One of my favorite museums in Toulouse is Musee des Augustins. The museum is housed in a former Gothic convent with lots of rooms and winding passages to explore.  The cloister is a highlight of the museum for me personally as lining the sides of the cloister are gargoyles, brought down and exhibited at ground level to see up close and personal.

From Wikipedia:

In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building. The term originates from the French gargouille, originally “throat” or “gullet”;^[1] cf. Latin gurgulio, gula, and similar words derived from the root gar, “to swallow”, which represented the gurgling sound of water.

Today, after morning market, I’ll venture into Toulouse.  It is an hour’s drive through rolling fields of hay and beautiful vistas all the way to the Pyrenees (only about an hour and a half away).

Toulouse is an university town and is vibrant with lots of cultural activities, markets, flea markets, one of my favorite museums (more about that next week), loads of cafes, boutiques and a pedestrian-only central area called Le Capitole.

There are mosaics around the city, some hidden,  some easy to find, including at the  Museum of Contemporary Arts. The outside of the building is flanked by huge mosaics beautifully done.

Today’s events are a music and cultural festival called Rio Loco celebrating the cultures of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.  Should be very interesting and fun- I’ll let you know!

The Saturday market in Revel has been going on since the 14C. This market is one of the best in the region, has been designated one of the 100 Most Beautiful Markets in France and it does live up to that honor! Around the covered central square and spilling out onto the spokes(streets) off that square is a wealth, a cornucopia of beautiful seasonal fruits and veggies, breads, cheeses, pastries, meats, olives and tapenades and more- a feast for the body and eyes. Everything is artfully arranged and the pull to sketch and take photos cannot be ignored.

I’m planning to mix of palette of summer colors- the colors I see in the ripe apricots, tomatoes still on the vine, fresh ground spices and the beautiful white to green asparagus- this week and see what polymer clay goodies might come forth from this market inspiration!

I’m finally settling in and have created a small art studio space in my room (the large studio is already cleaned and set up for the upcoming classes). I’m ready to ignite my creative spark!

I do best with beginning, experimenting. exploring and playing if I set some small “tasks’ to focus on. For the next couple weeks I am making a simple drawing a day (pen and ink)-something that captures my eye- either inside the house or outside in the village.

And also a photo study exploring two of my camera settings- the macro lens and a setting I just discovered: a color setting that allows me to shoot in B/W, sepia, warm tones or cool tones. I didn’t know I had this option (I guess it pays to read the manual)!