Haunting the Chateau

A month in France at Chateau Orquevaux

[hauntingthechateau]

An incredible month in Orquevaux! A once in a lifetime experience that has touched me deeply. I love this place and I will love these people forever and cherish the memories we made here.

[hauntingthechateau]

Friday December 1st

Paris> Toronto

so far 5 degrees, partly cloudy.

Slept like a babe last night! Went to bed early (10:30) and was woken up by noise around midnight feeling already better and rested. Went back to sleep and slept through till 6 am when I got up, showered, got dressed, ate a croissant from the Chateau (that even days later was a better croissant than the one I had yesterday). I was out the door before 7 and headed to the metro.

Got my ticket, got on my train and headed to the airport. Was fined for not having the right ticket despite trying my best 🙄 No big deal, just honestly only 10 extra euros than actually buying the correct ticket.

Made it to the airport and did the whole big walk across the airport. Was easy enough to find the terminal. Got held up in security because I put my bag on top of my laptop instead of behind it... definitely not on my A game today 😅. The more I travel, the more I learn. The one thing I do know about travel though is arrive super early, so none of these issue really stressed me out much.

I hit the dutyfree for Champagne and Cognac. Grabbed an iced tea to stave off any caffeine withdrawal, knowing that I'll be sleeping most of the flight anyway (hopefully).

Arrived at my gate with about 2 and a half hours to spare, so I took the time to apply to the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, the application for which opened at 6AM Paris time. Got that done and still had time to start on my journalling. Going to read for an hour now and hope my cramps give me a break because they're giving me hot flashes and its already wayyyy too warm in here.

Boarding went quick, I loaded in to the back of the plane first. Got stuck on the runway for half an hour, but I had a book so I wasn't really bothered. Watched Flight of the Concords and a couple comedy specials and dozed with a 10 hour gravol in my system. Food was good, shoutout to the absolute CHUNK of Camembert with the hot pasta lunch and the beef and potato hand pie. Landed in Toronto and made it through customs pretty fast, grabbed my checked bag and hopped on the UP train. Christian was nice enough to grab me from the station and drive me home.

Got a quick change of clothes, pet the heck out of Shrew, admired fresh baked pie and headed back to Christians house for wine and pizza (and Prunelle!) with Aurora and Elisabeth. A wonderful welcome home!!!

[hauntingthechateau]

Thursday November 30th

Low of 2 high of 6. Mix of sun and clouds.

Paris

Woke up this morning with a bit of a tummy ache. Had a shower and got out the door in good time. Hit up a patisserie that was recommended to me, but honestly the croissants weren't that good (despite the lineup of locals at 8am). There was a cute market setting up out front, so at least I got to see that. Walked down to the Seine and had a croissant in a rose garden looking across at Notre Dame... didn't finish the croissant. Needed to search out caffeine anyway, so I just went to the Paul close by and sat down with a tea and a slice of pizza (breakfast of champions). Enjoyed reading my book before heading to my 9:30 appointment at Sainte Chapelle.

Mega security, they took away my good bottle opener but I made a really sad face and the security guard agreed to hang on to it for me instead of throwing it away. The chapel was beautiful as always, but as with so many french churches, so confusing what is victorian and what is medieval. The stained glass windows at least are (mostly) original. Such a breath taking room, I always forget the sheer scale of the windows. Just MASSIVE!

Got my bottle opener back and hmm'd and haw'd over whether or not I should go to the Conciergerie, which I bought the combined ticket for along with the chapel. Almost didn't go, but SO GLAD I DID! There was the best use of AR that I've ever seen in a museum. The first two rooms were all about 14th century feasts and cooking!!! I was pleased as hell! The rest of the museum was meh, a lot about the prison during the french revolution and Marie Antionette. Still good though!

