Hi, this is Teena, just back from a wonderful, colourful, marvellous three weeks in France, the highlight of which was meeting up with my buddies in a little village in the French mountainside.
I’ve been dreaming about going to the French silk painting festival in Chambon-sur-Lignon for many years, and last year I decided it was time to put my money where my mouth is. I contacted my French silk artist friend Jacqueline in California, and we’ve been emailing back and forth to see if we really could get our act together and make this trip happen.
We did it! We booked our flights, our accommodation, and the emails got shorter, faster and more urgent as our departure dates grew closer! My departure from Australia was Friday 8th June, 2007 – woohoo!
Ten days before I left Australia, I was so excited to hear from Jean-Louis to say he and his wife France would be meeting us at the Aubijoux silk festival! What luck!
I was heading to Paris for ten days first, to catch up with friends and to visit the faaabulous fabric stores around Montmartre where I’d spent many an idle day in past years surrounded by the most exquisite silks …. ahhhhhhhhhh.
This visit was no exception, I popped into all my favourite stores and couldn’t help but notice Sacre Coeur which hovered above me up a steep incline.
My journey from Paris to Chambon-sur-Lignon in the south was colourful – a 2 hour TGV [very fast train] to Lyon, then another slower train to Saint Etienne, and then an hilarious bus ride through the winding roads and gorgeous little villages on the way to my destination.
How lucky was I to be on board the bus with one of my tutors-to-be, Lydie Ottelart, famous in France for her silk painting [as are all the Tutors [‘Professeurs’] who teach at Chambon-sur-Lignon].
I attended 4 different workshops over the next week, Jacquie attended 5, and Jean-Louis was the SPIN representative and gave wonderful presentations on his techniques and the art of silk painting.
Many conversations were had about silk artists around the world, and how we are all working alone but together to bring silk painting into the public eye. The opportunities and possibilities are endless – it’s up to each of us to do our best to make this happen!.
Pssst! More on this trip to follow soon!
