The images of the white horses of La Carmargue and the soft light and color of Southern France were skillfully transferred to canvas and impart a sense of place to the viewer. The acrylic paintings transport us to the marshes of the Camargue to encounter the wild horses, birds and other wildlife that populate the protected wildlife sanctuary.

Karen remarks, "One evening I was painting on the embankment, and a rider came along in the dusk just at the right moment and I immediately painted him into the landscape. Serendipity. Don't you find that things like that often happen to plein air painters? Just as if life is a gift for our being out there."

Foster-Wells continues, "Sometimes the paint and the images seemed to throw themselves onto the canvas and I am just the conduit."

La Camargue is an extensive, marshy delta of the Rhône River, in the south of France by the French Mediterranean coast. The marshlands and immense plains filled with ponds are known for incredible bird watching opportunities in ornithological circles. Among the region's species of birds are the pink flamingos, swans and egrets that often perch on the backs of the white horses.

The white horse of La Camargue is a specific breed. It is a small, durable horse who is able to canter through mud up to its belly, and very much a product of his environment and the marsh conditions. The Camargue horse is allowed to live freely in the marshlands. The horses' breeding is not controlled but the colts that are culled from the breeding stock are gathered, gelded and become riding horses. The foals are born dark, and continue to lighten as they mature into the characteristic gray color.

The marshland is also home to an ancient breed of black bulls, which at one time were threatened with extinction. The horses today are still used by the Camargue cowboy, called Guardians, to herd the wild, black bulls.

Karen Foster-Wells hopes to return to France to continue her studies of "the white horses of the sea" living in their unique delta home.