Hôtel Chevillon

The residency has a similar feeling to Larsson pictures (like this one), and the place has something so inspiring that makes me realize why so many artists have come here. 

My residency where I am staying now until the end of July was given to me by Finnish Cultural Foundation. They are co-operating with the Foundation Grez-Sur-Loing that is a non-profit organization from Sweden. The foundation offers flats and studios for artists, composers etc. The place is called Hôtel Chevillon in Grez-Sur-Loing about 70 km south of Paris. Swedish artist Carl Larsson use to live here. The village is really small, it has a lot of medieval buildings, and many artists came here during centuries. The village is surrounded by forests, lakes and fields. Today I was walking outside and found a herd of chicken in one of the yards. Dogs walk without owners on the streets and one boulangerie feeds the entire village. 

The hotel itself seems to be the biggest building in the village and artists bring something nice to villagers' lives. Hotel is big and apartments and studios very spacious. Apartments have a kind of summer cottage feeling in them with wooden floors and furniture. One word for you: IKEA. But the apartments are really cozy and very beautiful.

Downstairs there's a fancy lounge and a library and a huge dining hall and a kitchen. There's a big yard with a lot of tables and chairs. The yard ends to a beautiful river. 

It is really worth visiting and it is a very good place to work so do apply if you can. Visiting from Paris is also possible, it takes about one and a half hours to get here. On the way there's a beautiful city of Fontainebleau that is a city of kings, starting from the 12th century and Louis VII. Later Napoleon Bonaparte built (or transformed the older castle) to a huge castle there as an alternative to Versailles, with hunting grounds for the king (Bois le Roi). There are also other smaller villages in the neighbourhood. 

I feel really peaceful here and working goes really great here. Mixture of the big city of Paris and a small village like this is good. For me there's a lot to photograph and a time like six months is important to see the seasons change.