Journal – Page 81 – Peter Maher

Drawings

Posted on October 19, 2009

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Monday 19. 10 .09 It has been another busy week. I have finished the drawings for my etching series based on my morning ride and now just have to do the etchings! I have also started a couple of new paintings. I went to see a show of paintings by Zoe Benbow at the ANPQ gallery here at Peret which I liked a lot. She is an English painter who has a studios in East London and also up in the Tarn – she paints abstracted landscapes. It is starting to cool off here now and is draughty in the mornings and the evenings, however it is still warm at midi. Had a very relaxed lunch yesterday with Giséle and Jonathan at their house in Ceyras.

Journal Painting Shows

Back to work

Posted on October 14, 2009

Wednesday 14. 10. 09. This has been a good week. After my week at St Mathieu I have been very busy in the studio. I have started a couple of medium sized canvasses and have been working on a series of drawings of my morning ride which will form the basis of a new series of etchings using soft grounds and soft resists. This is a new process for me and is supposed to give soft pencil like marks.We shall see. I was in Montpellier on the weekend and I saw an interesting show by Ionas. He is a painter from St André de Sangonis (next to Clermont) and his show was in this wonderful slightly run down Chateau des Evéques set in a park in Lavérune. Above, a small painting that I did when painting en plein air with George before I went to St Mathieu.

Journal Shows Travel

Les Vendémiaires

Posted on October 5, 2009

Monday 05. 10. 09 I got back last night from my week at St Mathieu de Treviers. What a great week. It was wonderful to meet and mix with the other artists and I have come away with a lot of new ideas and techniques. I’m not sure if this kind of thing is peculiar to France but it is certainly a pity as it is certainly a great experience. I was one of 5 artists, all French. Anne Lacour, Maryse Duponchel, Cornelia Marin and Pascal Myrahong. Pascal was the youngest and I think that Maryse was a bit older than me. Cornelia was originally from Rumania and Anne was from Paris. Each day we had visits from the local school children aged between 5 and 10 and we talked about our work. Tuesday we all had to present ourselves to the association and discuss our work. Wednesday we all (artists and members of the association) went to Sète for the day and visited galleries and the Musée de Paul Valèry there. Lunches and dinners were provided everyday and we either ate out at restaurants or at the Maison d’Emma which is where I was artist in residence in February 2008. The grand finale was a lunch yesterday of mussels in a pastis and curry sauce and roast lamb done on a spit. I didn’t sell anything but I was approached by the patron of one of the large brasseries in Montpellier about an exhibition at his brasserie. All in all a fantastic week.

Journal

Fire!

Posted on September 14, 2009

Monday 14 .09 09 It has been a busy week. I was house sitting George and Laurene’s house from last Saturday until last Thursday when Jon and Barbara arrived here. The house sitting worked out well and it was quite a change living on top of the hill above Clermont. I did a painting from inside their house looking out on to the terrace. Sunday there was a fire in the bush so I had the excitement of a fire engine in the driveway and water and foam being dumped on to the property by a small single engine plane!!! It slowed down after then altho I managed to get started on monoprints of friends. Friday I was back at my place and Jon and I drove around the lake on the scooter and then went swimming at Celles. Saturday we all went to the Lodeve market and then on to the Viaduct de Millau. Yesterday we went to the flea market in Marseillan and then lunch in Sete. Today Jon and Barbara are in Montpellier and I am trying out some new drawing techniques inspired by some sketches that Jon has done.

Journal Painting

La Rentrée

Posted on September 3, 2009

Wednesday 02. 09. 09 The summer has ended altho the weather is still pretty warm but school is back and I will be starting my French, engraving and life drawing classes next week. This has been a busy week so far and I have finally managed to get back to painting. I have been documenting my morning bike ride to Liausson and back and this week I have done a storyboard and some gouache sketches of various stages of the ride. I am hoping to do a set of 24 etchings based on the ride. I have also done a triptych monoprint of Moureze which I have hand coloured.

