I’ve never been to France, but I will confess to having a “Google Earth” habit which has claimed more of my hours than I care to admit. One day after doing a jigsaw puzzle of a beautiful French lavender field I decided to hop onto Google Earth and see what that countryside is really like.

My brain became saturated with images of Provence as I “drove” the virtual highways and byways, completely charmed by the rolling hills, farm cottages and patchwork purple fields. This painting soon spilled out, of no place in particular other than the Provence of my dreams. Not long afterwards I had the good fortune of meeting a woman who was born and raised in Provence. I showed her this painting and she said “Oui… Provence is just like that!”