Bit late doing the blog, but we've had thunderstorms and the internet has been very unstable.  Left Friday 19th and stopped en-route at Larmot to get some sea air!  Very nice.  Had a long dog walk with Bertie and then watched the Tour de France.  This year it has gone through loads of places we've visited.  When it had cooled a little we set off for Pontrieux.

Saturday 20th July, Pontrieux - painting starts!  Decided to do a bridge, because it was located near the river and we could easily park the van.

Decided not to do the "lavoirs", so concentrated on this bridge.  The day was very hot so we didn't wander about taking extra photos.

Sunday 21st - La Roche Derrien - yet another bridge.  Again had to look for somewhere that wasn't too exposed to the sun.

A view of La Roche Derrien.  It was incredibly hot this weekend, so after leaving here on Sunday evening we went back to Larmot to get a bit of cool air by the sea.  Left for home Monday morning - where it was very hot and humid.  Quite dramatic thunderstorms started late evening.

Weekend starting Friday 12th - boy has it been a hot one! We left home early, to make sure we avoided as much afternoon travelling as possible. Stopped about 60 miles away from Huelgoat, where we spent about 5 hours, lunching and messing about.  Bertie was followed by a huge dog, and then later another huge dog decided to launch himself at Bertie and give him a lovely slobbery kiss!

What a really lovely place.  Bertie and I had a long walk after lunch (long because I took the wrong route!).

Perry set up the table for lunch - what a view.

Bertie would also like to participate in lunch.

Feeding again

Where to start!

Finally arrived in Huelgoat quite late and it was very hot.  Saturday and painting day. I painted three little scenes (somethings different), but the competition was pretty hot, as it always is here.  Still there was a good feast after the prize giving.  After that, we set off for Guerlesquin (fifth time there!).

Hot on arrival.  Sunday morning managed to find a place in the shade, so managed the drawing and a third of the painting in the cool, but then it was as if someone had opened up the oven door!  I worked pretty fast after that.  Hence, no surprise that I didn't win! Everyone found it difficult to paint in such heat.  Yves managed to lock his van keys inside his van, but Perry saved the day by getting the lock open with our van keys. Spent all the afternoon just loafing about and avoiding the intense sun.  We decided to stay the night and leave very early in the morning as it would be much cooler.  We left at 5.30 a.m. and got home by 9.00. 

Friday 5th July - I will never complain about the weather again!  It is now too hot.  Left on Friday afternoon, and it just got hotter and hotter, heading to Ploermel.
Saturday 6th July - decided I was going to draw today, mainly because it Ploermel is a difficult place to get excited about with a paintbrush, and it was also forecast to be very, very hot! This is a very funny place because where was parked was the grounds of a Carmelite nunnery.   A fair number of the rooms are used for different events. The site has a huge number of arches, and that is what I decided to draw.  In addition on the other side of the road is a Seminary (for the boys this time). Within the seminary is a planetary clock built by one of the brothers in the 19th Century.  He was a mathematician and used it to enhance his maths teaching.  It is one of only about 4 planetary clocks in France.

Here I am staring at the TV screen watching the video with Bertie looking as keen as ever.

Inside the seminary grounds is a huge park, set out very formally.  At the end of this walk were the graves monks who had resided in the monastry part.

This is part of the seminary, the clock was the other side, but inside this building was an art gallery, a natural history museum, a chapel and also a small exhibit of paintings by one of the monks.

Well here's the effort. And guess what - I won!  Received loads of goodies, but in additon a bunch of flowers which we had to put in the bucket (the tea bucket I might add) and then store it in the bathroom in the van! Unfortunately it was still very hot when we left, and Bertie was beginning to get pretty stressed by the heat.  However, we left about 7.00 for a half hour journey to Concoret.  What a shock when we got there.

The whole town is RED.  All the buildings are built of red stone.  It is also a very sweet village, but the colour was really out of this world.  We stayed in the carpark of the Salle de Fetes and then on Sunday morning went to the Chateau de Comper to sign on.  I had already decided I was not going to do the Chateau, so we drove back to the village.  I did a watercolour just round the corner from here.  Loads of people chatting as they passed and one old lady was very keen on the picture....but so was the lady from the Epicerie.  In the end there was a bit of subtle moving by the old lady and she offered to buy my painting and not let the lady from the Epicerie have it!  I was only half way through it at the time!

Here is the picture.  Didn't win, but a sale is always much more satisfying.  Renee told me that for the last 77 years she has opened her bedroom to see this view.  Her son insisted that she bought it, and she was very pleased - and so was I. I never did find out why the village is red, and can't get anything off the internet either.

End of June painting

End of June - set out on Friday via Rennes to view some campervans.  Arrived in Malestroit - it was very hot!

Malestroit is on the Nantes-Brest Canal.  It is a medieval town and although very pretty, too much traffic is allowed through, and on painting day, there are painters everywhere! Total chaos.

Started at 8.00 a.m. it was pretty fresh, but at least starting early means there are not problems with traffic.

