Sabine Werner is a recent transplant to Provence arriving with her family only in January 2014. However, she tells me that this region has long held her curiosity and is now inspiring her work. It is not that the sun never shines in Munich, Germany (Sabine’s birthplace) or Brisbane, Australia …

I’ve been thinking a lot about Uzès recently – walking, looking, taking photographs and looking at photographs. But there’s been more time spent staring at canvases on which I’ve tried to capture something of the essence of the town. From my studio I can see the Duché, the cathedral and …

Barbara Pitcher is a talented lady who can switch from fluent English to French to Italian to Spanish in the same sentence. As I discovered not only is Barbara linguistically gifted, she graduated from the University of Toronto in French and Italian language and literature, but she is also a …

Last week I was welcomed into the atelier of ceramic artist Martine Guimet located in the beautiful hilltop village of St-Saturnin-les-Apt. I must say that I am quite in love with her work. Martine makes plaques, tabletops and sundials out of lava stone from the volcanoes of the Auvergne region …

You can believe there was a lot of competition and jealousy among artists in Aix. In fact, the poster boy for Aix-en-Provence, Paul Cézanne, was spurned by fellow artist and curator of The Museum of Aix from 1892 to 1925, Henri Pointier. Pointier, who never excelled to the degree that …

The south is a world of light. Luminescent brightness is the first, clearest and most lasting impression it makes when you arrive, and its absence is what hits you when you go back north. For a painter, the challenge is somehow to evoke this world using colours and canvas. It’s …

By aixcentric There weren’t of course any cameras around in 18th century Rome, London or Venice but right now in Aix, we can get a fairly accurate view of what these cities looked like thanks to careful and colourful paintings by Antonio Canaletto. Although some of his work on show …

By aixcentric Have you seen the newly-razed ground next to the Rotonde where Cézanne has been left standing looking bemused and besieged by tourists wanting to pose with Aix’s famous son? I read that the town authorities are trying to decide what to do with the area. Well here’s an …

By aixcentric If you fancy giving your painting skills a boost, I can recommend from personal experience the Atelier Ombres et Lumieres in Les Milles. Owner and artist Muriel Moutel will be teaching one-week courses during July, for adults and ados. Muriel encourages her classes to start with interesting backgrounds …

By aixcentric Every June, there’s a must-visit exhibition in Aix from a talented local family – painter Jill Steenhuis, her sculptor husband Sergio Ruffato plus their son Serge, also a sculptor. Jill paints in an impressionistic style and usually takes her inspiration from Aix, the Sainte-Victoire and the countryside around …