Tessa Baker
Paint Provence with Tess which offers painting holidays has been up and running for two years now! I have been painting professionally in Provence for nearly 30 years, and loving every moment of it! I have had many exhibitions here in Provence and also abroad.
In 2014, I started teaching twice weekly art courses as a precursor to my dream of week long all inclusive art workshops. What a marvelous thing to do, I thought, and so I set about creating Paint Provence with Tess. As a result, I have now had four successful years with my painting holidays in Provence.
I paint in this beautiful land: the land of Provence, of mountains and seascapes, of vineyards, poppies, lavender fields and the salt marshes of the Camargue where the pink flamingoes grace us with their brightly coloured presence. I want to share my joy and my craft with others, it gives me such enormous pleasure in showing my students and friends all the spectacular locations that I paint in. I keep my groups small and encourage each individual to get the best out of their talents. Everyone who has come on these trips love them!
In 2015, I was at my friend Kristi Espinasse’s house I talked to her how I would like to start Painting Holidays in Provence and showed her the draft of my so far unpublished website and she said ‘You have to do it Tess!’ So we finished working on the website together and it went live at her house in March 2015. Kristi then wrote about my trips on her website French Word a Day; before I knew it all my courses for 2015 were fully booked. Paint Provence with Tess was born and has been happily growing since.
It is hardly surprising, considering the inspirational back-drops of the countryside and the stunning clear light of the sun, that hundreds of artists have come here to make it their home. Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Cézanne to name but a few lived and painted here.
Like the weather I am a seasonal painter. On the cooler days of the winter months you may find me in my studio and with the first breath of Spring you will find me painting ‘en plein air’ or indeed on a beautiful winters day!
January sings out with almond blossom, swiftly chasing the bright yellow mimosa; tulips and iris’s come in hot pursuit. There is the bright green of the new growth in the vineyards and the blossom on all the fruit trees. One delight after another!
