This is the distant view of the Esterel Massif from the kitchen window in Christine’s small flat/apartment. While bending over the kitchen sink, it was good to be able to see the view, even if one had to duck slightly and look diagonally over the neighbour’s rooftop and through a gap in the buildings. The mountains are some 15 miles (25 kilometers) in the distance on the far side of the valley. This was one of the views that sold Christine on the flat and one of the benefits of being close to the top of the hill on which the village was located. Of course, after her heart attack and bypass surgery at the age of 53, she had second thoughts about having to climb that steep hill every time she came back from going practically anywhere.

This particular landscape was done in pastel pencil. Somebody had given Christine a full set of Prismacolor pastel pencils and she drew this to decide if she wanted to work in this medium. As this seems to be the only surviving sample, I think the answer was no. I’ve learned that Prismacolor pencils are not strictly speaking pastels, as pastels are usually chalk based and the Prismacolor uses oil based pigments in their pencils. Regardless, I don’t think they were holding her back, compared to her usual work with a brush or palette knife.