If you will insist on having homemade apricot jam for breakfast in the Luberon, then you must go off to Roussillon (an apricot-colored town) immediately if not sooner.
I did go yesterday and am still reeling.
Roussillon is a hill town (village perché) set on cliffs of the most extraordinary colors and a huge source of earth colored pigments, raw and burnt sienna, ochres, umbers.
Roussillon is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Roussillon lies within the borders of the Parc Naturel Régional du Luberon. Roussillon is noted for its large ochre deposits found in the clay surrounding the village. Ochres pigments range from yellow, orange, red. One of the former ochre quarries can be visited via the "Sentier des Ocres" (Ochre Path), a walk of either 30-60 minutes through the old works
A-Mazing!
I would find an outfit head-to-toe terra cotta color
Maybe a terra cotta T-shirt that said,
"I HEART ❤️ ROUSSILLON"
Not even a scarf in these fabulous colors
By the way, if you see pigments on sale there labeled 'Apricot' do Not buy them. There is no such color except in makeup 💄 & wall paint.I made watercolor sketches of Roussillon. This may become a print...if you'd like one, let me know.
Love your Roussillon post... one of my favorite places. I would love to get a print.
ReplyDeleteWe loved Roussillon..will you have a chance to see Isle-Sur-la-Sorgue and Fontaine De Vaucluse?Gordes? So well worth seeing!!
ReplyDeleteC'est beau ton oeuvre d'art!Tes..oeuvres d'art.
I'll post soon on Isle sur la Sourge Monique!!
DeleteI ♥it.
DeleteI'd love a big helping of all that ochre!
ReplyDeleteI love that region. I took a trip there by myself a few years ago... did you get to hike to the source of the river in the Vaucluse. It was amazing!
ReplyDeleteI loved all those colours when we went there 4 yrs ago, I couldn't stop clicking my camera, but when I try to paint that view of all those roof tops I have difficulty mixing the different shades. Any tips ? Such a wonderful part of France, and I'm sure not too busy just yet.
ReplyDeleteOh Carol, I cannot tell you how much I loved this post. I would not otherwise have known about Roussillon being the source of beautiful ochre pigments.
ReplyDeleteSurely you will remember the scene in Robert Altman's Vincent and Theo, when Tim Roth (as Vincent) actually tasted pigments? I hold it in my heart.
Please continue to relish in your southern exposure. xo
Oh, what a shame! I was there 2 weeks ago but had no idea to look for this :( Will keep it in mind for next time, however!
ReplyDeleteCarol!
ReplyDeleteYou must be in heaven! Aren't the colors amazing? I have not one shred of artistic talent and I want to grab a paintbrush and head out like Van Gogh used to... I heart the South of France. I hope you are having a fabulous time!
P.S. Yes, I would love a print! Keep posting!
ReplyDeleteYou are right! Roussillion is beautiful, the colors are fantastic! Here's a shot from my visit a few years ago. You described it perfectly.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scribblesandsmiles.net/search/label/Roussillon
Beautiful! Yes, I would like a print.
ReplyDeleteI also love this place in France. Were they selling pigments for paints too? Like Nana, I love Isle su la Sorgue and its marketplace and other nearby towns too...Glad you are having a nice voyage...
ReplyDeleteWe visited this pretty little town years ago and bought some pigment. It is now on the walls of 2 small rooms in my home. Where do they mine the stuff now? If the French are focused on conservation I wonder if the pigments are artificial??
ReplyDeleteHere is the corrected address:
DeleteWWW.OKHRA.COM
Conservatoire des Ocres et de la Couleur
Usine Mathieu
They are just outside the town where they process the pigments. Certainly they use it. The apricot is for tourists.
I loved seeing it all again through your eyes. I'm sure you enjoyed every minute of your visit.
ReplyDeleteI'll look forward to seeing your Ilse-Sur la Sorgue post.
I love apricot jam and always think of France when I eat it..
ReplyDeleteyum yum, I think I shall have a baguette and some for petit dejuner tomorrow.
Keep up all that you do; I am drooling.
Have you visited Sault? It's wonderful too!!
ReplyDeleteI went to lovely Gault today, not Sault.
DeleteAll the hill towns are terrific in the Luberon.
Thanks for taking us to this amazing place! I've never been there but the colours are great, I love the contrast with the shutters on the windows. It's typical you can't buy something when you actually want to. Your paintings are lovely :)
ReplyDeleteYour blog posts take my breath away, and me too. To places I would rather be. They enrich my heart the colours here are sublime, it's is a village of the earth. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteLove Vanessa - M de L
Gorgeous, Carol. It reminds me of Italian hill towns.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking Tuscany too Paul.
DeleteI got to attend a french tour of the coloring studios in Roussillon with my french fluent, french teacher daughter in 2007. We then bought several books at the nearby gift store (watercolor inspirations for me about the Luberon) and then took a brief walk until we realized we were wearing those terracotta t-shirts, blouses and shoes that you thought you might find in the town (!).
ReplyDeleteI was there in 2005 previously.
ReplyDeleteThe pigment store has moved outside town to the Usine unfortunately and you can't walk there.
Funny about your clothes Mary :))
And look for the book titled," Girl in Hyacinth blue" by Susan Vreeland! I
ReplyDeleteOH YES...I would like a print-the colors.....love them!
ReplyDeleteLove this post. Never been to that part of the world - thank you for taking me there with you vicariously. :-)
ReplyDeleteVillage in the Vaucluse by Laurence Wylie is a classic. Wylie, an anthropologist, lived in Roussillon in the 1950s, before the town became so well know, before Parisians were building maisons secondaires there, and the book has much to say about culture, family, local politics, even (IIRC) some of the finer points of petanque. He gives the town the pseudonym Peyrane, but from the descriptions of the ochre cliffs, the real identity was obvious.
ReplyDelete