Animansouis

One of the joys of being in Sud-Luberon are the weekly croquis drawing classes in Ansouis. Or classes is maybe not the right word, because we do not really have a teacher. We just hire a model, meet and draw for two hours, accompanied by classical music and, in true French style, have some bottles of wine and eat snacks. Thus the whole thing also functions as an “apero” before dinner. But the main thing is drawing.

The whole thing was started just a little more than a year ago, and has become a real success. Even in the quiet of winter there have never been less than ten participants, and now that the season is slowly starting again and the seasonal birds are returning we were close to twenty last Wednesday. The participants are a mixture of professional, semi-professional artists and happy amateurs, and it all works very well. Everybody is enjoying the opportunity of working together like this, and everyone is very supportive. The area is full of artists who are interested in hiring models, so there seems to be no shortage of people who do modeling.

There will be an exhibiton again this spring, and thanks to the village of Ansouis. We will get one exhibition space for free. The mayor of the village, a very important person in France, has been very supportive of the whole enterprise, the only requirement being that we form an association, which has been done. After that everything has benn easy, and the space where the weekly drawing classes are held is also free. One doesn´t have to do a lot to keep an otherwise pretty sleepy village alive also in winter, so that not everyone and everything is totally dependent on the short tourist season. Which otherwise is the case.