Le Chemin de Vaison La Romaine, ©John O’Grady
20″ x 20″ X 1.75″ oil on deep edged canvas, ready to hang.
Not For Sale
Vineyards nestle up to the wooded hillsides that surround the town of Vaison-la-Romaine where I live. Forests of Mediterranean shrubs, oaks and pines densely cover the hills.
Paths and narrow roads crisscross these forests. They were once the only tracks that linked one hilltop village to another.
I have been walking these trails for the last few years, getting to know the feel and atmosphere of these ancient paths ways, absorbing the silence and inhaling the scents of boxwood, wild thyme, mint and lavender.
This painting shows one such track that takes the ‘less trodden path’ between the Village of Séguret and Vaison. The eye is led past the dark pines slowly fading into the mist of twilight and becoming silhouetted against the glow of the clouds, through to the distant lights of the town peeking over the brow of the hill.
I’ve been away for a little while, traveling and on my return to Provence, I made this painting. A bit of distance probably worked its magic to bring it out of my mind’s eye.
I’d love to read what you feel about ‘Le Chemin de Vaison-la-Romaine’.
“Magic” is the word. This is a marvelous dreamscape, conveyed directly, it seems, from your heart to the canvas. I would say that it’s the path to a longed-for land, except that the land all along the path looks like paradise itself.
Thank you for bringing us into the olfactory landscape as well. The smells, the light, the trees dissolving in the distance — wow, John. This must be spectacular in person.
Hello Jo
It’s great to hear that the painting made a strong connection with you. What I always find surprising and refreshing is the density of forest and that quality of solitude it evokes, it is ‘spectacular’ and I am still finding ways to put that together in paint. Work in Progress!
Absolutely stunning!
Thank you very much Lisa
Good to have you back. And what a gorgeous dreamscape! Beautiful, to say the least. Thank you, John. We always look forward to your sharing of the “works in progress”!
Thanks ever so much Terry,
That is very kind of you to say. It’s always a great lift for me to have comments and supporters like you and Sandy
So so special John – just lovely and filled with a visual representation of what you express so well in words; I can see it but I can also smell and sense it too. The wonderful colour adds an air of mystery and suspense. Beautiful!
Hello Christine,
I would like to think that too, the ‘colour adds an air of mystery and suspense’ it has an otherwordly quality or ‘dreamscape’ as some have mentioned.
Glad to hear that it was also a sensory experience. Thank you very much for your comment.