A stay in a cottage Painting

I live and work in the south-west of France. I grew up in an artistic family ; my mother was a violin-maker, my father an architect.; and i was encouraged to discover and develop my own way of interacting with and expressing my relationship with the world around me... Painting became my medium, and i experimented with various techniques such as ink and gouache before embracing oils, which enabled me to reveal the full sensitivity and complexity of my art. I work by superimposing layers of paint, thus i model my canvas as a sculpture, giving light and depth to my subjects. I was always drawn to Impressionism, with its emphasis on capturing the sensory essential of scene, but i choose to temper it with a more realistic style, incorporating the details which underlie the perception while maintaining the objective of crystallising the impression of a moment. In a turbulent world i look for moments of tranquillity, the pauses that refresh the spirit. My paintings carry echoes of gentle times and evoke pleasant memories - the scent of lilac on a June morning, the stillness of a summer afternoon, the restfulness of little boats on a calm sea, the fragrant beauty of flowers that continues in a vase - i search the essence of these experiences to create paintings where the everyday rush is calmed and an ambiance of peace pervades.