Thomas Boivin: Walks

Cabinet of curiosities

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In the summer of 2021 we rented a small house near the Claise, a tributary of the Creuse, in the south of the Indre-et-Loire. At the foot of the house, the river was navigable for a hundred meters or more. The landscape, at this place, is agricultural: The bed of the Claise is no longer natural, having been dug for the needs of the surrounding irrigation, and its course is bordered by fields. On the heights, small forests remain. 

That summer was quite mild, the countryside empty, and I made every morning and every evening long walks in boats, thinking of the Narrow Waters. During the day, we would go for walks on the hills, where we would cycle along the river. 

In these images, I see echoes of early 19th century French landscape painting, and above all the simple pleasure of a walk - in a boat, by the water, or on a hillside - on a beautiful August day.