Brittany

Expecting the worst weather-wise I spent most of our week in sunny Brittany looking very Gallic in the one sleeveless t shirt I had packed which just happened to be Breton stripes. Our Gite overlooked the Cote D'amour and the many reefs and rocks hidden at high tide which must make for exciting sailing. Great inspiration for us though, as was the sky-scape with its towering clouds. We painted outside most days, often on our nearest beach, where were also intrepid enough for an evening swim -no wet suits! As we had the car we packed a variety of painting materials for experimentation, deliberately to take us out of our comfort zones. For me this meant working large and loosely on canvas with water soluble oils. Lizzy is very at home on this scale and got so carried away that her brush flew out her hands and off down the beach on more than one occasion. Her challenge was to work in watercolour on a smaller scale.

We were surrounded by fields of artichokes which featured in several pieces of work. Penny bought a beautiful burgundy one for sketching. Penny's expertise was very evident but she found she no longer enjoyed the process of producing a botanical likeness. Lizzy went large, used oil pastels glue and tissue. Unfortunately none of us felt up to cooking and eating the thing so it sat centre table to be admired.

On Thursday we took the TVR train into Rennes. It was on time, fast and noticeably quiet, even on the return journey which was very full. So comfortable in fact that two of us fell asleep! Rennes was lively, with a march protesting against Macron's proposed changes to the labour laws. The medieval beauty of the city was somewhat a contrast to the streets lined with police in riot gear and a hovering helicopter. The march was very quiet. I suspect so as not to provoke any confrontation from such an overwhelming police presence.

trip to Rennes