The Red Ochre of Roussillon

The Red Ochre of Roussillon

The last village I had the opportunity to explore with my camera was Roussillon. Large quarries of Ochre were mined in the late 18th century to about 1930’s for artist colors and textiles. It has since been prohibited to mine in Roussillon, but other quarries have been exploited nearby. There is a gate that leads to a walking path through the large ochre rocks and former quarry but it was closed when I arrived. I did have a chance to walk around the village however and captured some wonderful pictures.

One thing I noticed right away about this village was its color. Red and orange plaster covered all the buildings. There were stones used as well with deep reds and a mix of compressed minerals of yellow and orange.

church

tower

door

rocks detail

street

cat

This cat had his eye on me…..

view

Thank you for following my journey in France! There are more posts that I would like to theme such as texture, doors, windows and paths. I have to get back to business though……Did I tell you I am writing a book? This book is about my experience with the rusting process I have developed over the last 17 years and how my creative process has evolved. There will be personal stories and techniques to reveal. Yes, I am so full of inspiration to fill the pages with my experiences and spiritual practice.

The next post will capsulate my creative experiments with textiles and my time spent with Michel Garcia.

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