Anne-Marie Ruggeri

Every time we have stayed in Bonnieux I have always visited, at least once, the gallery and studio of two artists - Anne-Marie Ruggeri and Philippe Janin. Anne-Marie works mainly in pastels and Philippe in oils and they have very different styles, but their work always takes the landscape and the villages of this part of Provence as inspiration.

Their original pictures are breathtakingly beautiful, but are priced right out of our pocket. I do have one modest original bought for my birthday one year. It hangs in the house and I pass it every day, am reminded of the time spent here, and love it.

The other thing they do is produce books of their work. These are so beautiful. I already have two, bought over the years and today I was tempted by a new one. When I went to purchase it, Anne-Marie Ruggeri, who was in the gallery at the time, offered to do a sketch in it. So, for the next ten to fifteen minutes we watched mesmerised (as did others in the gallery) as she carefully but swiftly created in front of our eyes a lovely pen picture of Mont Ventoux and the surrounding landscape. Brilliant!

Here she is in the sketching process and yes, her hair is that colour.

If you are interested in their work, look here.

We leave here and head north tomorrow.