Timothy Joseph AllenPaintings & Drawings

I had the great pleasure to take part in Julian Merrow-Smith’s last plein air workshop of 2015 in Provence, France, from October 10th to the 17th.

The company was gracious, the lodgings impeccable, the cuisine exquisite and the landscapes a feast for the eyes: nothing more could have been better for what was, in essence, six days of plein air boot camp.

Julian’s method of teaching was direct and to the point; every morning and afternoon he did a demo.  It was a very no nonsense approach of picking a good spot, getting comfortable, setting up the paints and then getting to work.  His technical instruction was an excellent distillation of his experience, and was most helpful in dealing with very complex and fluid challenges like composition and color mixing.

In all, it was a thoroughly rewarding experience.  If you have ever been tempted to attend Julian’s workshop, then you would be wise to do it.

I am most grateful to Julian and the group—Roy, Cathy, Karen, Debbie, Linda, Ale and Stani—for their camaraderie and good cheer.  Special thanks also to Ruth and Louis, and, our hosts at La Madelene, Jude and Philip.

A gallery of pictures from the trip below.  A gallery of the paintings I made is soon to follow.

Update: With Julian and Ruth’s blessing, I’ve published below a video I made of him doing a demo.