Friday, 12 June 2009

THE CHURCHES OF SOUTHWEST FRANCE





To coincide with a televised mass in St Jean-Baptiste a few years ago, I decided to mount an exhibition of paintings and drawings of churches. When I looked at the material I had amassed over the last ten years, I was amazed to find that the tally was well over sixty works with some kind of religious building in them. The point is that it’s almost impossible to paint or draw anything in any village in France without a church appearing in the resulting composition.
St Jean-Baptiste is a fine example of France’s rich heritage of medieval church architecture, which ranges from small Romanesque chapels to Great Gothic cathedrals like Chartres or Notre Dame de Paris.
I can see the church quite clearly from my studio window on the third floor of La Petite Galerie, and I have painted the view across the roofs of Mezin many times in watercolour or acrylic.
Coming from Australia, it constantly amazes me to think that the church is 800 years older than the oldest building in the antipodes.
If you’d like to paint or draw the view from my studio window, why not consider an art holiday chez nous?
For more information please send an email to:
ray@johnstonesinfrance.com
(Click on "Contact Us").

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