Walking in Parc du Thabor

Where did August go? I am not done with summer just yet.

We have just arrived in Rennes, France for my watercolor workshop via the high-speed train from Paris. It is a terribly hot July Tuesday and we regroup in our lovely hotel with a cold drink, and do a little research about the city. Even though the sun and heat is blistering, we take off for a walk to Parc du Thabor, situated uphill at the highest point in Rennes. There’s plenty of shade and a chance to sit down and take our sunhats off. The people watching is great in the 18th-century-designed park.

The aviary, Parc du Thabor, Rennes

We enjoy this park so much that we return a week later—before our flight back to the U.S.—to explore more of it. Second time around we discover an aviary, a herb garden, plots and plots of dahlias in full bloom, and a nice cafe for crème glacée. Parc du Thabor makes for a great neighborhood park in this city that I fell in love with.

Now that it is September, I find that painting is still in vacation mode. I am enjoying looser brushwork and plenty of wet action…yet I allow details to creep in as I see fit, trying to learn to do without them. My goal for this painting was to convey that feeling of sun and shade on a really hot day in the park. ’Cause I’m not quite ready for summer to be over.

September 2016
Watercolor
Arches cold press, 300 lb, 14.25″ x 21.5″

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02 Sep This entry was published on September 2, 2016 at 12:03 pm. It’s filed under Home, landscape, Summer, watercolor and tagged France, Parc du Thabor, reasons to paint, Rennes, travel, travelling artist, vacation. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.