Seguret Village, Provence

Sunshine pours over a quiet lane in Séguret, a small medieval town perched on a hilltop in the south of France. British artist Jennifer Irvine painted this warm scene in 2010, gathering up all the little details that make Provence so charming: soft blue shutters, golden stone walls, roses climbing toward the windows, and a terracotta pot spilling over with green. A path curls through the middle of it all, lit by an afternoon sun, while white blossoms crowd the front of the picture as if leaning right out toward us.

Irvine paints with thick, confident strokes and clean, simple shapes. She is less interested in tiny details than in the mood of the place, and her strong colors do most of the talking. The deep blue shadows sliding across the pale path are especially clever, hinting at the heat of a summer day when the sun hangs high overhead. Down in the lower left, her signature hides among the stones of the wall, a modest closing note on this fond little snapshot of French village life.