Plein Air Extraordinaire

What happens when you're in Provence for a glorious week of painting and pleasure, and instead of waking up to this in the morning ...




 ... you get this?


 For one of us, who clearly suffers from Seasonal Affect Disorder, even the slightest threat of rain will throw me into a mild depression.  In fact, although I was lucky enough to spend a few extra days (OK Meg, I know, it was closer to a week!) in Provence after our wonderful artists' workshop last month, I was not pleased when, uncharacteristically for this time of year, the heavens opened up and it rained off and on for three days.

I'm not the only one who was in a funk about it.  When it rains in Provence, it automatically becomes the hot topic of conversation everywhere you go, with people buzzing about, saying things like:  "This is totally ridiculous! It never rains at this time of year!" or,  "This is a completely unusual year because it didn't rain all winter"  or, "It's good for the soil but bad for the soul" or, "The truffle season will be ruined if it rains this month."  You get the idea!  Nobody likes it and everyone talks about it and complains about it ... except for one unique and determined genre of person:  The Plein Air Artist!


For plein air artists, the cloudy skies are just another excuse to get out there with paints, boots and a windbreaker to explore the dramatic effect of clouds, contrasts and ever changing light.

Bill Davidson, Plein Air Painter Extraordinaire

And for this plein air artists, in particular, nothing could hold him back from the pure thrill of painting in the rain, and catching that fleeting light that is so dramatic and different, even when it means a soaking wet palette and a rain drenched canvas.  Bill Davidson couldn't get enough of it.

As a fan of his work, it only strengthened my appreciation of what it takes to be a dedicated plein air painter.

When he showed me the oil sketch he had done of the town of Goult, in the Luberon Valley (above), he said his canvas had been so wet, he had to stop painting. "Aaah, it was fabulous!" he gushed.

One of my favorite paintings is one he did from a sketch along a country road, when he was simultaneously dodging puddles and raindrops to produce a little masterpiece, called Provence Mood:

The inspiration for it was pretty dramatic as well.

His first sketch of the town of Bonnieux was painted on a cloudy day, which was dramatic for photography, but not a happy place for a painting.

At my insistence, a a couple of days later, he went back and captured the sunny side of the village.

Sunny Bonnieux

 
Bill sketched all over the South of France and came up with a huge amount of inspiration and fodder for paintings that he will finish over time.  We're so lucky that he'll be bringing us some for our upcoming Bastille Day Show, on July 14th at Huff Harrington Fine Art.

We are excitedly pulling together all of our French inspired paintings for this show, which will feature some of the work done by our guest artists who attended Bill Davidson and Nancy Franke's wonderful workshops in Provence.  It's a new idea for us and I hope it will become a tradition ... just as our Bastille Day show is now a five year old tradition!  Luckily for the artists and the workshop, the weather cooperated nicely and nobody had to endure the raw elements that Bill Davidson encountered.  But even if it had rained in Provence, something tells me it wouldn't have stopped this wonderful breed of troopers called Plein Air Artists, who make a pact with nature, for better and for worse.  And I know for sure, it wouldn't have put a damper on the week we had together.

We hope you'll join us on Saturday, July 14th, rain or shine, for our Bastille Day Art Show and come meet some of our Plein Air Extraordinaire artists!

A bientot ...

Ta ta.

HH

Workshop Frenzy

 

When we walk through the door in the morning to the sound of a ringing telephone, and see that the emails have piled up and there are six new messages on our answering machine, we can pretty much guarantee that Nancy Franke has posted the dates for her next workshop at Huff Harrington Fine Art!

Not only are we so fortunate to represent this talented artist, but we also have the privilege of hosting her tremendously popular one-day workshops.  This is all well and good except when we inadvertently schedule a workshop on Father's Day, and need to reschedule the participants for another time (which Nancy kindly offered to do), creating yet another round of clogging phone wires and emails, and a frenzy of eager participants.