I was finished with all my solid my plans for the day by 11:30AM, so went on a stroll. I had planned on doing lunch then the musee D'orsay, but on a whim headed straight for the Louvre and walked right on in! Started with Medieval decorative arts section which is backwards to how I usually do the museum and it was fun. By lunch time (by 2:30 even) I was starving and had to forcibly extricate myself from the museum to find food.

Grabbed a sandwich and wolfed it down in the lobby before heading to the BUSY WING. I was stressed but it honestly wasn't that bad. However, at this point my feet started to really hurt. Saw everything I wanted to before dipping. Sat in the gardens for a while with my feet up, but it was getting cold so I headed back to the Latin Quarter.

Dropped by the liquor store and picked up some Genepi. Wandered down to Shakespeare and company where the prompt "I want an old, small book I can take camping" got me a cheap lil thing. My stomach and feet were bothering me enough at this point that I headed to the grocery store for a baguette for dinner and then back to my hotel room. The baguette treated me right at first, but by the end of the night my stomach was really hurting again, so I'm glad I didn't go out. Lots to do between packing and journaling and planning and reading anyway. I saw so much today. I'm glad I went out last night. I've got an early morning tomorrow.

[hauntingthechateau]

Wednesday November 29th

Orquevaux>Paris

Low of -2 high of 8. Sunny 🥹

Woof.

Stayed up late packing last night after a night of drinking, the sleep was not primo. Woke up in the middle of the night to pee, hard time getting back to sleep. In the morning I finished packing my toiletries and cleared out my bedroom. Had a good cry. Packing always does it for me.

Headed to my studio, it was frosty this morning with a heavy ist and it was absolutely beautiful. A nice way to say goodbye to this magical place. and started packing all my art and supplies. A bit of a scramble. Went up for breakfast and closing remarks. I was pretty stressed about time given that we were leaving at 1:50. Sylva helped me (both physically and emotionally). Went to ship things with Beulah at the gatehouse and ran into some real technological problems that set us back an hour that made me REAL stressed about the time. By the time we were done I only had time to run up the hill, take my gravol and throw a sausage roll in my mouth while hugging people goodbye.

Made it to the train in time (and thank god for that gravol), Dozed most of the way to Paris which helped with the lack of sleep, but did leave me pretty drowsy when I finally arrived. Hugged everyone goodbye and grabbed a cab to my hotel (easier with all the luggage) and AGAIN was thankful for the remaining gravol in my system because WOOF that driver really wasn't sold on the concept of lanes and rush hour traffic was a lot.

Made it to my hotel around 6, checked in and brought my luggage up to my room in the SMALLEST ELEVATOR I HAVE YET ENCOUNTERED. I barely fit in it. my shoulders touch the walls. Its hard to turn around. Its charming AND terrifying.

Room is small, but all I need as a solo traveler. The bathroom is barely separated from the bedroom, but theres a whole balcony that I wasn't expecting which is really nice (I'm writing from there now). Didn't know what to expect from this hotel, I booked it mostly for the location and price, but the reviews were a little mixed and some of the photos were pretty bleak, I was surprised that my room was freshly renovated, but the cleanliness leaves something to be desired and the attention to detail is a little lacking (toilet paper holder? towel rack?). Wishing I had another couple pillows, but c'est la vie.

Felt pretty crappy and tired, but forced myself to go out for dinner and thought 'fuck it' I'll go to that cute restaurant tonight; its at least close to my hotel. Le Petit Chatelette is right next to Shakespeare and company and right across from notre dame in the goddam cutest little house ever. When I arrived there was only a small group, myself and 2 other solo diners. The kind of service where the maitre de pulled out the table for you and tucks you in, then brings over the chalk board with the day's menu on it. I managed to not speak a lick of english in the restaurant and the waiter (who I think might have been the owner?) thanked me for my efforts. I got a braised rabbit thigh with mashed potatoes (and a baguette obviously), the house red (which was nice for 4 euro) sparkling water and for dessert the dessert du jour which was a tiramisu. There was meet cooking in the open hearth behind me. It sounded and smelled incredible and the food was great. The rabbit especially fell right off the bone.

