"Paintings of Street Lights . . . all over!" Personal Page by Beausoleil

My latest streetlight painting. We were visiting the Rodin Gardens and I took quite a few photos of his "The Thinker" and immediately noticed this one as (1) containing a much-loved streetlight and (2) having an extra thinker in the courtyard near the statue. It was an irresistable subject, especially with the building on the other side of the entrance courtyard reflected in the window beside the second thinker (or the live thinker).

Bergheim, Alsace, France

It seems everyplace wants beautiful street lights and they all seem to be slightly different. We've even seen places that have rather homely and very useful street lights accompanied by lovely old fashioned beauties that are just for show.

This one is on the side of a house in Bergheim, a small village in the Alsace region of France.

Paris

Of course the street lights in Paris are beautiful. Everything in Paris is beautiful.

Sarlat la Canéda old town

Sarlat la Canéda is just north of the Dordogne River in southwest France. We drove through it often while sightseeing and spent a lovely day in the town walking through the Old Town. This street light is near the Goose Market in Old Town.

Sarlat is a beautiful town with lots of free parking. You follow signs to parking and then walk down into the Old Town where there are shops, restaurants, hotels, street performers and lovely old buildings . . . and a wonderful market.

Tourrettes-sur-Loup in France

We have stayed near this charming village several times and are always ready to return. Not only is the village a joy; the views from the village are nothing short of spectacular.

To do a search on Virtual Tourist, type Tourette-sur-Loup into the Search Window. For some reason VT spells it differently from the way the townspeople and the Michelin map people spell it. 8^)

Flavigny-sur-Ozerain

When we have an extra sightseeing day, we always look for one of the Plus Beaux Villages of France. Even out of season they seldom disappoint. Flavigny-sur-Ozerain in Burgundy is famous for its anise candies made at the local monastery and is a Plus Beau Village.

We wandered throughout the charming and very quaint village before succumbing to the candy tasting. I'm not fond of anise flavor, but the candies come in all sorts of flavors and you are sure to find one you like.

Domme in the Dordogne

We recently stayed in Cenac-et-St. Julien on the Dordogne River. This is the area known as the Perigord Noir and heart of the caves with prehistoric paintings. There are troglodyte homes and storage caves everywhere here in the hills.

Domme is on a hill above the Dordogne and you can see for miles in every direction. The village itself is stunning but the views are beyond belief. You can see a castle on every hill from here. This little tower is by a garden with views up the river to La Roque Gageac. We absolutely fell in love with the area and are planning to return next year with our daughter.

. . . and we just returned from our second trip to Le Perigord Noir. Loved it.

Ceret in the Pyrenees-Orientales

We were working on using up our Cathar Passes when we discovered Ceret deep in the Pyrenees. We stopped for the art museum where my daughter and I were horrified to have to leave our cameras and purses at the desk as we viewed the collection. My husband was allowed to keep his wallet as that didn't seem to be a threat to them. The collection was not worth the worry although everything was returned when we left.

The town, on the other hand, was delightful. There was a little stream running down the hill and several large gates with quaint scenes behind them. I spotted these folks watching the activity in the square and decided they were worth a painting. I moved the street light that was hanging directly over the archway and partly obscured. The square the people were watching was colorful and bustling with cafes and stores and people going about their lives. Lovely town . . .