Saint Suliac and La Doyenne du Village

Stone houses overlooking the Rance River in Saint Suliac, France

For the last week in September I traveled to Saint Suliac, France to join a friend from my art school days who was giving a watercolor workshop there. Her name is Doris Rice (www.dorisrice.com), and she lives in New Hampshire, near the shore, where she paints beautiful watercolors and teaches watercolor classes. There were eight of us along on the workshop, and we really enjoyed our week working and touring together.

Saint Suliac is a fishing port in Brittany (Bretagne in French), France's easternmost province. It's considered to be one of France's most beautiful villages, with its pretty stone cottages and picturesque views of the Rance River. It seems like every house in this ancient town has a different pattern of lace in its windows. The front of some homes are draped in fishnet, a unique decoration! Shutters and doors are painted in bright colors, and there are flowers everywhere.

Boucherie/Charcuterie Vival

The weather was beautiful while we were there- gloriously sunny and warm. There were lots of great scenes to paint in Saint Suliac. 

La Doyenne du Village, Saint Suliac

One day when we were painting we met La Doyenne du Village (the oldest woman in the village), who lived in a very pretty house next door to where we had set up our easels. She was interested to see what we were doing and came out to speak to us. We learned that this lovely lady is 98 years old- surprising, because she looked so much younger! Life is good in Saint Suliac. We asked if we can come to her 100th birthday party, and she said of course :-) So we'll have to return in July 2015 for that very special event.

Our sunny terrace

We ate most of our meals in the two houses we were renting. On a few occasions we ate in village cafes, and the food was as good as any you'd find in the finest city restaurants. Morning coffee was always on the terrace. The view from our terrace was incredible! Below, the River Rance was filled with sailboats. There's a sailing school for kids close to where we stayed and we'd see its students being towed out for lessons under their colorful sails.

Sailing school on the Rance River

One afternoon we were invited for pre-dinner drinks at the home of very nice french couple who have retired to Saint Suliac. They had generously allowed some of our group to set up easels in front of their ancient stone house, where there was a great view of the cute red boucherie across the street. They came out to chat, and offered the invitation. We entered their walled jardin through a wooden gate behind the house. The bell tower of the village's 13th century church was visible above the jardin wall, and rang out the hour as we sampled a local specialty- Calvados (a hard apple cider), and a delicious bitter orange liqueur made by our host and hostess. A very pleasant way to end a day of painting in the village.





I was in very talented company during my week in Brittany. The other seasoned watercolorists in the group were churning out beautiful paintings every day- intimidating! I learned that plein air painting is not easy for me; I was so slow, I never completed any of the paintings that I started in the village! With the help of photos I hope to finish them later on. 

One of many unfinished paintings!

Heading home through the village
after a long day of painting

Despite my difficulties with plein air painting, I enjoyed the week in Saint Suliac with this genial group. Doris is a great teacher, and she taught me a new approach to watercolor painting. We did some touring together, too, which was really fun. This watercolor workshop week was a wonderful way to get to know this beautiful little corner of Brittany.