I did such a good job being a good good french girl, I took myself for a walk through the latin quarter and then to Castor Club for a drink. Really small place, unmarked outside, inside just the bar with wood paneling, cute lamp shades and old country music and french rockabilly and swing. Great atmosphere. My first drink was a fun mezcal drink that was SO BITTER. I think the bitters plus the DOUBLE lime peel really did it. For my second drink I got to chatting with the bar tenders about drinks and spririts and whats good in Paris and France and what I should bring home. I had a genepi and calvados cocktail for my second drink (with a house shrub, fee brothers bitters and egg white). and the bartenders helped me narrow down where to drink tomorrow and where to buy myself some genepi (and maybe some chardonnay barrel aged calvados??). A really great night. Wove around through the Latin Quarter for a while after that and made my way organically back to the hotel. Another really exceptional location for this one; this is how Paris should be experienced.

[hauntingthechateau]

Tuesday November 28th

high of 6, low of -1 cloudy with snow

Open studio day. hung labels in the morning then spent the day going from studio to studio, starting at the chateau, then the stables then the cellar.

Wine and cheese followed.

Dinner.

We drank into the night.

I will miss this place.

I will miss these people.

[hauntingthechateau]

Monday November 27th

Low of 0 high of 6. SNOW! (and lots of wintery mix)

Big push to finish everything and get things into hanging order.

Finished paintings in the AM and then tidied, sorted art supplies for return/donation to the cellar.

Over lunch started naming my works so that I could have labels made.

Ran out of things to do and tossed off another painting and a half (figured it would be nice to show different stages of progress).

Dinner was cheddar biscuits, chicken ginger curry, eggplant parmesan and cauliflower gratin. I didn't take a photo. Dessert was chocolate mousse.

After dinner was tattoo time! I gave up my time slot with Sylva to Caroline and I'm glad I did, the tattoos were perfect and were so Sylva. I spent the evening in Caroline's rooms hanging out while the tattoos went down. It was nice :)

Headed to bed all ready for the open studios in the morning!

[hauntingthechateau]

Sunday November 26

Low of -1 high of 4. Cloudy.

Today went to plan! I really got down to work on finishing the larger paintings. The nude took longer than I would have liked (they always do) and I ended up taking it in a direction I hadn't planned, painting in all the drapery and hair not entirely loosely. I finished the 12x12" between waiting for things to dry, really good time management.

I'm really going to miss my breakfasts here. a cut open croissant with an assortment of cheese and salami, drizzled in honey. A boiled egg and maybe a clementine or banana on the side. And maybe a croissant for later in case I get snacky or decide to skip lunch.

My whole day was painting. I started a good audiobook that made it all fly by. Again had to drag myself away for dinner.

Dinner was green salad, cucumber salad, chickpea salad and some magical casserole that was like scalloped potatoes with bacon, but had full wheels of soft cheese baked on top. Took a double serving of that and skipped dessert (a nice looking chocolate cake/brownie).

Went back to the studio after dinner and got to finishing things! Spent a couple hours painting and got things to the REALLY ACTUALLY ALMOST FINISHED stage, so that I can finish them in the morning.

[hauntingthechateau]

Saturday November 25th

High of 3, low of 1. Cloudy.

Quiet day yesterday, just pushing to get the last bit of artwork done. Had a bit of a tummy ache, but it got better as the day went.

Trying desperately not to waste all my painting time reading books, but I'm really into my book right now! Reading it while walking up and down the hill, while eating breakfast and lunch (while Lorine brings me a SECOND piece of pie for lunch), while waiting for a layer of paint to dry (when I could just be working on another painting) and while resting my feet from standing and painting.

