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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?

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.

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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A bustling Amsterdam

I was in Amsterdam last week, criss-crossed the whole city and tried to do some sketching. I found it extremely difficult to sketch in Amsterdam. I struggled to zoom out the busyness of the city and capture only the essential in a scene. The canals are filled with boathouses and with sightseeing boats, the streets with bicycles and people and cars and trees obscuring the narrow houses. And I sometimes feared for my life as, standing on a spot with a sketchbook in hand, doesn’t mean you’re in a safe spot. I had to jump aside many a time, from the urgent ringing of a bicycle bell, just to hear the clang of the tram behind me, which had me scuffling quickly left, directly in front of some service truck, fleeing to the right, of course on the toes of some nose-ringed stranger and apologizing back onto one of the many black garbage bags on the sidewalk. That would have me slog shakily into the nearest  coffee shop or bookstore.

An interesting city, with a heartbeat of its own. I’ve come to recognize many of the gables of the buildings, as we have them in SA as well. We ate kroket and patatje and drank our blond beers with a lemon slice. I enjoyed koffie verkeerd in the company of Rembrandt and Van Gogh and had my dry cleaning delivered to one of the other many Van Wijks there in Amsterdam. I saw the seductive silhouet of Madame in the window of her “Walletjies” apartment and quickly put my hand over Hartman’s eyes. A busy time. A busy city. I now revel once again in the quiet of my home back here on the banks of the Loire.

So here are some efforts, drawn on site in pen or pencil in my handmade sketchbook and moleskine and finished at the hotel with a wash of watercolour. For some pictures(more interesting and much nicer than the sketches!) you can go to Myfrenchkitchen.

…many bridges, many canals, many boats, many trees, many…

 …and more…

…giant amaryllus…

…bulbs, bulbs and bulbs…

…in the way of the tram…

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen · 36 Comments

Absent

I have been absent for quite some time and after receiving some very caring emails, I thought I should at least give some explanation here. 

I’ve run into some health hiccups a while ago, robbing me of all energy and all willpower to maintain or produce any kind of act, let alone be creative. Thank you for the concern and supportive emails I’ve received from friends out there. I hope to be back with full vigour and energy soon.

…”Wanna talk?”…

And now it feels very “flat and empty” to leave on a note like this, so since I am here for a whisper of a moment behind the computer, why don’t I use the opportunity and time well and fill it with nonsense… After all, nonsense is quite a creative invention. And a very creative excuse. As well as a creative brush-off: “Oh, don’t talk such nonsense!” Probably what you’re thinking right now.

While I am here in front of the keyboard, searching for the right keys after so many weeks, and for that matter, the right words, I might as well try and do it creatively or at least then, call your bluff creatively… I’m not sure I know exactly what I’m saying, but it sounds creative to me. Like nonsense, sort of. What is nonsense? Something that doesn’t make sense….surely creative then. Doing and saying the suspected and at the last minute, adding an unsuspected twist…cunningly creative. Or speaking in utter incomprehensible sentences, or talking about things you know nothing of…defintely creative! Or to shut up someone who is actually being very creative in the use of thoughts and words and you have no clue as to what this person is saying….stupidly creative.

Once, a few years back, I was in the company of interesting people (or so I thought), around a beautifully set table, sharing a wonderful meal.  As usual, I was the listener. At some stage, the conversation turned to people and bad driving skills(is it a skill?). So I thought I had something interesting to add to this part of the conversation and so added my humble and creative opinion (?): “I think women are more inclined to use their indicators than men…” and without being given a chance to explain the science behind my madness, I was stared upon with shocked horror and brushed off with a creative missile launching: “Now the only time you open your mouth and it is to talk nonsense…?” That scarred me for life, I haven’t opened my mouth since(?) until now…  “Oh, nonsense!”