Pilgrim goes to market.

The two scarves on the left are made of different yarns of cotton and raw silk with silk ribbon tassels.

Last Sunday I was at Locarn a lovely village about 40 minutes from Kerjacob.
I was at a fair for artisans and artists.

I took the parasol along to 'dress' the stall.

The bags are made from hemp that I've dyed and lined in red the same as the fish.

It was lovely to meet more like minded people and see what they made.

I took lots of photos of my stand, so here you can see what I've been making.

The leaves are off one of my maple trees, I pressed them last autumn.

More hand made cards, I love the child's face.

This painting and collage is based on an altar in an abbey in Finistere.

Another collage based on the altar.

One of my last collages celebrating the start of holidays at the coast, thanks to the train.

Scenes from Paris - Monmartre, St Gemain des Pres ,Ile St Louis.

Flower shop, St Germain.

Last week we were in Paris, my first since I was a 21 year old student and over 30 years for Mr P.

Monmartre

We spent three very happy days walking, walking everywhere.

Monmartre.

Stopping to take photographs, stopping to wonder at the elegance of the buildings.

Stopping to wait for the traffic, stopping to take a coffee and people watch.

One night we walked from the Etoille to the Eiffel Tower, on the hour it sparkles and I just loved it.

Posters in Monmartre.

Doors of Sacre Coeur.

Doors of Sacre Coeur.

Grocer shop in St Germain.

Bust of Apollinaire by Picasso.

Street musicians on Ile St Louis.

Flower shop, Ile St Louis.

On our last evening we went again to Rue Jacob in St Germain, we loved it there, lots of small galleries with interesting work, lots of good places to eat.

The finale was the beauty of my cup of drinking chocolate, served with such care and so pretty, accompanied by a little jug of hot frothy milk and a delicious chocolate.

Sculpture exhibition near Rue Jacob.

Our first time in Paris together was just so good

We won't wait so long to go back !

A trip to Paris, first off to Versailles.

Last Saturday we were near Versailles, our first trip there ever.

Mr P was playing in the biggest amateur golf final in France.

He was delighted to be playing at Golf National at Guyancourt.

We had decided that as we would be so near to Versailles and Paris we would have a little holiday.

On Sunday we headed off to Versailles, we were both overwhelmed by its beauty and also of the extravagance of the times it was built.

We were so lucky to have a beautifully sunny day and everywhere looked wonderful.

There was an exhibition of the sculptures of Venet which I loved, they worked so well in the huge vistas of the gardens.

Pie helping out !

Yesterday morning Pie decided she would help me whilst I was keeping up to date with my blog and all my favourites too.

Obviously she found either the hour too early or the idea of a cat nap was too much to resist !

The art of inspiration.

Yesterday Mr P  and I went to the Chateau de Rohan in Pontivy.







The present chateau dates back to 1479.






Inside are the most amazing fireplaces from the 16th century and came originally from a chateau near Vannes.
The colours and details are just wonderful.

There is also a small chapel containing a typical Breton altarpiece which came from a church within the town.

Each summer art studies are run within the chateau for young people and it was very interesting to see the work and to see how they'd been inspired by their surroundings.

Painted detail around the granite fireplace.

I really liked this large painting  which, although so abstract , is so influenced by the colours that are in the fireplaces and altar.

Inspiration and how it moves us so differently is fascinating.

Two new jugs.

I went to vide greniers on Sunday, it was a wet start but luckily it brightened up later.
One of the things I found was this 19th century jug.
The lip on one side is a bit damaged but the form and colour of the glaze won my heart.
Later that afternoon all my jugs came off the window ledge and were given a good wash which makes their colours just glow.

The little tiny green jug with the lavender is a piece I bought in La Gacilly.
A young woman there makes studies of Medieval pottery, their forms and glazes.
I really love its little spout which is almost growing out of the pot through the petal shapes.

Nomads of Northern Siberia.

 Last week I spoke about La Gacilly and the wonderful annual photographic exhibition.
I thought this week I would post some of the photographs that we enjoyed seeing this year.
The first set is about the nomads who live in Northern Siberia.






This is a terrain with virtually no resources except one from deep in the frozen wastes.
That resource is the remains of mammoths buried deep beneath the snow and ice.





Some years ago the perfectly formed body of a baby mammoth was discovered.
I just love the tenderness of the young child towards this baby who died some 37,000  years ago.






The photographer is Francis Latreille.

The life of these people is described perfectly in this French sentence.

Dans ce monde sans couleur , quelques centaines de nomads "vivent de l'economie du rien", dans un uninvers sans superflu.

The photographs of the nomads are displayed on huge panels with the wonderful meadow flowers below them.

Sculpture at La Gacilly.

Every summer we go to the village of La Gacilly .

Each year there is a wonderful photographic exhibition, I will do another post about that next week.

La Gacilly is the town which is the centre for Yves Rocher and the whole town is alive with wonderful things to see mainly due to this worldwide company .

A few years ago an exciting gallery, bookshop and display centre was created and there are always 

interesting exhibitions to see.

One of the exhibitions was of sculpture and pieces of furniture that was created from 'found goods'.

There was a group of insects that I just loved and some real fantasy pieces mainly made from old kitchen equipment.