The good news is that I have the second layer on 2/3 of the paintings and all I have left to do is the final layer on the nude and then finishing for all three paintings (which I think is going to be fast and loose). Tomorrow is the final full day of painting and I intend to finish everything I can today, maybe even come down to paint after dinner in hopes that I can have more time the day after to photograph, sign and strip down my studio into gallery mode.

We had a literary salon at 5 today, which was impossibly hard to tear myself away from the paintings for, but I'm glad I did because it was wonderful hearing writing, poems and music from everyone.

Dinner was green salad, shrimp salad, zucchini salad, stuffed tomatoes provencal, tomato barley and a DELICIOUS baked turkey casserole thing (cheese and tomatoes and just YUM)! Dessert was a pie tart.

I convinced myself that I would go down to my studio, finish my book and then paint, but I only got as far as finishing my book 😅

Went home, bought the next book in the series, read until bed time

[hauntingthechateau]

Friday November 24th

high of 8, low of 2. Sunny at times, scattered showers.

Woke up at 9:30 and was about to roll over to further sleep off my hangover, but had the thought "hmm... what day was that mandatory meeting?" and yep, of course it was today! I managed to get dressed, made up and have breakfast before the meeting, which I consider to be a great feat.

Talked about the details for the open studio next week, as well as packing and departures. I don't have much to set up or change for open studio because I work in a pretty tidied and put together space already, but was happy to learn that I'll be leaving a day early with at least 5 other people.

Headed down to the studio and got the first layer on my canvas 12x12" done. Had a big thanksgiving leftover lunch and borrowed a torch from the kitchen and (finally!) burnt a painting! I think I might have been a little too timid with it and should have pushed it further, but it was fun and I intend to do it again some time!

Ran into a man from the village walking around the property with pictures of the original chateau before it was torn down in the 80s(?). Karima translated for me and apparently there was a push to have the building recognized as a historical site, but they couldn't get enough people for in the vote. Very sad! He said he was a mason and the masonry of the building was spectacular.

I started in on the big 30x40" nude but it was like pushing wet rope for a while. Having to stand while painting the top bit really wore on me after two days in falling apart fancy shoes (I think they're finally dead now, rip) and because I'm me, I /gotta/ work on a painting from top down. Late afternoon I poured myself a negroni and put on an opera podcast and everything finally clicked into place and I started making real progress on the painting. I don't know if it was because it's a full length and not a portrait, or if its the size, but I really had to switch modes to get there. Unfortunately I was well in the swing of things when it was time to go up for dinner: a shame!

Dinner tonight was roast beef, french fries, avocado and corn salad, white beans and leftover canapés. Dessert was leftover pies (although that delicious pecan was all gone!).

Headed home early (got a ride from Josh) and turned in to read a book for a good few hours... still had to tear myself away from it to go to sleep before midnight.

[hauntingthechateau]

Thursday November 23rd

High of 6, low of 0. Cloudy and misty, but no rain.

Thanksgiving!

Oh gosh, thanksgiving. Lets see if I can sit down and even remember the whole day 😅

Had a walk around the grounds after breakfast outside. Read my book down by the pond for a while before heading into the studio.

Pretty well finished my wall of paintings (save for the burnt one which I'm gonna do tomorrow) and even started a little crackle painting and finished it in one sitting.

Made time for a little photoshoot with Missy around the grounds in my little lad outfit (ie my victorian cycling suit). We had a blast and the photos I saw looked really wonderful.

After some more work I went home to get ready for thanksgiving dinner! Everyone dressed up and it was so nice seeing everyone glowing and put together! Missy was sweet enough to take our "prom photos" on the stairs ❤️ Loved the number of us all coordinating our black outfits 🖤

We had champagne and canapés in the salon to start off the evening. The Chateau staff were all here and brought their families and for the first half of the night it was pretty segregated, but by nights end.... haha

Dinner was a whole big perfect feast that all the chefs worked on together all day long. Pumpkin soup, green salad, roast potatoes, green beans with almonds and bacon, brussels sprouts with balsamic vinegar, sweet potato puree, cornbread, roast turkey and roast chicken! For dessert we had pumpkin pie, pecan pie and apple pie with fresh whipped cream!

