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Montgolfière en France

I’ve had the exciting opportunity recently to go hot air ballooning in Fontainebleau. We took off on the grounds of the chateau and landed some hours later in a farmer’s field. We were treated to champagne by candlelight after landing which couldn’t have been more perfect!

I did two sketches from photos afterwards. I didn’t even consider sketching there, I was too afraid of being left behind, because once the balloon was up and billowing, there was no time for fancy stuff. It was grab your legs and climb that basket. Besides it is far more exciting watching the balloon lift and blow and bulge.

If you’re interested in seeing some pictures you can go to Myfrenchkitchen, where I’ve put up some pics of the whole process and the trip, the amazing sunset, smooth landing and our great crew.

Both these sketches were done on Fabriano artistico block(30x23cm) with pen and watercolour.

…stretching the toile…

…almost there…

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen · 11 Comments

Luxembourg in Nina’s book

Our international sketchbook exchange is nearing its end with only two more laps to go. I hate endings…unless I know there is something new to fill its place. Any suggestions? Anyone out th..e..ere..???

Here is/was my contribution to Nina’s(Ninajohansen.se) book. See her Polychromatic behaviour, where you can have a look at her cover and how it looks right after turning over that cover. It feels like yesterday that our FPP(Flying pictures project) took off, but it has already been almost 5 months. I decided to add scenes from le  Jardin du Luxembourg in Nina’s book, a regular stop of mine to relax with a book whenever I’m in Paris. It’s one of my favourite places, with its colours, it’s water, its children, its sailboats, its shadows, and…its chairs. I’m fascinated by their chairs, standing in a “polychromatic” disorder all over. So I took my camera to Paris one day and just shot scenes all over the garden. Back home I printed them in black and white, pasted them onto Fabriano artistico and stretched the black and white scenes in colour over onto my paper. I thought that could be called polychromatic behaviour?

…the whole 21/2 pages…

…taking over from Vivien’s (Painting prints and stuff)brush and coloured pencils…

…close-ups…

…the end of my pages and off to Lindsay ( Non-linear-arts)…

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Foire aux vins(Wine fair)

September/October is time for Foire aux vins in France. Time to refill those empty spaces in the wine cellar. Try out new wines, restock on old favourites. I enjoy a good red wine. But most of all, I enjoy the grapes. My favourites being Muscat(dark) and Chasselas(green). So I’ll have the grapes now and save the wine for later.

…let there be wine…

Sabre à champagne – a tradition dating from the Napolean empire. Coming back from a battle, the cavalry would pay tribute to victory, vigour, virility and of course…women, by opening up bottles of champagne with theatrical flaunt and flare. The cold bottle is held at the bottom and with a swift movement of the sable from bottom to the neck, the “cork is popped” right under the rim. A clean chop, leaving no shattered glass.

(Edit: I just realized how crooked this sword looks with the completely “off” shadow under the blade! Yes,  I confess. I held the sword in my hand and thus cheated on “seeing” the shadow on the surface…now that says a lot for competence…and I didn’t have a single sip!)

…”en garde!”..

Some fancy bottle openers are available today. The most efficient and quickest still remains the “couteau de sommelier“, which is the all-in-one every “garcon” (waiter) walks around with in his pocket.

And how about a decanter for aged wines to separate from their deposits, or a carafe for a young wine to “breathe”

…”1 2 3 breathe!, 1 2 3 breathe”…

I did intend to do more sketches showing the fun of the Foire aux vins, but laziness got the better of me. I think I’ll just stick to finishing the grapes I’ve sketched and open a Pomerol with dinner tonight.

Sketches done in pen and watercolour on Fabriano artistico block, 22×29, 5cm.

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen · 21 Comments

Hydrangeas and awards

The hydrangeas in my garden are supposed to be blue, but the soil doesn’t play along. They start out with tints of blue and then turn a dark, bright pink, almost red. It makes for a very pinkish/reddish painting, but at least I had fun doing it.

This was done with watercolour on Fabriano artistico, HP extra white, 23×30,5 cm.

…hydrangeas, red and blue…

I also want to thank Mark from Paper Raven Art, Pamyla from Musings and Maggie from Scquiltaddict, for this award. I really appreciate it.

Like everybody else, I also would like to pass it on to so many people and since I feel I can’t stop at five names, I decided that I would this time like to pass it on to Cathy G at Asketchintime, who does beautiful art, experiments with all kinds of media, who often tries new directions, new techiniques, new approaches. She is an inspiration as well as a supportive friend. No obligations Cathy!