Drawing in France! June 9-20. Post #1. Getting started.

This June I attended a painting retreat to France!  I joined my friends Joel Yau and Spencer Snyder on this trip, hosted and organized by Dan Cooney. (http://dcooneypaints.jimdo.com/news/) There were 5 of us artists and one cyclist.  We began our trip in Paris, took the train to La Rochelle for another night, then drove out to our final destination, Le Vieux Monestare, in St. Hilare de Ville Franche. (http://www.levieuxmonastere.com/) There we painted the French farmlands and visited nearby cities of Congac, Saintes, La Rochelle and the island of lle de Re.

Waiting for our flight to Paris, June 9th. Spence and I were on the same flight.  Everyone it seemed, was having troubles getting to France. Joel missed one of his connections and had to get a different flight in order to make it there on Saturday.  

More waiting...our flight was delayed about 5 hours by a sea bird that was  sucked into an engine when our plane landed from it's previous flight from Paris.

Finally!  On the plane and headed for Paris.  In flight I watched a couple of films, my favorite was a murder mystery called "Poupoupidou".

Once in Paris Spence and I found our Hotel, with Joel waiting.  After settling in we sent out for dinner at a place called "Cafe Rendezvous". Friday, June 10.

Saturday, June11. La Rochelle.  We joined out host at this Mother in-laws house in La Rochelle, for our send off dinner!  

Sunday, June 12.  On our way to the Vieux Monestare!  Tierry, Dan's brother in law, helped drive us in a second car.  

My first drawing from the Monestary. This view is looking directly West.

My second Drawing.  This view looks directly South.  We had a large deck with  a grand, full view of the southern vista!
Drawn with my Niki fountain pen and Noodler's Polar Brown ink.  

A drawing of one corner of the Monestary's building.  Spence and I both thought  that there were many interesting com-positional opportunities in the compound.  This was looking at the roof of the gaming shed, seen from the pool deck.
Pelican fountain pen and Noodler's Black.  

Pencil sketch of the view West.  

A quickie sketch of our living area at the Monestare.  We stayed in their "Renoir" suit.  It's the largest unit in their compound, with bedrooms on the second floor and a large lining room and kitchen on the ground floor.  We had plenty of room to spread out our work for viewing and critiques.

The Church that resides right next to the Monestary.  This is a private, family owned Church, that despite it's  intimate location to the Monestary, had no relation to it.  

Sketches in Congac.

My last sketch near the Monestary, done before attempting my last watercolor paintings.  I wanted to catch the Sunrise, but it dissappeared into these clouds!