We also opened up a bottle of french wine from 1975! a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru from Chateau Gran Barrail Lamarzelle Figeac! It was a beautiful wine and the age brought out some fun flavours in it as well as mellowing out the tannins and by God! I really enjoyed it!

After dinner I retired to the Salon as things started getting noisy and whipped off another friendship bracelet. As the wine continued flowing, things got louder and the real party (all the French) spilled into the salon. With the party came Génépi (an incredible french digestif akin to Chartruese). There was dancing, lots of great conversation and got to know some of the staff here better. By the time I retired I was drunk off my ass and it was 1:30.

Turned off my alarms and hit the hay (after chugging an obscene amount of water and munching some saltines). No reading before bed tonight!

[hauntingthechateau]

Wednesday November 22nd

Sunny morning into the afternoon! High of 6, low of 0!

A bit of an all over day. The sun was beautiful and shining this morning, but it was a chilly one. I still sat outside in the sun and read a bit to try and soak up the rays.

The construction at the stables really reached a breaking point today and I think everyone's nerves were absolutely shot. I don't know if it was the sledgehammer happening directly above my studio reverberating in my space and making the walls shake, or if they were using some solvent or something but I had a pounding headache all day. The excavator digging into the cliff directly outside Karima's window had her terrified and then knocked down the remains of the 18th century chateau to boot. Caroline's studio was full of sewage gas from all the workers using the tiny crappy stables bathroom and the noise from the excavator and dumptrucks was constant. This is far from the first noise we've had, but it's gotten worse and worse and today was pretty unbearable. I had to go for a couple walks to get away from it and was generally finding excuses to be outside of my studio... not exactly conducive to work. The work that I've been doing the past couple days could have been done in one day if not for all these interruptions. We've all been offered a bottle of wine for putting up with it which I appreciate, but it doesn't really change the situation. Hoping its quieter tomorrow and I can get some better work done since the end is fast approaching (spoiler alert, I'm working on this the next day and its far from quiet).

I had lunch outside and being away from the noise and enjoying the fresh air helped some. Took an afternoon break to read a book and have a drink hoping that would dull the headache some. In the end I did get a few paintings done.

Dinner tonight was pizza three ways (tomato, goat cheese and capers, cheese and bacon and tomato and onion), peas and carrots, cauliflower gratin and a beautiful fall apart stewed pork. For dessert was egg creams <3

After dinner Karima got us all together to make thanksgiving hand turkeys. The wine flowed and we had a great time doing our little crafts.

I went home around 11:30 but oops stayed up late reading my book. Set my alarm an hour back to let myself sleep in.

[hauntingthechateau]

Tuesday November 21st

cloudy by no rain! High of 9 low of 7.

Not much going on today, just getting work done! Juggling 10 paintings putting on a layer of paint or medium or gold and letting it dry and working on another painting. Kept my mind active and engaged. Dusty came and sat with me for a good while again today, he's taken a liking to my studio and I appreciate the company especially because UNLIKE SHREW he doesn't try and dunk his little paws in my paint water or shed directly into my paintings. He's here for the comfy chair and the radiator.

Work started on the laneway today which has been pretty loud: backhoe, bulldozer, dumptruck etc. Not quite sure how we'll get out of our studios if they pave it while we're here. Guess I'll find out.

Talking to Sylva about a handpoke tattoo while I'm here. Trying to decide between a couple things, but looking at the weekend after work.

Dinner tonight (which I forgot to take a photo of!!!) was salmon, mushroom soup, ratatouille and fig, onion, eggplant and goatcheese quiche. Dessert was passionfruit pie. Delicious!

Wanted to play a game and have some fun after dinner, but seems like everyone is in work mode so I wandered back home and finished my book.

