Sat 26 May 2007
Roussillon is a beautiful village to visit with some great architecture and shops. Most of the buildings are an ochre color-hues of yellow, rust, brown, pink and gold-and it is lovely to behold. Roussillon was the main place to mine ochre used in paint and to dye cloth until a synthetic way to produce the color was found. The earth and rocks surrounding the village are various shades of ochre and you can see where alot of mining has been done. They even sell the colored dirt in jars and you can use it to paint with.
Here is one of the cliffs seen from the village.
This doorway is seen in many guide books of Provence. It has been freshly repainted from the old faded one that was there for years.
This very nice lady is the artist of the posters you can see in front of her. She lives in the building where she sells her art. I have one of her posters framed on a wall. Most of them are of Provence and the Roussillon area but she has branched out into paintings of Paris. The one behind her is of les Deux Magots on Blvd St Germain. No posters of those yet but I will buy one when there is.
A gate to a hill leading up to the chapel at the top and a very fabulous view.
May 26th, 2007 at 3:53 am
When I was there, there was a school group who had just toured the cliff area, and those kids were COVERED with the ochre: head to toe!
May 26th, 2007 at 4:38 am
I don’t live very far, but have never been. I’ll have to go.
May 26th, 2007 at 6:24 am
I love the first photo - it’s beautiful!
I wonder how the soil (is it soil?) came to be those colours?
May 26th, 2007 at 8:56 am
Linda, your Provence photos are especially stunning. I haven’t been to Provence in years and am starting to feel the need to go there again. Hope you are having a great summer (though it’s not really summer yet). Ken
May 26th, 2007 at 11:15 am
If you are interested in Roussillon, you might read “Village in the Vaucluse” by Laurence Wylie. It’s a sociological study of post-WWII Roussillon, disguised under another name. One chapter in particular, about the hunting club meeting & the newspaper report of the meeting, is great reading.
May 26th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
It is a lovely town - we had lunch there, on top of the hill - with some great ochre views!
I know the lady is an artist, but any of your own photos would make a nice poster!
May 27th, 2007 at 7:57 am
Reminds me a bit of Sedona, don’t you think?
May 27th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Stunning place. Stunning photos. Wish I was there.
Linda, have you been leaving comments for me recently. Reason I am asking is that there is not a link to reply. You may have purposed this of course, but then you may be unaware.
Keep those photos coming.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:26 am
The nearby hills provide a variety of nautral pigments to mix with paint. The colors of the “dirt” is really something wild isn’t it.
Of course the village is amazingly alive with color. Great views of the city of Ochre