Painting pictures in Normandy is a real pleasure. The variety of landscapes is extraordinary: between Lower and Upper Normandy, the relief, climate and architecture offer great diversity. The Norman bocage shelters marvelous houses to paint nested in an exuberant vegetation. The color palettes are infinitely rich: the soft green of apples rub shoulders with that of the meadows, but the deeper green of the trees provides a striking contrast.
The climate reminds us that we are not far from the ocean and the English Channel. The salt spray is invigorating and gives this typical imprint to this region of character. Between the deep countryside of the hinterland and the upscale seaside resorts of the Coast, the typology of towns and villages brings its share of differences. Many Ile-de-France residents come for a walk, they leave Paris for greener landscapes.
One of the emblematic towns of Normandy is Deauville, with its beaches and its extravagant Hotel Normandy. I had made watercolors of Deauville during furtive escapades. A spectacular building with a disproportionate architecture, presenting a face loaded with half-timbering and bricks. The pastel colors of the facades with pistachio green and the soft pink of the bricks lighten the whole a little. The seafront is not far away, so it is very pleasant to stretch your legs on the Promenade des Planches de Deauville, with its beach with multicolored umbrellas.
I had the opportunity to commission a painting for a country house in the hinterland. The space is larger, the apple tree fields as far as the eye can see in the Pays d’Auge, the cliffs of Etretat or on the Rouen side, are stimulating for inspiration. I enjoy painting outdoors as much as possible in order to better soak up the subject. Adequate painting equipment should be brought. This allows me to better work on my compositions and to appreciate the landscapes all the more.
Sometimes, when time is scarce, I just sketch out sketches on the spot. This allows me to prepare later large paintings that I exhibit in my art gallery from these preparatory sketches. Otherwise I can later then paint illustrations for magazines. This is all the wealth of a country like France: tourist regions provide great artistic freedom to paint different places. Paintings from Provence, paintings from Corsica, Burgundy or even watercolors from Paris thus form a rich collection of paintings.