[hauntingthechateau]

Monday November 20th

Sun and clouds and rain and wind (we've got it all) high of 11.

Went to see inside the church today after breakfast. Raining on and off with some good winds. Church was built at the same time as the modern chateau, but in the neo gothic style. Some nice stained glass and statues, but damn all these french churches are missing a good altar piece or giant crucifix. On the walk back I came across the official trails sign for the two big hikes around here. One 2 hour hike up the Cul du Cerf and one 5 hour (!) hike around to all the different towns in this area, seeing a serious of 4 statues of the Virgin Mary. They had listed horseback times on each and I feel like that would be a really great horseback ride. (or gravel bike!)

Dusty followed us down to church and then must have followed me back to my studio, because after I had been working for a bit, I heard a small little meow from my door and when I opened it a very soggy Dusty sauntered in. After making a circuit around the room, he settled on the chair, groomed himself briefly and fell asleep. I got the last of the portraits done on my main back wall, so I'm starting into the hair lines, backgrounds and finishing. Dusty left for a bit, but came back again and requested to be let in, so that he could hop up on my radiator and warm himself. Come time for lunch I had to convince him to come with me.

At lunch I asked Chef Marie is there was hunting today, and upon her saying no I spontaneously decided I'd do one of the hikes! I was not prepared and had to do some running around to get my bag, get some water and then head out. I had sun when I was leaving, but it rained on and off for most of my walk. The hike is very well signposted, with markers that mean 'trail', 'not the trail', and 'trail turns here'. I used Alltrails as well for a map and for elevation etc and I'm glad I checked it because the comments mentioned that the trail markers try to lead you through a very angry farmer's private property... I detoured around the road for the way home which is a shame and much less scenic, but I didn't know how else to avoid the farmer's land.

The hike was beautiful in that way that European wilderness is beautiful and I'm glad I went. The first half of the hike was all beside the river which was (flooding) and beautiful and green and so clear. Walking alongside a lot of little farms, then along private property and then passing a water station, into the woods proper. Had to go through one pretty deep puddle where the river was flooded and through/under/around some pretty big blow downs, but in general it was a pretty easy trail (although I'm going to feel the 180m elevation gain for days in my legs)! The look out at the top of Cul du Cerf was magical and unfortunately quite unphotogenic! There's a HUGE drop with what looks like the start of the river in the valley. The walk back went through a nice forest, but then was mostly roads all the way home. This trail would have been perfect on a gravel bike, although that climb would have sucked.

When I finally got home I was absolutely spent and HUNGRY but too tired to climb up the hill to get a croissant. After sitting for a while, I did manage to get up and finish a little bit of work before dinner.

Dinner tonight was delicious: Chicken caesar salad, lentil soup, penne with tomato sauce, potato roasties with garlic, goat cheese and onion, SUPER flavoured turkey and cheese and olive muffins. Dessert was tiramisu! Everything went down nice with some naproxen! I stayed a little late and had a glass of absinthe with Stacy before heading home to watch taskmaster with Craig, almost falling asleep during the last task.

Slept like a baby.

[hauntingthechateau]

Sunday November 19th

A beautiful sunny day!!!! High of 15

The sun was threatening to peek out from behind the clouds first thing! My walk up the hill was beautiful with the light. Brought myself a cappucino down to the stables (which is more like a cafe mocha and I even I couldn't resist the full caf version) and got work work! I'm really making my way through this bunch of paintings with impressive speed... I guess that's what happens when you're working 10 hours a day!

Did laundry today, so lots of running back and forth from studio to house in progressively fewer and fewer layers while soaking up that sun!!! Facetimed my mom and gave her a house tour, studio tour and look at the Chateau before grabbing lunch.

What a beautiful day, so hard to make myself paint! I'd love to go for a hike, but it's boar hunting today, so no walking in the woods. Again our studio group at the stables ended up hanging out outside in the courtyard just because it was so nice out and we didn't know what to do with ourselves!

