|
|
 |
Normandie
Journal |
|
|
The work in this is exhibit addresses two
remarkably different regions of France:
- a recent visit to the rural coast of
Normandy, northwest of Paris near Mont-St-Michel, with its extreme
tides and long, saffron summer evenings
- a commission done in rural Champagne,
with its colorful vineyards and fields.
The coast of lower Normandy is perhaps the most horizontal place I’ve
ever seen — massive clouds moving constantly across the sky, and tides
coming in and out three to four MILES twice a day, leaving abundant
shellfish and shells behind.
|
|
|
|
|
The clear light reminds me of Cape Cod, but
with a climate more like San Francisco. It is August, and in the garden,
wisteria is in full bloom, along with palms, figs, fruit trees, rosemary,
and topiary roses.
The Normandy work addresses three subjects: the house and garden of my
exceptional hosts and friends, the LeRoux-Haskell family in
Agon-Coutainville; the "marais" (salt marsh) on the tidal Sienne
River at Countainville, and as seen from Mont-St-Michel; and the hayfields
on the uplands adjoining the marais.
"The Champagne work was done a few years ago in the Gruet
vineyards in Bethon, a tiny ancient village northeast of Paris: very dry,
very hot, and unusually
stormy August that made the vines brilliant sap green but delayed
the harvest by several weeks.
Normandy is unlike Champagne and yet it requires intense observation to
see the differences."
--
Catherine Kinkade.
|
|
