Were a group of Quilters in france and the idea is to enjoy the ambiance of the historical and beautiful  – and possibly create something from those images.

No doubt the inspiration will stay with us for a long time.

We began the day with a trip to the local market…

We bought freshly roasted chickens and potatoes cooked in the bottom of the pan…(so healthy)

Oodles of strawberries, fruit of every kind…. expensive cheeses, and of course the obligatory bread and wine.

We borrowed rugs from our hotel and had a wonderful time chatting with the people in the market as we made the purchases.

Onto the bus and we drove through yellow fields of canola flanked by the tall green grass of almost ripe hay.

It was sensational…. then on to Monet's garden in Giverny France which is always an inspiration…

I moved slowly around the outskirts of the garden, looking at the light and composing images in my mind and then I shot the film.

I wanted to use the light to the best advantage.

I wanted to express the delicacy of the flowers….

How do you do that with 1000's of other people walking past….

I just blocked them all out and became absorbed in beauty.

I used a lens that would appear as if I had painted the image… and I am pleased with the results…. the flowers float in the image.

I try to re-create the color scheme using a color wheel in my computer…This image depicts an amazing color pallete.

I don't need to tell you how important color is to a person who creates an image in fabric…

How many times have I heard a student say….

"I'm not good with color"

Well, really it is all there for us if you take note of the small details.

This is a computer aided oil painting of my photo.

Monet was an impresionist…. is this how he would identify this image.?

With the visit to the gardens over, the food was produced from the bowels of the bus…. we sat by a small waterfall in a sunny field and had the most delicious lunch….

We even shared it with the occasional passers by.