The sun was so bright coming into my studio it made it difficult to paint! But I trucked through and got even more than I had planned finished today! I did discover that the mystery gesso that I found in the cellar is fucking up a bit... specifically on the women of colour where it was applied more thinly, any fresh application of paint is stripping off previous layers and its driving me nuts! I'm going to have to just do a bunch of looser layers until I've fully sealed all the gesso in under multiple layers so I can finish them. What a mess. At the least I've got an americano cocktail to sweeten the deal a little. I bought this /not/ Campari (shampari?) at the grocery store and it's been making great drinks.

Walk up the hill the moon was so bright it was shining through the clouds and looked like a painting.

Dinner tonight is roast potatoes, eggplant gratin (kinda like an eggplant parmesan), turkey stew, couscous salad, carrot slaw and flan pie.

After dinner Stephanie got us all the goods for making friendship bracelets and a bunch of us sat together and made bracelets well into the night. Steaphanie made me one but mine is taking a good long while and isn't finished yet!

Headed towards home. Read a whole bunch in bed and played the new word game I keep hearing people talking about "Grubbins" Has a fun feature where you can design a picture to share your successes, very fun. I stayed up too late reading but eventually made myself put my book down and go to sleep. On to tomorrow!!!

[hauntingthechateau]

Saturday November 18th

Cold and drizzling with a couple downpours, high of 10 low of 4

Got up at regular time and headed straight to the Chateau to grab an early breakfast. The last of the sunrise was coming down so despite the damp I sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful misty morning. Dusty came and sat with/on me for a while and gave me a brief fight when he decided my braid might be a cat toy. I did my journaling on my phone while I waited for our ride to Troyes.

A pleasant train in (about 50 minutes) and I read a book on it. Arrived and as I walked away from the train station I fell more and more in love with Troyes! It looked at first like a typical french town, but then the closer you got to the old centre, there were old half timber houses everywhere! I zoomed my way to see the three main churches first Église Sainte-Madeleine, Basilique Saint-Urbain and Cathédrale Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul. Sainte-Madeleine had a beautiful 16th century rood screen that was just magnificent! Sadly, even though all these churches were built in the 13th century, they don't really have any medieval art in them 😔 Saint-Pierre did have a room of relics and treasures, some medieval, but very few. I think for medieval sightseeing, Italy is still definitely the place to go.

Hit the Hôtel de Vauluisant before lunch (things close for lunch here), a small public history museum with some 16th century paintings, sculpture and stained glass, and then the second half of the museum dedicated for Troyes having been the Hosiery manufactory capital of France for a good while. Small museum, didn't take too long in it.

Headed to the Reulles des Chats next and AHHHHHH its all just cute I just want to live in this part of town and weave through all the adorable little alleyways and eat the wonderful food and AHHHHH I love it here! Met up with Genna for lunch and ran into Claudio who joined us. Chose a place in advanced knowing it has ample outdoor dining. Had a wonderful beef tartare provençal with goat cheese and herbs and a side of shoestring fries and a beer. Really perfect lunch, we parted ways and went off to do more of our own things.

Maison de l'Outil was up next for me, a large 1550s half timber residence and garden that has been turned into a museum of handtools! Really interesting concept for a museum and the displays were GORGEOUS, I only wish they were a little better labeled (although nothing was older than 1600, so whatever). Nothing was in English so I was using google lens to translate everything which drained my phone, so by the end of the museum I was just looking at things. Pretty to look at though and a nice building to boot!

Wandered around for a bit before heading to a bar to sit down, enjoy a beer and charge my phone before it was time to go back to the train. Eve joined me near the end and we headed back to the station together, where we ran into everyone else.

Train ride back was quiet and quick, made it back home to the Chateau around 6:30 where we loitered until dinnertime.

