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Back to basics

Painting this “fennel salad” yesterday made me realize how easy it is to lose some skills when they are not constantly excercised. Like our bodies, they become soft and flabby, sluggish and lazy and it takes work and discipline to get them back into shape. Such is the state of my current painting skills.

Painting done in watercolour on Fabriano artistico HP extra white, 30x23cm (11.8″x9″)

…fennel, pear and onions…

fennel

Not actively painting or drawing for more of two months had a paralyzing impact on my creativity, self confience and hand-eye coordination. I could clearly feel en see it in this little painting above. My wrist feels stiff and my hand feels disconnected from my brain. Or maybe it is the opposite;  my hand being too connected to my brain, restricted by reason and not able to take  its free course. I clutch my paintbrush in an iron grip and lock my jaw in frowned concentration. I zoom in on details and am afraid of taking risks. I hesitate on choice of colour and paint hesitantly with  the tip instead of the stroking the whole brush.

Trying to do a waterscene painting, resulted in a complete catastrophe. It made me think of my professor years ago, who told me in first year graphichs, I couldn’t draw.  So, remembering his “cruel-to-be-kind” teaching, I took some cheap pilot black ink and drawing paper and my chair and took off to the river this morning. It was time to once again,  heed the professor’s words of years ago and get back to basics. Here is one of the drawings I did by the river this morning.

If  interested, the rest can be read and seen over at Watermarks.

…with sticks and stones…

rivermarks3-3-11-2009-3-54-12-pm

pilot black ink on drawing paper, with natural materials, found on the ground.

…drawing tools…

drawingtools1-3-11-2009-1-05-50-pm

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen · 23 Comments

Fish

We had snow yesterday. Not very normal for us to have snow and so much of it, so it’s a big thing. Even bigger for me…what does a South African know about snow? I know when an elephant is going to charge… Last night at nine I even drove to the train station in the snow, forgot a little bit about brakes and speed when I got to the roundabout and slid “gently” into the curb. No problems, I was the only fruitcake out there. Off to the train station again early this morning, better equipped with common sense and humility and even dared turning off to buy a fish or two. I wanted to paint fish on this beautiful snowy day, inspired by Jeanette’s fish and then Katherine’s fish a while ago. I skidded home (safely) and took out those fish.

From top to bottom:  Dorade grise, Truite rose, Sardine bretonne. Done in watercolour and pen on Fabriano artistico HP.

…found in the snow…

fish2-1-6-2009-2-00-54-pm


Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen · 9 Comments

A river to discover

The swans were back this year after 3 years of absence – a quick sketch in the moleskine done in pencil and back home worked over with gouache. I have never worked with gouache and after buying a beautiful sketchbook (Baie de Somme by Laurent Somon – Ronan Olier) done in gouache, I wanted to try it too. See some of Ronan Olier’s work, which I love! I find it a strange medium and feel very stupid with it, which resulted in a completely overworked effort.

…swans…

loireswans

The Watermarks project stirred up a desire I’ve had for a long time, but which always got pushed to the back of my list. Discovering and researching the Loire.

Living right next to it, it forms a big part of our every day life. In summer I stress about the extreme low level of the water and in winter I stress about being flooded away rooftop and all. In winters, it welcomes the gray and embraces the cold and I want to run from it, but it’s hypnotic powers keep drawing me to it, to the mystery that envelops it. In summer, I revel in its blue water and noisy birds and green foliage and crazy busyness.

One of my projects(I still have to run into the others..) will be to trace the Loire back to it its origin, snaking alongside it down to where it finally joins the Atlantic ocean in the west.

If interested, continue reading here…

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A perfect road.

When I look back on the road I have followed, life had forced me on many occasions to make difficult choices. (Do easy choices exist?)  True to my nature of reflecting on the past, I often wonder where and what I would have been had I chosen the opposite direction. I don’t believe we make wrong decisions (given of course that we make a decision for the right reason) , only different ones: some leading us into learning curves, some leading us down the path of pure joy, some into unwanted hardships… But in spite of all my wondering where the other road would’ve taken me, I am content with where I am now. Is it perfect? I have no idea. How can we ever be sure of perfection? Something can always be worse and it can always be better. And tomorrow perfection might even be different. Art. Motherhood. Love. Sadness. Happiness… Today, my happiness of 26 years is perfect.

loirebridge-12-16-2008-8-44-16-pm

I’m taking a break for the rest of the season to spend some time with my family and do deliciously illegal things which only this  season allows – eating cookies and foie gras and chocolate, champagne, lazing by the fireplace…

Sorry for being so slack in visiting and commenting, I’ll make up for it! I wish you all a wonderful Christmas with tins full of cookies!

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen · 13 Comments

A corner of the Loire

I have an exciting event happening in Corréze on Saturday, which I’ll talk about later. And on Monday I’m leaving for Helsinki for 3 days. I’ll be in contact when I’m back end of next week.

I captured (tried to!) a corner of the Loire just after we had floods coming past this way a week ago, sweeping the trees and branches and all kinds of debris across the river, leaving us with  gray and turmoil water. This is a corner under the overhanging trees. I never try to catch the realism in a scene, but rather the motion and emotion. The water is much calmer than it is portrayed here and much darker. More sinister. My contrasts could’ve been stronger and my shapes more linear. This was done from a few photos I took. I’ll have another go at it again sometime, probably rather on the spot, which gives a painting so much more spontaneity, and the atmosphere does get carried over onto the paper.  Not that it is so much fun sitting there in the mud, in the cold, in the wet next to the water…but I’ve been complaining so much lately about  missing nature, being wild and free with the animals, that I should zip my mouth now and sit my sit…

…disquiet…

loiregrisDone in watercolour and pen lines added afterwards on Fabriano artistico watercolour block HP extra white, 30x23cm(11,8″ x9″)

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen · 31 Comments

Splashy pineapples

Yesterday I had a crazy craving for pineapple. I bought whichever ones I could find…the sweet small Victoria pineapple from South Africa, the big fat watery one, produced in Costa Rica, coming from Miami???… and lastly the heavy, juicy one from the Ivory coast. Of course I had to paint them. My light pencil drawing was fine and I started putting in washes. Arriving at the spiky leaves, all went horribly wrong. And from there it on it was downhill all the way. Finally I threw the paintbrush out the door, flew out of my atelier, jammed a cup of coffee together, grabbed a canvas and plastered it with modeling paste and a painting knife. Halfway through the oil painting, and eventually simmered down, I turned to my watercolour and thought I might as well finish it by simply pulling out all the stops, I have nothing to lose. So here is the final messy watercolour….. the oil painting is still drying.

Watercolour on Fabriano artistico HP extra white block, 30,5×45,5cm (12″x18″)

Afterwards I even had some time to put a recipe together…and  eat it all. Interested in Pineapple carpaccio with saffron syrup and roasted pinenuts?