Crowe and the stunningly beautiful Marion Cotillard. You'll fall in love with Provence and it's ancient villages, and crumbling walls and purple valleys nestled in the heart of the Luberon and in the shadow of the Vaucluse.

Lacoste is truly ancient, crumbling, mysterious and exotic all at once. Forget the Marquis de Sade and his crumbling castle; the view from the Cafe de France of the Luberon valley and the neighboring village of Bonnieux is enough to make your heart do somersaults, as is most of the scenery in the area.

I painted this quickly with a palette knife, listening to a combo of "shuffled" music on Pandora that included Cafe France, Rod Stewart and the Gypsy Kings. The only thing missing was a bottle of old red.