Thanksgiving has come and gone. Well, not quite gone. The feel of the week-end lingers, perhaps because I didn't take part in the Black Friday feeding frenzy. Instead my husband and I took time off from our busy lives and enjoyed slowing down and savoring the splendid fall we are having.
Autumn came late to Sacramento and its surrounding areas. The air has only recently turned nippy. Consequently, the leaves have been turning colors slowly, steadily becoming more brilliant against the gray sky before they fall. Their leaf litter on sidewalks or piled in gutters makes a walk through Midtown an uplifting experience. No matter how much I like spring and summer (even winter with it's own beauty carved from branches splaying the air in webby patterns), autumn has become my favorite season.
It seems ironic that in such a cool season, the colors are from the warmest tones of the palette: yellow, gold, bronze, orange, every shade of red and brown. The colors both cheer and sooth—comfortable colors associated with pumpkins and pumpkin pie, with yams and carrot cake and corn on the cob. Or roast chestnuts. A glowing fireplace. Bouquets of golden mums by a window.
Spring may burst out in a rainbow of blooms and promise. Autumn is a promise kept, a season of harvest and sharing the bounty, a sharing that doesn't require standing in long lines at midnight in order to grab the latest bargain, but instead calls us back to fellowship and the abundance in our hearts.
In 2006 the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston was asked to direct The Brown Foundation Fellows Program at the Dora Maar House. Imagine spending up to three months in this spacious classic eighteenth-century, four-story stone residence in the village of Ménerbes, France in the Luberon area of Provence. The town house was once occupied by Général Baron Robert, one of Napoleon’s well-decorated generals in the Republican Army.
In 1944 Pablo Picasso purchased the four-story mansion for Dora Maar, an artist and surrealist photographer who was his companion and muse in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Dora Maar owned the house until her death in 1997, when a resident of both Ménerbes, France, and Houston, Texas, purchased the house and began a five-year rehabilitation project to update the spacious residence and gardens.
Her goal was to make it a retreat for scholars, artists, or writers, where they could work undisturbed on their research, art, or writing for one to three months.
If you are an outstanding mid-career professional, you could apply for a fellowship to enable you to reside in the Dora Maar House and focus on the creative aspects of your work.
The Dora Maar House has four private bedrooms, each with a private bath, three studies for writers and scholars, a studio for artists, and a piano. There are shared kitchen, library, living and dining rooms, along with two beautiful gardens. The house is equipped with high-speed wireless internet, printer, fax, and laptops for the fellows’ convenience.
I definitely think I could be inspired writing on that garden patio. I bet you could, too.
Travel expenses are paid by the foundation and fellows receive $50 a day for living expenses.
Here is the link to apply: Forms to apply
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
Filed under:
Artist opportunity,
Author,
authors and illustrators,
Fellowships,
inspiration,
News,
opportunity Tagged:
Authors,
Fellowship,
illustrators,
Southern France 
3 Comments on Time For Creativity In The South of France, last added: 10/18/2010
Thanksgiving has come and gone. Well, not quite gone. The feel of the week-end lingers, perhaps because I didn't take part in the Black Friday feeding frenzy. Instead my husband and I took time off from our busy lives and enjoyed slowing down and savoring the splendid fall we are having.
.jpeg?picon=2691)
Rural France still has many festivals and fêtes to celebrate the fellowship and abundance of this season, which I love!
Whereabouts in France are you, Joanna? My nephew is in France about twenty minutes away from Geneva.
That IS really interesting that this cool time of year has so many golden colors. Ha, and I like your description of Black Friday as a "feeding frenzy." No kidding!
I, too, love autumn more than any other season. The the cool, crisp air invigorates and colors are spectacular. It's interesting to me, though, that leaves are most beautiful as they are dying. There's me, having a dark moment.
Lovely post, Elizabeth! I love the colors of Autumn, all those red, oranges, browns and yellows really warm my heart.
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving... I can't believe the holidays are just around the corner.
Cheers!
Mayra
Carol, thanks for stopping by.
Rosi, not so dark. It really is an interesting contrast. Although, only the leaves are dropping off, the trees are just going dormant, entering a period of incubation. Maybe that's why creative people like the season so much.
Mayra, you and me both. The holidays are so close together, and both of them such busy times!
I love this time of the year too, Elizabeth.
How is your writing going?
Hi, Rachna, it's going great. About fifteen minutes ago I submitted a short story to an online magazine. I'm impressed that you are working on a trilogy. Enjoyed your post about that this morning.
I love fall! Interestingly enough, because the colors are so warm, I think of it as a warm, joyous time!
Yes, beautiful! We have a wonderful shade of white which we're enjoying! :)
I love fall! Thank you for this lovely reminder of the beauty of the season.
And thanks, too, for stopping by my blog! As always, it's great to see you!
Ashley, me too! There's just something in the air that's so cosy with those colors.
Tanya, ah, that means snow. Well, snow has it's own beauty and cosiness for sure.
Lauren, I always enjoy your blog. Hope the writing is going well.
Beautifully said! That last paragraph was such a lovely way to end your post. :)