It was Missy's birthday today, so tonight we celebrate!!! For dinner lasagne, green salad, chickpea and avocado salad and cabbage, orange and hazlenut salad. I ate sooo much salad, but that lasagna is the real star, the bechamel sauce and the meat sauce don't fuck around and the pasta is thick and chewy and tastes fresh 🖤 For dessert of course we had cake!! Tonight a beautiful three chocolate mouse cake with a crispy wafer layer that was just FANTASTIC! Straight from the patisserie this one! I sat with Missy at dinner and talked and talked and talked well after dinner. Chef Lorine caught me mooning over the plate and sent me home with a couple slices for a midnight snack 😈

Walked home with my cake and had a good read before bed. 10/10 day. Face hurts from smiling.

[hauntingthechateau]

Fri Nov 17

Took breakfast down to the Stables (egg in pocket, cheese in napkin, croissant in mouth).

Did my journaling and got to reading the responses from the open studio yesterday. The constructive criticism was mostly things Ive heard before (work bigger, try modern women, don't deface them etc) but the encouraging ones were nice, especially the ones praising my work ethic, talking about the effect of them hung as a group and most helpfully, almost quoting my new artist statement before even reading it (it's working!!!!!). With all those good vibes I started painting for the day! Jumping into some second layers on pieces and even starting on finishing some others when the inspiration strikes.

Went up for lunch and after, grabbed a glass of wine threw on my nose canceling headphones with some Bohren and der Club of Gore on and read all the writers samples and left feedback. Actually a pretty nice way to spend a chunk of the afternoon.

Sun attempted to show its face while I was INSIDE BUSY WORKING🙄 but we had a beautiful and foggy evening and I took many pictures.

Dinner tonight was steak frites with green beans, corn and avocado salad, cabbage soup and "snail" pastries. Dessert was an incredible apple crumble with saffron ❤️❤️❤️

Great conversations over dinner and I was back home afterwards and read a good long time in the living room and then I'm bed even longer. Had to make myself set down my book so I got a good rest for my trip to Troyes tomorrow!!!

[hauntingthechateau]

Thursday November 16th

High of 10, low of 6, mostly rain, varying from mist to downpours.

Today is Progress Studio! So I'm spending most of the day doing what I can to get as much work done as possible. Quick pain aux chocolat and egg for breakfast and then I'm back down the hill and hopping in! My main goal for today was get the first coat of paint on the portraits on my main gallery wall (4 in total, two large).

Grabbed a quick late lunch and cracked open a beer. Finished the final first layer on the gallery wall before I even finished my beer and decided to at least get a little bit of paint on one of the big canvas pieces with a bit over an hour left before we were to meet in the Salon.... Actually ended up getting the whole base done on one of the two big ones (even though I kept pointlessly refusing to put out more paint on my palette, handicapping myself)!

Headed up the hill to the salon for the start of the progress studio~! We started with the writers sharing how they've been using their residencies (lots of shared themes, lots of trees), then we headed down the hill as a group to the stables to see everyone's work! I was too deep in it to remember to take photos of anyones' studios 😅🙄 but left feedback for everyone! It was great to see the studios of those people who I haven't yet seen, including Josh and Susan in the Stables! Headed back up the hill again and made our way through the remaining studios before retiring to the salon to discuss each others' art and give feedback (with a plethora of wine and cheese provided by our hosts). It turned into a great evening of really getting into everyone's work and having good art discourse.

The talk spilled into dinner as well, and dinner was creamy tomato soup, risotto with peas, sautéed vegetables, chicken breast in a creme forêt sauce and crêpes made with a local flour(?) served with bechamel, cheese and mushrooms. Dessert was a creme caramel. We were all absolutely stuffed, in part from the pre-dinner cheese.

The dining room is always so loud after dinner, so I escaped to the Salon and found Stephanie who I talked to at length and traded a bunch of book recommendations with. This just drove me to run home and read. Had a cozy evening in and was struggling to keep my eyes open by 10:30. Should have started my reading in the living room!!!