School Report 2011, Chateaux Painting Holidays, SW France

A warm ‘bonjour’ to everyone!

I hope you are well & happy 🙂

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calm & creative

NEWS OF THE PAINTING WEEKS AT CHATEAU DE BEDUER

School report of the three courses in 2010….No problems with any of the courses…and anyway, it’s been known for ages that there’s never any corporal punishment in the art room! ;-)It’s difficult for me to say something about each week… and even less each person’s performance. There was painting. There was learning. There were discoveries. There were some beautiful paintings made and there were also some paintings ripped up & binned! All steps along the way….There was laughter. There were meetings & intrigues. The sun shone…. little rain was had. The powerful, stoney but lush landscape continued to be powerfully present in the background, and even the foreground, as the courageous painters witnessed, struggled with & occassionally enjoyed some of it’s wonders. Beduer is a truly beautiful place.


Morning Mists at Beduer

As always vigilant Sue ensured the food was good. The wine flowed. Smiles & ‘la bonne table’ …… 🙂


Everybody was good company. There was a memorable group booking from Sao Paolo, (at the time of the world football cup), which was full of laughter & talent. These painting holidays are good places to meet people & spend an enjoyable time together 🙂

https://fcembranelli.blogspot.com/2010/07/about-painting-in-franceetc-sobre.html


attention is the eye opener….

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

Practice makes perfect… of course the more you do something, the better you get at doing it. But I have a nagging doubt that this just doesn’t take us to the heart of the problem of exactly why we don’t find time to paint, even when we could, if really wanted to. I suspect it’s more to do with the discipline of just doing it, over and above that of wanting to improve. Just doing it because it’s intrinsically enjoyable, despite the ups & the downs.

“To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make the soul grow. So do it. ” – Kurt Vonnegut


Eager attention to detail!

Sometimes however one’s practice might be in a slump or a down-turn. Maybe then is the time for an inspirational boost! Input from an other source. A short but intense period of practice. Maybe a change of scene? A change of habit? Try something new? Go to another landscape? Or return to that special place where you were once happy? Expose yourself to another teacher? Or go back to a teacher with whom one had good contact? Deepen the learning which was touched on? Consolidate those discoveries which were not fully integrated into one’s natural way of painting?

Sometimes… in a beautiful place, in the sunshine, on holiday, with no distractions, no worries, with good company & good teaching, it all just seems to flow. Then the practice becomes easy. It is our aim to provide this for you at Beduer.

News of Adam’s Painting Practice


“A perfect beauty of a sunflower! a perfect excellent lovely sunflower existence! a sweet natural eye to the new hip moon, woke up alive and excited grasping in the sunset shadow sunrise golden monthly breeze! ” – exerpt from ‘Sunflower Sutra’ by Allen Ginsberg

2010 started off well with a few paintings that I was fairly pleased with. There was an exhibition in a commercial gallery in St.Emiliion (which then decided to shut its doors). Then it was THE ROOF of our house, six months of building. Despite the upheaval, I managed to maintain my drawing in my sketchbooks. I don’t know why but drawing is just so… central.


“Do not fail, as you go on, to draw something every day, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worthwhile, and it will do you a world of good.” ~ Cennini, circa 1400 ad.

I feel this long, fallow period will give birth to something new…something more than the above advice on Practice 😉 …. Maybe a new direction? Work has already started in 2011.

Exhibitions in ‘La Récollets’, Bergerac in August 2011 at St. Avit de Senieur in September 2011 & hopefully at Sarlat and St.Emillion (to be be confirmed).

News of Sue

Ah hem????, said the gruffalo

Sue COPE sends everyone a ‘bonjour’. She will be at Beduer next year again, with her flair at quietly ensuring everything works. Marie-Line COPE has been doing wonders in the office, helping with the planning, booking & payment procedures (she does also helps run a three star holiday residence for Holiday Property Bonds). Such fabulous attention to detail! . These holidays wouldn’t work so well without such a great team.
http:www.artists-atelier/artholidays/us.htm” A painting holiday which glides effortlessly forward like a swan always means that somebody is doing masses of work out of sight to help things run smoothly!” – Katherine Tyrrell

News of Adam, Marie-Line, Valentin & Eleanor

The kids are thriving and full of ‘joie de vivre’ The girl is 4 and the boy is 6 and half already. Happy days! M-L is well, a happy mum if somewhat tired. She’s also still helping things work well at https://www.hpb.co.ukEveryone in good health. Life is good 🙂

New : Flights from London City Airport to Soulliac/Brive Dordgne Valley Airport

This airport us about one hour from Beduer. We pick up & drop off at 115 euros per journey, which becomes easy when shared with others. The times of the saturday flight seem to be friendly with our course start time of sat 16 hr.

https://www.aeroport-brive-vallee-dordogne.com/
New: we have simplified banking. You can now pay my fees directly via IBAN (free for Europeans) or via PayPal for non-Europeans. Chateau de Beduer has now simplified things by one simple click of a PayPal button.

New : we now offer a reduction of 50 € per painter for groups of four or more painters.
‘PRIX DE FIDELITE’ – There is the usual reduction for returning students of fifty euros per person. We’ve not put our prices up either.

COURSE DATES 2011

Saturday 18 June to Saturday 25 June
Saturday 25 June to Saturday 2 July
Saturday 3 September to Saturday 10 September

Wishing you a very happy, creative 2011.
Paint well.
Best Wishes from Adam, Marie-Line & Sue

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Post-script …..

‘Piere de Ronsard’ Roses at Beduer

An Erotic Poem written at Beduer by Paul Valéry, whilst tossing about sleeplessly in the four poster bed in La Chambre ‘Paul Valéry’ & thinking of Jean Voiler, the then current Lady of the Chateau.

À LA ROSE PROFONDE

Sombre et profonde rose d’ombre odorante,

Ô rose de plaisir, dont le plaisir est pleur,

Rose humide d’espoir d’une caresse errante sur ses bords de calice où la chair se fait fleur,

D’une eau délicieuse, ô molle rose, enivre Jusqu’a l’ excés divin du bonheur animal.

Un coeur fuyant l’affreuse aventure de vivre qui boit ce poison de son étrange mal…

Puisse fondre sur toi la lèvre favorite Dont l’oeuvre fut tendre et sincère irrite

Plus, toujours plus en toi, toujours plus de douceur;

Tandis que la beauté qui te porte palpite Et palpitante inspire une tendresse soeur

Que son soupir appelle et qui se précipite… P.V. Corona & Coronilla.