The Canal de la Robine near Narbonne in France

Canal de la Robine, Narbonne, France

This is the Canal de la Robine in the Languedoc-Rousillon region of France. In Narbonne, the canal is very densely built-up and urban, but just outside, it is very quiet.

My aim here was to capture the morning light shining through the February leaves. The oil paint is used very thinly, almost like watercolor to get a luminous effect.

36”w x 24” h
Oil on canvas

$950.

Jardins de la Fontaine, Nimes, France

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Nimes is a beautiful city in southern France. It has two world famous sites; the Vieux Carré, which is the most perfectly preserved Roman temple in the world, and the Arena, which is a Roman coliseum. We were wandering around the city, catching its other sites, and climbed through a park called the Jardins de la Fontaine. About halfway up to hill, I saw this scene, which seemed so quintessentially French, that I had to paint it.

My aim was to capture the long shadows creating violet stripes across the path and the Frenchness of the pink stucco house

Oil on canvas
28”w x 22”h

$850.

Canal Boats in Narbonne, France

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This is the Canal de la Robine, which I have painted in other views. Here, right in the middle of Narbonne, the canal boats were moored along the banks, and the low winter sun made long shadows. The French love to torture trees into artificial shapes and the plane trees in Narbonne are the same as those in Cape May, New Jersey, but trimmed into urban decorations.

Oil on canvas

28”w x 22”h

$850.

Carcassonne II, France

Castle of Carcasonne, Languedoc, France, Impressionist cityscape/landscape

Carcassonne is a castle town on a hill in southwestern France. In the 1200s, the Pope and the king of France agreed to conquer this part of France. The locals were Langue d’Oc speaking Cathars. The Pope declared Cathars to be heretics and the French and Papal forces killed millions of Frenchmen. France got vast new territories and the Pope got to kill off millions who wouldn’t accept his authority. The fortified city of Carcassonne still survives from that period.
This is one of two small paintings of Carcassonne. I was trying to capture the otherworldly, medieval look if the town in late February.

Oil on canvas
16” x 20”

$700.