We reluctantly left La Rochelle, such a wonderful place, yet with Normandie as our destination and home how bad could it be. Spring is in the air, flowers are in bloom, and of course the lawn, thankfully quite small, needed mowing. But first a couple parting sketches from La Rochelle.
Friday morning I went for my morning coffee at a cafe next to the market, I always love the scene as the vendors are setting up. The market building houses permanent booths for meat and seafood, cheese and produce, and of course wine. Un café creme en dessinant un marché makes for a perfect morning.
In the afternoon, after a lot of walking and exploring, we stopped for a third time at Le Cafe Moliére on the corner of Rue du Minage and Rue Pas du Minage. (Mining Street and Not Mining Street – go figure.) We of course sat at a table on the sidewalk just across from Fountaine du Pilori, The Fountain of the Pillory. In 1447 underground pipes carried water to a well, that was accessed by climbing down almost eighteen feet of slippery steps. In 1711 the city built the existing fountain to make access to fresh water easier. Since it was a public place it also served as a place to bind convicts so as to be exposed to public humiliation. Thankfully for us we were free to leave, and only the occasional loud motorbike broke the peace, we enjoyed the parade of people in true French fashion.
That evening we sat in the courtyard of our hotel, Le Champlain. The wall was once part of a convent, the garden was quite peaceful for our evening repast.
We drove home on Saturday, stopping at a remote location near the village of Sévérac in the Loire- Atlantique department of France, to visit a place with special significance to our friends Jim and Shirley. Tricia took the photo, Shirley did the editing.
Back in the L’Orne department of Normandy spring has sprung, and with that the irises in our yard bloomed.
This time of the year bright yellow fields of Le Colza, canola plants, make the landscape even more beautiful. On our trip wisteria plants were amazingly beautiful. So wisteria and canola plants motivated a painting, with Neville adding to the ambience.
Most voyages are good, but some are better than others. Keep on traveling and sketching.
theTravelsketcher 
Lovely post and trip.
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Thank you, and yes it was.
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J’adore ! Merci énormément Quel talent Quel humour! Bonne continuation en Normandie Flo http://www.foodflo.com
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Merci ! Vous très gentile
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A very enjoyable post. 🙂
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This is so amazing! I have only ever sketched once during my travels – when the phone was out of my reach to get charged while I was at a restaurant! Your post is inspiring me to try that out..this time with colors..
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Yes you should! I wrote a small pdf book on travel sketching would send pdf to you if you wanted.
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Oh that would be awesome Terry! I’ll send you an email.
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Your illustrated essays are terrific. Neil S.
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Thank you so much.
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This posting offers SO much. First, there were great sketches of the La Rochelle morning market. And then we felt as if we were sitting with both of you at your cafe table by the sidewalk with so much life going on around you. And that very lush “special place” you kindly visited upon our behalf must make your followers wonder ‘what could be so special…?’ I can only say that it’s a small, compartmentalized thing. And finally, the last two watercolor sketches are lovely—the purple flowers and the one with Neville gazing out at the wisteria. Idyllic.
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It was fun tracking your place down. Thank you for the nice words on the paintings.
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Just got to this. Sounds like the perfect French experience. Wisteria! of course!
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It was quite nice, loved the trip
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What a great treasure of a blog to have found this morning. We will be in France in a few short weeks, and I was searching for La Rochelle (always my favorite place in France). Your sketches are wonderful – reminds me of my husband’s sketches. We will be riding our bikes from Amsterdam to La Rochelle, and I hope he will take the time to sketch some of our memories. I’ll be following. What art supplies do you take with you on the road?
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What a nice thing to say. I am so glad you enjoy the site.
Your trip sounds amazing, a bit too long for us though. Do you know your route as it appears you go not too far away from our part of the world.
I travel light, a lesson learned from 25 years on the road. My sketching kit is also quite sparse. A lot of folks carry way too much stuff. If you can get a arttoolkit pallet, (a search find it) it is the best and smallest pallet. I use a water brush almost 100%. I sketch with either a fountain pen or a pencil. If you look at my blog you will find multiple posts on what I carry. Contact me direct if I can help in any way.
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Thank you for the info. We have a route planned with stops in Normandy and Mont Saint Michel before we turn south to Nantes then Angers then to La Rochelle. We did a two month trip last fall from Amsterdam to Athens. Looking forward to following your blog.
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Going very close to our area, you will enjoy
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What a wonderful get-away you had. It was a pleasure reading about it. I always love your sketches… the small one of the irises was so charming!
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We have been blessed to see so much.
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