Nancy Franke, Watch Me Go

Luckily, this all turned out for the best, and Nancy had another wonderful workshop at HHFA this past Sunday, painting children's portraits.  And when we look at the work that came out of this workshop, we know what all the fuss is about! In fact, we're so taken with both Nancy's inspirational paintings that she had on hand for the workshop, and by the work done by the artist participants, that we just had to share it with you.

Nancy Franke, Un Peu Curieux

How does she do it?  With these workshops, Nancy starts with a photograph, like this one of a familiar (and adorable) little pink model, who even from the back, coincidentally bears a strong resemblance to her talented grandma.

 

Then she sketches, using artistic license and resizing for the canvas ...

The rough sketch

... and with the loose lick of a brush, she makes it look way too easy!

Let's make her orange instead of pink!

Although we weren't able to stay for the workshop, we've been around Nancy long enough to know that all this is done with tremendous energy, enthusiasm, humor, patience and clarity, which is one of the reasons her workshops are so popular.  And why not?  Look at the fabulous work that came out of it in just a few hours (with the names of the artists shown under the paintings).

Martha Elder

Leslie Line

Elizabeth Lines

Kathy Bowman

Christine Bray

Carol Carmichael

Berthe Mobasser

Jacki Newell

Joann Richardson

So we’re more than happy to have our phone lines light up and the emails clogged when Nancy announces her workshop, because it’s all for a great cause.  Watching Nancy inspire other artists is one of the highlights of our job here at the gallery, just as it was for those of us lucky enough to participate in Bill Davidson’s superb workshop in Provence last month.

Oh and by the way, did we mention that Nancy added another children’s workshop date to the roster this summer?  It’s on July 22^nd …  Yeeeks, there goes the phone!

Ta ta …

HH

Huff Harrington Hommes: The Experts Weigh In on Dad's Day

Father's Day is almost upon us...and we realized that while we have a blast figuring out what we girls like, we might need a little help in the guys' department.  So, we went straight to the experts:

 The Huff Harrington Hommes: Scott, Bill and Dan

We gathered the guys around one afternoon, poured them a little cocktail or two and picked their brains (while we took some cute pictures of them.)

One of our experts, Mark,  was too busy with his real job to make our little party and we missed his funny sense of humor and quick observations on everything.  More from him later on.

...and Mark.

What we're hearing is that the dads just want it simple.  No big plans, no big parties - just good quality time with friends and family.

Cute Dan Mohan, who is married to the lovely Linda, told us this:
"I'd start out early with a nice bike ride (he's an avid biker).  After a shower, I'd have a leisurely brunch with the Sunday New York Times at Fado in Buckhead.

Dan would have lunch at Fado in Buckhead.

Late in the day, I might pour a single malt Irish and a nice cigar while I grill the meat. A good steak dinner with Linda and the boys and a nice bottle of red."

What else could a dad want?

(we have just the thing for Dan to keep his single malt at the perfect temperature: Whiskey Stones, soapstone "cubes" that you freeze and add to your favorite cocktail. They don't melt and they don't dilute!)

Whiskey Stones: keep your cocktail chilled without diluting the good stuff.

Scott (who is married to Meg) thinks his perfect Dad's day revolves around food, golf, family and wine:  "I'd love to have my morning coffee and the newspaper in bed (after ten hours of uninterrupted sleep - highly unlikely) followed by a light breakfast served by my beautiful daughters.  Then, I'd love to shoot a 75 on the golf course (again, highly unlikely...) and have a cocktail with my buddies.  After shooting that brilliant round, I'd go home for steaks, salad and a great wine on the porch with the wife and kids."

We'll keep our fingers crossed for Scott's hole-in-one.

Here's a great guide for matching all those grilled steaks with a good wine.

Bill Huff (married to Ann) came up with this perfect fete de pere:  "as it sometimes happens, Father's Day this year also happens to be our anniversary.  So, at best, Father's Day is a shared activity.  My ideal day would be to have time withe people who make me a Father (Ann and the kids) coupled with some Bill-time.  On the Bill-time side I'll definitely go for a bike ride in the monring (and since it's Father's Day, I can get away with taking a long ride.  I'll return late morning and have my favorite meal of the week - brunch! I'm assuming it's a nice day (isn't that part of the Father's Day rule?) so some of the afternoon will be spent at and in the pool.  I'll touch base from time to time with the US Open - which could easily lead to a nap.  And, we'll celebrate the day - and our anniversary  - with dinner (that one is Ann's call.)"

