If you happen to be in the Alpilles area of Provence and are interested in acquiring some artwork and meeting a local artist, my studio (atelier) is open to the public via rendezvous. This is a fun way for me to meet people traveling or living in the area that have an appreciation for art. Hopefully you will also be enriched by meeting a local painter in Provence.

My muse is the landscapes of Provence. I focus specifically on the olive groves of the Alpilles regional park but am also inspired by the seasonal wildflowers and crops here such as almond blossom, sunflowers, grapevines and more.

In recent months I’ve been focusing on a sunflower series, potentially for an upcoming exhibition in 2026.

My work is comprised of oil paintings in a loose figurative impasto style often painted at dawn or dusk. For smaller works, I also create botanical series with ink and ochre from Roussillon in the Luberon, or cyanotypes with poppies.

Meet Ashley, a local painter in Provence

The Atelier / Artist Studio

Our 1770s property is in the middle of the village of Mollégès, located 5 minutes north of Eygalières and 10 minutes east of Saint Remy de Provence. On Instagram, our followers have showed a keen interest in accompanying us on our renovation journey. This is our second project in Provence; for the first in Maussane-les-Alpilles we were on Househunters International. This project will be a life project. My husband, Robin, is a professional tradesman and has completed almost all of the restoration himself. We have 2 barns and the main house (not yet touched!).

When we bought the property in 2019, our first task was to transform one of the barns into a weekly holiday rental. After that long process (actual blood and tears!) we focused on the studio. The building is 95 square meters, or just over 1000 square feet. It was mud and 4 walls when we started. We have replaced the roof, filled in the concrete wine cuves in the floor, cleared out a lot of the hunting gear, family photos, replaced the massive barn door with a glass opening and introduced another large glass opening. See some photos here. Although long from done, the space now has a proper floor and some insolation. It has perfect light for a studio.

Group visits to the Atelier

If you’re traveling with friends/family or are a tour guide, and believe your group would be interested in visiting an artist atelier, you’d be welcome to stop by. For tour guides, I can provide a picnic lunch, coffee or apéro for a small fee depending on the time of day you’d like to stop by. The light in the studio in the early evening is particularly beautiful. This can be a wonderful moment to share what life is like living in Provence as an artist or otherwise. I used to be a tour guide myself, so can provide extensive tips and history of the area. Depending on how many people you are, I may ask my husband, Robin, to join us.

Oil Painting Commissions

I’m often asked about the option of commissioning a provençal landscape. In the atelier gallery I have some examples of my work where you can commission something similar depending on size, if you’d like warmer or cooler tones etc. If I have time, I like to paint 2 works so that you can choose from one of them. I want my collectors to be as happy as possible so there is no pressure to buy if you’re not 100% in love !

If you’d like to commission a work you’ll have to be patient… Depending on how much demand I have, it will take me a month to do the painting and 4 months for the painting to dry to be able to send. All paintings are in oil paint, hence the wait. If you’re living in Provence, the painting can be handled after a few weeks and left to dry on your wall. Thankfully good things come to those who wait!

Sending a painting overseas

If you stop by the atelier in person, the easiest thing is to take an artwork with you. For smaller works we can of course bubble wrap etc. For paintings, we take them off the stretchers and roll them in a pvc pipe, including the wood. The painting can be easily retrenched by any professional framer back in your home country. Depending on your airline, you can put the painting in your suitcase, check it as another piece of luggage or even bring it on board as hand luggage. To send a painting directly, I use Chronopost and, just the same, send in a tube.

Contact

If you’d like to drop by, send me an email ! It would be a pleasure.

Curiousprovence@gmail.com

To see paintings available for sale, you can also send me an email.