Journal

Hot week

Posted on August 20, 2009

Molière Thursday 20. 08. 09 It has been a hot week here this week so have been swimming a lot in the sea (Sunday Marseillan), the river (Monday Leroque) and the lake (Yesterday Lac du Salagou). Have also been to see Good Morning England with Bill Nighy and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Amusing. We had Le Foire des Vins last Friday where all the local winegrowers show their wares. You buy a glass for 2 euros and then wander around the stalls tasting all the various varieties. Quite a pleasant way of spending a summer’s eve. Tuesday evening I went to see Les Femmes Savantes by Molière at the Theatre Verdure in Pezenas. I had read an English synopsis of the play so I understood the story but didn’t get much of the French which was in verse. The experience was rather like going to the opera. Today am back to the painting.

Journal Shows

Birthday

Posted on August 10, 2009

Monday 10. 08. 09 Had a quiet birthday on thursday but a very pleasant one. I drove up the Hérault as far as Valleraugue photographing various potential sights for the river series of paintings and prints. It was a very hot day so was pleasant drivng through the Cevennes. I had a picnic lunch enroute and got back in time to see Whatever Works, a Woody Allen film at the local cinema. I had already celebrated on the Sunday with the ladies before they returned to Canada but on Saturday I was invited over to Giséle and Jonathan’s for dinner with a swim before. Very relaxed. Sunday, again with Giséle and Jonathan, we went to Lamalou les Bains to see an exhibition of paintings there by Elly de Groote. A very good show set in a new gallery which was previoulsy an old railway station. Elly is a fellow student in my French class at the Acceuil.

Journal Travel

The Last Week

Posted on August 3, 2009

Monday 03. 08. 09 This morning I was up at 4.30 am getting organized to leave for Montpellier airport at 5. The ladies have had a really good last week. We have been to the beach several times and also the lake. We have had Giséle and Jonathan to lunch and also been over to their pool. We have had Aperos up the hill with Laurene and George and even a trip over to the Cevennes to Mt Aigoual with lunch at La Cravate. Last night we celebrated my 68th birthday early with a delicious dinner at Le Terminus. Today it has been quiet here but I am intending to get back to work tomorrow on my painting and printmaking.

Journal Travel

Roquefort

Posted on July 23, 2009

Thursday 23. 07. 09 Last Sunday we finally decided to go to Roquefort to see how the cheese is made. It is just over an hour north of here on the Larzac plateau in the Aveyron. Totally different landscape, no vines, large fields with hedges and trees. Also cooler climate. I noticed poppies and broom still in bloom both of which disappeared from here nearly 2 months ago. We all three went on the free tour of the Société Papillion caves and then Daisy and Carole did the tour which was 3 euros whilst Julia and I had a glass of wine. Very interesting process of ageing the cheese and one wonders how it was discovered. Had lunch on the plateau and then came back down and had a swim before dinner. This week Daisy is back riding at Les Trois Fontaines and seems to be quite happy. We had George and Laurene over for lunch yesterday and then went into Pezenas last night. This morning I took Julia and Carole to Montpellier where they flew to London for the weekend – I have to pick them up Sunday morning. Meanwhile Daisy is having lunch with her French pen friend Clémence tomorrow and we may go to a vernissage at the Espace des Pénitents on Saturday evening.

Journal

Bastille Day

Posted on July 14, 2009

Tuesday 14. 07. 09 I came back a couple of weeks ago now with Daisy and Carole and we have been quite busy. The first weekend we went to a party at Giséle and Jonathan’s to celebrate their recent marriage and then on the Sunday we went over to Claire’s where Daisy met her French pen friend Clémence for the first time. Since then we have been to the beach a few times and also to the lake. Last Saturday we went to Pezenas to the market and saw part of the medieval pageant. We also went to Lodeve for their parade as well. Last night was the candlelit parade around Clermont and this morning it is the traditional games up at the church. This evening we have a band and a fireworks display.