A TOWN IN PROVENCE

Last week when I was tearing through my studio looking for pictures of my cat Johnson, I found some photographs and a watercolor I had painted of a trip I took with 3 friends to Provence. The trip took place almost 4 years ago and it was such a thrill to find these little momentos of a most wonderful discovery.

Like everything else in life, some of the best memories are those that you stumble upon and this little town in Provence was just that kind of surprise for me.

My friends and I had been on a car trip for many hours and around 3 o'clock that afternoon, we decided we needed a break and a hot espresso. We drove into this pretty little town called Salon-de-Provence. My friends went to the Nostradamus Museum and I took my camera on a walk around this picturesque village. The painted shutters and windows of the old buildings were so beautiful. The blues and soft greens played off the warm yellows and dusty pinks of the bricks. And then of course, the Plane trees standing so majestically shading the main street, just gave an interesting pattern of sunlight on the buildings' walls.

Salon-de-Provence watercolor sketch 18" X 15" Meg Mitchell

When I returned home, I decided to try and paint a watercolor of one of my favorite photographs of Salon-de-Provence. I've not done many watercolors but the softness of the paints seemed to fit the beautiful palette of this lovely town. Maybe, I'll finish this watercolor just for me so that I will have a memory of that special day in Provence and also as a reminder to be open to the possibilities of the unexpected.