Postcard from Provence
A Painting a Day Since 2005
One small painting, made from life and shared from Provence. Then another the next day—and thousands more across twenty years.
01
How it began
Broadband reached Julian’s part of rural Provence in 2004. At about the same time he discovered Duane Keiser’s pioneering painting-a-day project and saw how a regular studio practice could be shared directly with people far beyond the studio.
Postcard from Provence began in February 2005 with a small painting of an oyster shell. The idea was simple: paint from life, publish the result and begin again.
02
A postcard from daily life
The subjects came from close by—fruit from the market, flowers and objects in the studio, roads, fields and villages within reach of home. Together they became a diary of seasons, weather, work and family life in Provence.
03
From an inbox to an auction
Coverage in The New York Times in 2006 brought a much larger audience. When several people wanted the same new painting, the auction was created to give everyone a clear opportunity to bid while leaving Julian more time to paint.
04
The truthful archive
The archive retains the experiments, awkward reproductions and paintings Julian might now approach differently, as well as the successes. That continuity is the point: it is a record of practice rather than a retrospective selection.
05
Still fresh from the studio
The technology has changed repeatedly; the essential rhythm has not. A painting is made, photographed and shared, and a new postcard leaves Provence.
Over the years Julian and Ruth have made many friends through the project and met not a few collectors in person. That community has supported the paintings, the project and their family for more than two decades.