OLARGUES FETE DU MARRON
Last weekend - Fete de la Chataigne in St. Pons, this weekend Fete du Marron in Olargues. So chataignes are female and marrons are male - this raises 2 questions; what is the difference between a chaitaigne and a marron (a chestnut is a chestnut and both appear to be used for the same end purposes) and why has the French language decided that 2 similar fruits/nuts are different sexes? Well we won't even try to understand the ways of French grammar, there is no rhyme or reason.
So back to the subject in hand, a grand day out in Olargues, which I was to spend sketching with a couple of other sketchers. It was windy and cool so I can't say I was really looking forward to it, but it turned out OK in the end.
The prime requirement when I met up with Anna was heat - ideally sit in the sunshine in a sheltered spot, and have some animated festive scene to draw - we don't ask for much. Sun combined with shelter were in short supply, but animation was well provided by a local band belting out tunes and they kept us amused and employed for an hour or so. Really nice bunch, who had been aware of us sketching them, so when the set was over many came to view the results, coo over them, take lots of photos, ask to buy pictures, and did we give classes!
After lunch our next sort of sunny, fairly sheltered seat was found in the area of the Arabian? Turkish? alfresco café. After a delicious sweet mint tea warmed up the hands, (happily I had come prepared with fingerless mittens and Anna had managed to purchase some in the market) I sketched the Lady doing the cooking and again that was followed with a photo session as her 2 daughters who were waitressing, cooed and asked if the picture was for sale - again. Why did this never happen when I was trying to make a living with art!!!
Finally the last seat was the warmest, right beside the roasting chestnuts, I haven't sniffed my coat today but I would guess there's and impregnated smoky smell to it.
So a good days sketching. But like St.Pons fete last week, I think there were fewer stalls, although the fact that it had been a bit of a washout the previous day in Olargues may not have helped. (Saturday afternoon we had some thunder and lightning, but I believe it was the Gard department, about and hour or so away that got it really bad.)
One of the musicians told me a great length about saxophones, unfortunately he decided to do this just as the 'Chevaliers de L'Espinouse' were collecting for their little ceremony on the stage. So firstly I couldn't hear half of what he said due to background noise and secondly I had really wanted to sketch them on the stage and he was right between artist and subject. He told us twice he was 74 years old - most important! and I suppose I should have been saying, never! you don't look a day over 60. he then took me through the 6 types of saxophone, which became 7 and maybe even 8. Starting with the smallest, I'm sure he said a name, the one you would see clowns in the circus playing, so he said. His sax was a tenor, and I think there were 2 kinds of tenor, and it was a Selmer, made in Paris, and indeed a thing of great beauty, he told us the price, which did seem very impressive, but me and French numbers! I could have been out a hundred or a thousand!
So that is chestnut fete season over for another year. This one in fact is also the fete du vin nouveau, but there wasn't much evidence of that, no one appeared to be selling wine apart from the bars. The yield is down this year but apparently the wine is good, we shall see.....
If you want to see more sketches, follow me at 'Artistic Ramblings' on Face book.
So back to the subject in hand, a grand day out in Olargues, which I was to spend sketching with a couple of other sketchers. It was windy and cool so I can't say I was really looking forward to it, but it turned out OK in the end.
The prime requirement when I met up with Anna was heat - ideally sit in the sunshine in a sheltered spot, and have some animated festive scene to draw - we don't ask for much. Sun combined with shelter were in short supply, but animation was well provided by a local band belting out tunes and they kept us amused and employed for an hour or so. Really nice bunch, who had been aware of us sketching them, so when the set was over many came to view the results, coo over them, take lots of photos, ask to buy pictures, and did we give classes!
The Sax Man
After lunch our next sort of sunny, fairly sheltered seat was found in the area of the Arabian? Turkish? alfresco café. After a delicious sweet mint tea warmed up the hands, (happily I had come prepared with fingerless mittens and Anna had managed to purchase some in the market) I sketched the Lady doing the cooking and again that was followed with a photo session as her 2 daughters who were waitressing, cooed and asked if the picture was for sale - again. Why did this never happen when I was trying to make a living with art!!!
Finally the last seat was the warmest, right beside the roasting chestnuts, I haven't sniffed my coat today but I would guess there's and impregnated smoky smell to it.
So a good days sketching. But like St.Pons fete last week, I think there were fewer stalls, although the fact that it had been a bit of a washout the previous day in Olargues may not have helped. (Saturday afternoon we had some thunder and lightning, but I believe it was the Gard department, about and hour or so away that got it really bad.)
One of the musicians told me a great length about saxophones, unfortunately he decided to do this just as the 'Chevaliers de L'Espinouse' were collecting for their little ceremony on the stage. So firstly I couldn't hear half of what he said due to background noise and secondly I had really wanted to sketch them on the stage and he was right between artist and subject. He told us twice he was 74 years old - most important! and I suppose I should have been saying, never! you don't look a day over 60. he then took me through the 6 types of saxophone, which became 7 and maybe even 8. Starting with the smallest, I'm sure he said a name, the one you would see clowns in the circus playing, so he said. His sax was a tenor, and I think there were 2 kinds of tenor, and it was a Selmer, made in Paris, and indeed a thing of great beauty, he told us the price, which did seem very impressive, but me and French numbers! I could have been out a hundred or a thousand!
So that is chestnut fete season over for another year. This one in fact is also the fete du vin nouveau, but there wasn't much evidence of that, no one appeared to be selling wine apart from the bars. The yield is down this year but apparently the wine is good, we shall see.....
If you want to see more sketches, follow me at 'Artistic Ramblings' on Face book.
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