A side view of Crystal’s garden. Work in progress.
Last week my art group had an away day, an actual meeting outside to paint in the countryside! Or at least in Crystal’s back yard. After meeting on Zoom for the past year It was pretty exciting stuff. Zoom is better than nothing but not ideal.
Crystal lives on a quarter of an acre surrounded by old trees with a stream running through the grounds. She and her husband moved to France to retire about seven years ago, and what they have done to create their elegant garden is a clear example of why people retire to live in the French countryside. Huelgoat where they live, is notable for gigantic boulders left over from the last ice age. Crystal has arranged a turn on-and-offable waterfall to cascade down the truck-sized rock behind her house.
We painted for a while in the sunshine but since it had been months since we had met in person it was more of a gossipy catchup. So nice to see my friends in the flesh! I took a reference photo and worked on the painting the next day.
As in other countries there has been a flood of people leaving cities and buying up houses in the countryside, or buying them as a country getaway. From living in the back end of nowhere, all of a sudden we are considered chic. I have Paris friends who in the past have spoken of Brittany in a slightly sneery tone (bad weather, provincial etc). Not so much now.
We are approaching the best time to be in Brittany. The summer sunshine has finally arrived, the birds are tweeting like mad things, the flowers are flowering, and I can finally walk outside with bare arms. It’s a good time to be alive.