Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen · 15 Comments

Earth day – respect, care and joy.

Today is earth day. Some garden sketches as my contribution.

All sketches done in moleskine with rotring pen and watercolour.

…tulips…

earth-day2

*Create a garden that is ecologically friendly. Ban pesticides. Plant combinations of plants and herbs and certain weeds for natural pest control. Learn to live with a few weeds and some chewed up leaves. Promote insect life by planting flowers that atttract them – lavenders, feverfews, buddleias, lilas, roses, honeysuckle… Take care of birds with available waterbaths, nesting houses, perches… Keep containers all around the garden to catch the rainwater with which you can water plants. Create a “strong” garden by not over watering your plants, much like you would train a young tree to bend with the wind, thus forcing it to grow strong. Use the water you rince your salads or other foods in the kitchen with, to water your potplants. Plant herbs to use in your cooking, for medicine, for the household. Ban chemicals from the kitchen and visit Gramma for tips on natural household products. There are info and tips all over internet and books galore on how to live as close as ecologically friendly as we can today, without going to extremes and freaking out on “bio”. Just a little effort already helps a lot.

Respect our earth, care for it and enjoy it.

Water on “earth day” – a clear brook, is my contribution to Watermarks. Drop by to see all our contributions for this day!

…a resting place for animals..

earth-day3…a resting place for humans

earth-day1…camelia…

earth-day4

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen · 22 Comments

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 · 17 Comments

A mountain house called Coin Perdu.

A few weeks ago we did the final signing for a little house, Coin Perdu, in the mountains in Corréze. It dates from the 1880’s, was built by the farmer himself, then handed down to the son and we bought it from the granddaughter, who inherited it from her brother. Complicated. Like all French administration.

We’ll be doing some restoration, keeping the spirit of the house with all the fixtures and just adding some modern day comfort and running water. I’ll keep a journal of this whole process, as we’ll be rolling up our own sleeves, climbing the ladders ourselves and stacking the stones ourselves.

We were down there this past week to meet the  mayor: an interesting woman with a charming accent and an obvious love for chatting. We asked permission to buy a stretch of  “municipal road” that goes through our propery. (for peace of mind) Nobody sees a road, it is somewhere in the brush, but because it is shown on the map, it does exist. Therefore it has to be put before the community of 200-something inhabitants of Puy d’Arnac, to contest should they “need the road”. Complicated. French freedom.

…coin Perdu…

coinperdu1-12-13-2008-3-52-44-pm

…pig house at Coin Perdu…

coinperdu2-12-13-2008-3-51-25-pm

Sketches done in moleskine, with pen and watercolour.

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 · 21 Comments

Nostalgia

I am filled with nostalgia lately. I’ve already put up my Christmas tree, I remember people from long ago, I recall precious moments, I miss family and friends,  I long for the smell of the African bush, I dream of jeeps and khaki hats, I listen to the sounds of the wildlife on CD, I walk around in the house snorting like the rhino, growling in the voice of the lion at nighttime … I feel savage.

Maybe it started when I had to draw my pages in Robyn’s Different strokes in our FPP, and I thought of all the different strokes our lives produce in one lifetime. So I gave her one of my strokes…one of my dreams, one of my loves, one of my yearnings…

elephant

Done in charcoal, coloured pencils, watercolour pencils, white conté and a wash here and there.

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen · 28 Comments

Autumn impressions

I came home this afternoon from a wonderful Rigoletto in the Opera Bastille last night, in time to splash some autumn impressions on paper. I just painted some colours onto paper as I saw the colours of the leaves and rose hips and and afterwards added some suggestive linework with 2.5 rotring pen. I think I’ll explore more autumn colours in the days to come, before winter takes over.

All done on Fabriano CP block, 18x25cm. Watercolour and pen.