Artist at work

Artist at work, a photo by makingamark2 on Flickr.

A slight element of trying to emulate John Singer Sargent painting Claud Monet going on here! you can see preparatory pen and ink sketches on Flickr.

This was done before the massive thunderstorm at 3.30am on Wednesday morning. The first crack of thunder was so loud and so long I thought a plane had crash landed nearby. I've not heard or seen such a major thunderstorm since I was last in tropical latitudes.

Many thanks to Ruth and Julian who are trying to sort out the problems with burned out filters/sockets etc from a barn in Oxfordshire.

in the meantime, I get to access the Internet from the Relais Hotel in Bedoin which has kindly allowed me to use their Internet.

Dinner at Restaurant du Vieux Four, Crillon Le Brave

On Ronelle's last evening with us, we went out to dinner at the Restaurant Vieux Four in Crillon Le Brave.

Two sketches this time - one of the food and one of Sarah and Robyn who were sat opposite me on the terrace with their backs to Mont Ventoux and Bedoin.

My three courses comprised

• Duo de Chevre - tapenade at tomatoes cerise (Goat's Cheese with tapenade and cherry tomatoes)
• Filet de Loup Rot, creme au basilic (Fillet of Sea Bass and Basil Cream sauce) and
• Veloute d'Abricot Carimelise et son sorbet (Caramelisd apricot veloute with cherries, red currants and a red berry sorbet)

I switched between drawing the meal and sketching Sarah and Robyn - to comments as to how I might improve how they were looking!


We nearly got our departure just right as the heaven opened and rain began to plop in large drops just as we were getting up to leave. Fortunately it was on of those downpours which is heavy for a couple of minutes and then eases off

We scooted back to the car stopping en route - at Sarah's request - for a quick spot of night sketching

Sunday lunch and sketching at Hotel Crillon Le Brave

Yesterday I did a mini stockup at the supermarket in Bedoin and then went to find some lunch.

I knew there were a couple of places at Crillon Le Brave which did decent meals and had views of the surrounding countryside from their terrace. So off I went having decided I'd eat at whichever I found first.

Lesson #1 - Satnavs can't cope with hilltop villages. The streets get too narrow. This can lead to taking an inadvertent wrong turn.

Lesson #2 - I haven't lost the skill to do the endless three point turn when car has gone down the wrong alley and is now poised with nowhere else to go to go and the camber is very wrong on both axes. Take a deep breath and start very slowly to turn the car round still works fine!

Lunch was taken at the Hotel Crillon Le Brave which has a splendid terrace and very nice food too.


Here are the five sketches I did. They are:

• The view from where I was sat in the restaurant at the Hotel Crillon Le Brave
• My lunch: mediterranean fish soup, aioli and croutons; tuna steak, shaved fennel salad and aioli tartine and a floating island in lavender
• The view from the terrace of Mont Ventoux and Bedoin in the distance