A Garden Table

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This beautiful garden belongs to a friend of mine.  It is located on the edge of an area of France called the Correze, Dordogne. The home set in the garden is an old farmhouse and collection of barns all in a creative state of restoration.  My friend is a collector of vast amounts of crockery, French linens, strange statues, and rusty café chairs.  At times, the place resembles a film set that has been half constructed then abandoned.  Extraordinary chandeliers dangle above garden tables that may be set for an impromptu feast of champagne, grapes, and tomatoes.  

She is a cook and an artist, so food is not only often the focus of the day but also looks exquisite. Geese and tiny bantams wander in and out of the legs of statues or perch on upholstered Louis 14th chairs.  Wardrobes, full of antique linens, form mirrored walls around iron bedsteads and strange balconies offer ariel views of exquisite collections of white roses or banks of lavender.  It is a place of abundance.  I usually visit to paint at the start of autumn when the garden is overgrown after a long summer and the potager is overflowing with unpicked vegetables. 

It is an oasis surrounded by deep woods, so everything seems to have a backdrop of dark greens and a constant flickering dappled light.  As I paint there, I am conscious of so many different textures and patterns, leaf and petal, linen and china, rust and silk.  It has been the source of many paintings as every corner is a work of art.