Musings on France, Part 3: Settling In
After such a whirlwind arrival, we began to settle in and explore our new home. I got a stunning room on the second (of four) floors, overlooking the lake and the village church. Our windows were massive with the original glass so we were told to open them all the way and to place little wooden pieces in the sills to hold them open…otherwise if the wind picked up, they could slam shut and shatter. Oh, and be sure to close them around dusk, they said, or the bats would come to visit. Eh.
Every morning, I would walk over to my window and twist the handle to let in the crisp, fresh air. I cannot tell you how often the Beauty and the Beast song, ‘Provincial Life’ would pop into my head as I greeted the new day.
We got a full chateau tour and began to set up our studios. I had shipped my supplies a few weeks earlier and they magically showed up in my studio a few days before arrival. Most of the artists had studios in the chateau, but there were five or six of us that got assigned to the Stables. This building was a short downhill walk away—we called it our “commute”—that used to be used as actual stables The U-shaped brick structure sits next to a river and has a big courtyard in the middle, with a sink off to the side for washing our brushes. The first time I opened my back studio door and heard the water rushing, I was in heaven.
This all sounds great, right? I had no specific plans of what to paint because usually I use the inspiration of where I am to dictate my painting subject matter. So, I set up my studio…put up a bunch of blank canvases and wood panels…and froze. Yes, I had taken a million pictures already but nothing was really jumping out at me. Plus, I usually print out reference photos at home and had nothing to look at but my little phone screen.
I panicked. I found out later that many of us freaked out for the first couple of days. Seeing as most artists tend to create in isolation without a ton of other creatives around, it’s easy to get in our heads when we see people creating all around us. ‘Am I going fast enough? Wow, they already have five pieces started! What am I going to paint? Why didn’t I plan anything? Omg, they are so much better than me! Should I really be here?’ You get the gist. The impostor syndrome reared its ugly head.
I walked around in circles for a bit. Literally walked in circles. I started to freak out when it hit me—GO TAKE A WALK, are you insane?? Here I was in the French countryside and I’m panicking because I had nothing to paint?? I laughed a little bit and went straight out the door on what ended up being a two hour walk. I walked into the village (about 15 steps from my studio door) and then out past the massive gothic cathedral to a flat path with different colored cows on either side of me. I was rewarded with an almost cartoon-looking blue sky with puffy white clouds, large fields of yellow flowers that looked electric neon up against the dark emerald green trees. I walked and walked and walked some more. I just kept on saying, “WOW” as I strolled back and then through the tiny village. There was enough inspiration here for years! (Continued below)
I got back to the studio brimming with inspiration and that artists drive to create! Before I continued, I made sure to thank my grandma who has passed (but I’m positive she had something to do with this walk) and I opened my fluorescent paints and covered almost every blank canvas with hot pink, orange, or yellow. I usually use a bright pink underpainting on most of my work and will often do this if i’m stuck in some way. That was enough for the night so I packed up my stuff and headed up to dinner.
The next morning I was ready. I headed to my studio before breakfast. I took the scenic route around the lake with foggy mist rising up with the sun. The swans greeted me and when I got to my studio, I painted two pieces inspired by my walk from the day before. The cow painting is now a part of the permanent collection of Chateau d’Orquevaux in the Diderot Gallery in town! When you hear that someone is going to paint in France for two weeks, you might think that every day is full of only creating…but it’s a lot more than that. It takes artists time to acclimate, to get into the groove so to speak. Combine that with jet lag, a time change, new surroundings and a bit of pressure and lack of sleep—it can be overwhelming! I was finally on a roll but to be perfectly honest, this setting made a lot of us go on a roller coaster of emotion for those first few days.
As for daily life at the Chateau—we had a bonfire on one of the first nights and were introduced to the Wine Cave in the basement (dungeon?) level of the chateau. It was open for precisely 20 minutes each night so that we could buy any wine or extra snacks we wanted. We rarely missed Wine Cave! In addition, there was an entire room full of costumes! And another whole room of supplies that other residents had left before us. Also, a laundry room. Basically a giant castle of make believe that became reality for all of us.
Stay tuned for part 4 in the series, coming soon!
