A Dab Here and An Accent There

Me and the girls at art class

Just past the halfway mark and on the downward slope of our 10 months abroad, the days seem to come and go unnoticed. (This post was written about 4 weeks ago)  Not quite sure where 6 plus months have gone but Paul Simon’s classic “Slip Slidin Away” comes to mind.  There is much that we have done.  Yet with so much more we want to do and see, we are ever so mindful of time marching by at an accelerating pace.  In the fall when routines and acquaintances were not yet established, there were days that seemed to drag on, moments when I scratched my head looking for ways beyond cycling to keep busy.

Pierre adding a dab here and an accent there

Nancy and I encouraged and in some ways pushed (ok maybe insisted) that the kids take up activities that they might not otherwise have tried back home.  Simona earnestly took up guitar and it’s been a real treat watching her come home all excited about some new artist or tune she was introduced to at class.  Wide-eyed and with a big grin on her face she came home after one class asking Nancy and I if we’d ever heard of AC/DC’s Highway to Hell as if it was some new tune that her out of touch parents couldn’t possibly have heard of.

Getting the lavender just right!!

Maddy on the other hand gave pottery classes a go before deciding it wasn’t quite her speed and is now enjoying weekly theatre and art classes.  Nancy started with one art class in September and is now fully immersed in two art classes per week and a sculpting class and wonders how she ever had time for dentistry.


As for me, after Simona broke her arm before Christmas, she had a few painting classes which were paid for that she couldn’t use so I decided to jump in and try my hand at painting.  As anyone who knows me is aware, I haven’t a creative bone in my body.  I literally struggle with drawing a straight line with a ruler.  I’m quite convinced that when my brain was developing the creative ingredients were omitted.  Nancy’s convinced that all the ingredients were somehow left out.  I can always count on my wife!!

Quite the bouquet!!

After 7 weeks of classes and one tableau under my belt, I’m quite enjoying my 2 hour weekly sessions.  Walking through an antique market I snapped a photo with my cell phone of a painting of a bouquet of flowers which I decided I’d take a stab at replicating.   While I wish I could take full credit for the finished product, I must confess that Pierre the eccentric instructor provided a dab here and an accent there.  Some shaping and definition to make the vase and table stand out and after 4 weeks I had my very own Monet I could be proud of. 

I’m on my way to finishing my second tableau, a typical paysage of a French lavender field, and am fully absorbed with the frustrations of ensuring my masterpiece captures the right colours, shadows, lighting and texture.  I could only laugh embarrassingly when I looked at the green and brown blob on my canvass which I had hoped would have some semblance of an olive tree.  ‘Pas grave, pas grave’ Pierre insists, as he takes my brush, sits in my chair and adds different hues of blue, silver and green to transform my ‘olive tree’ into an olive tree.  I will never look at an olive tree quite in the same way again.

Voila!!  My own Roc'noir

 And this in part is what Nancy and I had hoped these months abroad might offer - an opportunity for all of us to get out of our comfort zone and daily routines to try and explore new activities. 

Sal