Ann might surprise Bill with this perfect little book.

And, Allison's husband, Mark weighed in with this: "Father's Day.  Could start out by having my lovely  wife join me in my early morning spin class.  Daughter Katie's home (from UGA) so maybe she will surprise me by making her special eggs and French toast. I'm hoping the rest of the day will include watching our son Eric in the Southern Closed tennis tournament. Hot as heck in Rome, Georgia in June,  but some really good tennis! I know Allison and the kids will get me something even though I don't need a thing...but if it's a linen shirt from my favorite store in Clemson, it's a keeper!"

Mark might love these great glasses, made from recycled wine bottles. We love them.

To all our fabulous fathers, dear old dads and positively wonderful pops, we wish you the lovliest of days with all the things you want and love: lots of biking, golfing, wine, food...and, most important, family.

 

Ta ta.

The Best Job in the World

Bill Davidson, Painting in Provence

We've just completed a heavenly week of painting in Provence with our artist and "professeur" Bill Davidson, which was so much fun and so perfect and went by so very fast that is seems like a distant, fleeting dream.  Luckily we've got the "goods" to prove that it really happened, and some fabulous photos taken by Bill and a few of the ladies on the trip.

Here was the setting in Provence:

A magical backdrop of the Luberon valley in Provence

First night's lecture on the terrace of Les Murets

Add to that seven talented and committed artists, and give them a brush, a palette, a blank canvas and a drop dead gorgeous view (and maybe a little food and wine from time to time), and look what you've got:

Sydney, capturing the morning light on the vineyard down the street from our house

Carol, capturing one of the most iconic views in Provence

Elizabeth, catching the light off the top of the vines

Leslie, focused on shapes and values and all the space in between

Mary Jo, politely fighting off all the admirers who were hiking to Gordes

Tei, who couldn't believe her eyes when she first saw this view

Debbie ("Woohoo!"), are we having fun yet?

Add a charming, delightful, patient, encouraging, and ever-so-talented Professeur named Bill Davidson, who made it seem so easy, and so much fun ...

Le professeur in Gordes

The work that these artists created speaks for itself.  Here are some of the studies that came out of this workshop, which will be turned into little masterpieces in the next weeks to come (and shown at Huff Harrington's annual Bastille Day Celebration, opening on July 14th at Huff Harrington Fine Art):

Vineyards with a Provencal house in the background

The challenging composition of roofs and angles

View of the Luberon Valley next to Gordes

And the marvelous vertical accents of the cypress trees that dot the beautiful countryside.

For one of us, the highlight was being with seven wonderful, enthusiastic and talented women, plus one heck of a fun guy, in a gorgeous, challenging setting that , as one of the women said, was a picture perfect painting around every corner.  Luckily, these die-hards had to stop for lunch every once in a while, and so we enjoyed some delicious, festive meals in some of the best restaurants tucked away in the Luberon Valley.

Lunch under the plane tree in Oppede le Vieux

Roughing it at the Bastide de Gordes!

On the last evening, we were all on the edge of our seats as the Professeur wielded his magic palette and offered a constructive critique of the works, making a few discreet suggestions with his ever active paint brush.

Sydney, taking it all in, surrounded by the little jewels

Le Professeur performing his energetic critique on the final night

I think it's fair to say that this was a hugely successful trip all around.  The artists, who had all studied with Bill Davidson before, knew him well and appreciated his style, and were able to learn so much from him in this unique environment.  For his part, Bill, whose enthusiasm is completely contagious, loved the area and was thrilled by the work that all his students did (and the sketches that will be his inspiration for many paintings to come ... can't wait!).   And for the lucky hostess, this was just another bit of proof that I may have the best job in the world.  Thank you painters, thank you Bill, and thank you Meg, for letting me go! Oh, and can I sign up for the next one?

Why is this woman smiling?

Ta ta ...