Aix-en-Provence, deux

Aix is the birthplace and home of the great Impressionist Cezanne. You can still see many of the actual views he painted. Since I was taking a writing and drawing class, I attempted to capture what I saw, just as Cezanne did. Some attempts were more successful than others.

Of course I was just using pastel chalks and oil crayons...a far cry from oils or water colors... Someday, I want to take a real painting class. This was not a class to teach us to write or draw, but rather to find our inner selves through meditation, writing and drawing.

One of the women in my class was one of the executive producers of last year's Oscar-winning documentary "Born into Brothels." She lives nearby in Winchester. What an interesting coincidence to go all the way to Provence thinking I wouldn't know a soul and meet someone who lives in the town next to me and who knew the whole story about Boston Regional Medical Center (aka New England Memorial Hospital...)! I have yet to go anywhere in the world and not find someone I either know, or who knows me or my family, or who knows one of the places I'm connected to...

Aix is a "walking town," which means that you can literally get anywhere in the city on foot without much effort. Many of the streets are "walking streets," without the worry of cars or trucks or buses. Every day, I walked anywhere from five to ten miles (depending on the day's homework). That was a huge luxury for me, as I never have that kind of leisure time here at home (nor do I have the beauty to explore where I live either...).

There are no supermarkets here in this town. You have to go out early in the morning to the open air markets and buy your food for the day/week. For me, the flowers were the draw as I didn't have the means to cook, but the fresh veggies and fruits were very tempting. I'm not sure what they do in the winter...if they still operate that way. That would not be charming! But I suppose you'd have do to whatever was necessary if you lived there full time...

I was fascinated by the doors I saw and attempted to capture a few of them in this drawing. I am not an artist, but I like to play around and enjoyed this study of two doors and a passageway... I wrote above the entry way "Passage to Life" because I really felt like this ten days gave me not only new doors, but a new passage into a life much more my own...