How about that for concentration!  After submitting the work, we went for a walk along the canal, but Bertie was pretty stressed with the heat.

Here's the final result.  After that we went off to Lizio - it was still very, very hot!

Sunday in Lizio, and the boy just has to cool off in his favourite fountain!  Who said dogs don't have memories - Bertie certainly remembers Perry training him to go in the fountain.  I think that's the only bit of success with Bertie's training.

I am behind Yves, who wanted a bit of guidance and encouragement, which  I always find that a bit difficult as I am always wrestling with my own efforts. 

Just to show what another pretty village Lizio is - here is Albert - and yes he won!

I did try something slightly different, but soon realised it wasn't going to work, so had to do a damage limitation exercise so that I would end up with a relatively decent picture.  Sun didn't come out till about 12.00 and then it was so incredibly hot that everything was drying much too fast! No prizes this weekend, but you should have seen what I was up against!  Competition is really hotting up now.

No painting this weekend.  However, went on a trip with Angie and Ruth (near neighbours) to the coast at Vivier Sur Mer (near Cancale).

Parked up at Vivier sur Mer - waiting to rush next door to the hut for mussels and chips.

Hut is open - and we're ready to eat!

After lunch, struggling along the walkway with Bertie.  As is clearly evident the training not to pull on the lead is working well (I don't think). It was also very, very windy, and not too warm either.  Had a couple of days here, then went on to Dinan to check out the painting venue. So busy, and the place the vans were allowed to park was not evident, so we moved to Taden for the evening.  Rained in the night, and very damp in the morning, so I felt we would be better off going home.  Which we did.

Friday 14th June - left for Taupont.  Quite warm and parked in a field which had been set aside specially for the painters

Saturday 15th June - well we're off.  Bit fresh, not a lot of sun at first.  Here is Pierre and Francine working away (actually there was a lot of chatting going on).

Me giving instruction to a chum.  I am not actually sure he took any notice of me.  By now the sun is starting to come out, but it was still a bit fresh.

And here is my effort.  Experimenting again!  However, it was a lovely village, and very welcoming.  Ended up quite sunny and warm.  Had to leave to drive the 100km to Guerande.  We ended up at the parking spot first (unusual for us), Robert and Pierre arrived next - got held up at the bridge at La  Roche Bernard.  Some considerable time later Jo and Francine arrived - they had got stuck in the field - mud up to their axles, and had to be towed off!  Not very happy bunnies at all.  It was very noisy where we parked, so it was no problem getting up on Sunday and leaving for the venue.

Sunday 16th June - I really don't like this place.  Started off cold and windy - what a surprise.  Eventually the sun made an appearance.  Although I chose an interesting spot, everybody who passed had to have a chat, including other painters.  So progress was a bit mixed, and I didn't really concentrate on what I was doing.  After i had finished it really did get quite warm.

Just checking up on what Robert is up to.  Richard in the front scratching away at his paper! Jo was also in this little group.

Well here's my effort.  Not very special at all.  Perhaps this had better go on the fire!

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Sunday 9th June - Esquibien.  We left home Saturday morning, lovely and warm, but when we arrived here in the afternoon, it was a bit cool and windy.  Parked next to Jo and Francine Marc and checked over their new super duper new Rapido van.  Then our problems started!  The TV didn't work - major disaster.  Problems getting the fridge lit .. finally managed that! Others chums arrived later and parked alongside. Evening was starting to get very cold - and I'd put the summer bedding in the van! Woke up on Sunday morning to a very grey, cold  and windy morning.  However, signed on, and got started.  I was the first to start doing a picture of this street - and then another 8 turned up!  The above picture is me having my teabreak and chocolate cake, while waiting for the first part of my painting to dry. There was a lady working on my right and when we had a particularly nasty  gust of wind her board lifted off her easel and landed in some dog pooh!  Yuk!  Unfortunatley I managed to tread in it later!

My favourite picture - Si Phol and Jo off to find somewhere to paint - yes, they were a couple of the 8 who did the same street!

Daniel Gifard got first prize in the Morisot Class for his picture of  - the same street! 

Francine (Jo's wife), got first prize for her drawing of - you've guessed it, same street.

Jo got first prize for his coloured drawing of - the same street.

And me - guess what, I got first prize in the watercolour class.  Wow!  I was so, so pleased.  Even better, I got a whole pile of goodies to eat. All sorts of Biscuits and toffees and caramel stuff, all in an absolutely huge box.  I was so pleased because I thought it was not a very good picture at all.

I was so confident I wouldn't win anything, that this time we hadn't taken a picture in advance, so I had to take one of the picture on exhibition.  I was being pushed and shoved a bit, so the end result is a bit lop sided.  Long journey home, but we stopped for the night at Josselin.  Arrived home Monday morning.  Perry started working on the van to fix the problems - which have now been sorted.  The problem with the TV was that a church spire was in the way.  The problem with the fridge, was a bit of soot in the gas flame.  So now everything isback to normal.