Provence from Fayence outwards

Toile Linen

I just love this vieux pays stuff: toile linen. It's an 18th C print from the French Mills archive.

Don't know how to buy it in France, but in the UK it's £16 a sq. metre. Would look great against our terracotta tiles.

10 things I would never do

Provence neighbour L'ombre de l'olivier has tagged me. This means I must list 10 things I would never do.

1. Waste a day in bed (alone).
2. Whistle (I'd love to, but I can't).
3. Eat people.
4. Control my purchases of music and books.
5. Stop swearing.
6. Go jogging.
7. Buy a pizza with pineapple on it.
8. Drink wine out of a mug.
9. Jump into a cold swimming pool quickly.
10. Never say never.

Difficult to think of practices in a positive sense (i.e. lots of "never not do somethings" flooded in). Meanwhile, I tag Linda, Ruth, Rosen, Corey and Barbara.

Provence photographs

I have discovered Flickr as a vehicle for sharing my humble collection of Provence photographs. There are many of the village of Mons (and of our rental property). Enjoy!

Provence ceramics

In Australia, it seems, architects and designers opine thus about Provencal crafts:

"Provence, in the south of France, is known around the world for its warm weather, picturesque villages, healthy food, colourful landscape and colourful home ware ceramics."

Watch out!

Paintings of Provence

If you're in Montreal, you might take a look at a gallery of paintings of Provence at this exhibition "Right under the Sun: Landscape in Provence, from Classicism to Modernism (1750-1930)," Sept. 22, 2005-Jan. 8, 2006, at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

I liked Cezanne's "Houses in Provence" and Monet's "Antibes", which I sneakily link to here. Plus, if you follow the link, there's lots of commentary if you like a bit of analysis.

Matisse

Matisse makes it big in Latvia. Love the potted history. "Matisse’s celebration of bright colors reached its peak in 1917 when he began to spend time on the French Riviera." Me, I like bright colours too.

Provence cream?

Provence cream is the new yellow, in Decatur USA at any rate. How preposterous, I thought, that one could rebrand a colour by adding an emotionally potent word like "Provence". So I checked on Google, and there are precedents.

Thinking about it, I am not certain which colour I believe to be fundamentally "provence". Lavender, azur blue (or better, the blue of a clear sky). Comments welcome.

Olives from Provence

Oh for more of these! I happened upon the Postcard from Provence man them in a quest for other good folk musing on life in Provence. There ain't nothing better than the rustle of wind through silver green olive leaves, or the distant dream of making the ultimate, distinctive olive oil from your own trees. I could evangelise forever about olives, but this man and his brush sort of says it all about local landscapes. Weird thing is, though, it was the Greeks who brought them here.

Painting of Fayence for sale

Attic Gallery, On-line Store: An awfully nice gallery in Oregon, USA, is selling this rather charming picture of Fayence entitled "Rue dans Fayence, France". I like it and I think lovers of Fayence should invest - it is for sale. I have never eaten at the Sousto, although it is well sign-posted.