Doors and Windows, the view from here

I am in love with doors and windows, this came home to me when found I had shot innumerable French doors and windows. My paintings of interiors always seem to feature a view out a window so this was new, because French doors and windows are very closed to the outside world.

There are no screens in France but almost every window has a set of shutters that either roll up or pull closed. There are exquisite and very old shutter holders on the walls in some places, my favorites looked like little ladies heads. Curls and a tipped forward bonnet and only about 1.5 inches tall. At dark, or when the family decides--the shutters on the street side are closed. Where we stayed with friends in Pamiers, at dark the shutters were all closed. The house became a cosy cave.

The doors in most cases are on the street, there are no front porches and you step directly onto the street. Of course, this is in the case where there are multi-family dwellings--houses are fenced thoroughly and well. And in most cases in the cities the fences have sheets of metal that are tall enough to prevent seeing over or through to the family's private garden.