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Choosing the right paper ... | |
 Moulin
de Larroque paper is an intrinsic aspect of my journey - natural, rough and sturdy.
This hand-made paper is not easily tamed; rather, like the landscapes I paint,
it is irregular and unpredictable. Day after day, on meandering paths, I trace
out my watercolour artist's road across this paper. I am a horseback rider, and
I came to love the wide open spaces on treks with the Habitarelle club and
foal transhumance with Louis Chardon, from the Lubéron to the Lozère.
Later, far from the beaten track, I went riding in Aragon with Frédéric
Siébold. For fifteen years, we wandered lost mule tracks in search of isolated,
abandoned hamlets, with the summit of Tozal de Guara as our landmark and the San
Urbes hermitage at Nocito as our base. This is a land of sierras and barroncos;
arid, infinite, sculpted by dizzying canyons and disturbed only by the rustling
shadows of vultures. Together with Philippe and Catherine Galzin, Chantal and
I explored the plateaux of the Lozère around Le Merlet, then travelled
through different Mediterranean landscapes - villages time forgot in Crete and
the Cyclades; windswept islands of azure decorated with white-walled houses. Further
on and further out, off the shores of Africa, we discovered the many faces of
the amazing island of La Gomera, and the calm of Lanzarote. Each time, this one-of-a-kind
paper is what I need to portray nature, whether untamed or fashioned through the
centuries by mankind ... | |