Storks

Wonderful sight at the train station storks flying north in skeins. The noise was tremendous there were probably a thousand in all circling above our heads.

Cobalt Blue

Moving along today, the rain is heavy this afternoon. I have been  taking photo's of old photographs so that I can post things up on FB. I happened to have these 2 images from old travels. The blue on the house below is common on the Canaries as is Green and Red with white. I love this house, so sweet and it has an uninterrupted view of the sea.

                                                          Vallehermosa, La Gomera

                                                                         Portugal with ducks.

New Painting



I have put down  a few marks, I am working from photographs as it is still too cold for me outside. I will make some sketches though as I am finding working from photos unsatisfactory. It's that I need not to be so close. I am a details person. I do start quite abstract though.



Cheese and mist

It's rather yukky today, damp and cold. On a plus note though I discovered a rather fine cheese made from cow's milk. It's from Burgundy, it's soft and buttery with an edible rind. The cheese rind is washed with wine during ripening. Delicious, do try if you see any it's not strong but has a few subtle flavour layers. I would take photos of the cheese but there's not much left.

Painting

Oil painting 27cms x 35cms. This is one I did last year. It depicts typical cottages along a country road in Burgundy, near Saint Honoré Les Bains.

Table delight

Pussy willows to encourage me to think spring and this tablecloth that I love. So bright and a curious design hummingbirds, red peppers, Hibiscus, pineapples.

A sweet tin shed that I have been clearing out and drawing too. I have had a bug which has left me feeling exhausted so only had a little energy for drawing. I want to get into the habit of being outside drawing from life. I'm hoping this place will be somewhere I can work in the shade of the limeflower tree.



A view up the valley along the side of the sheep field. We have bracken along this side of the field. Lovely clouds.




View up the through the orchard to one of the cottages.



Crocus for jollity

Our ewe here with her lamb is 2. Last year she rejected her lamb who we had to bottle feed. This year to our surprise she has been fine.

This is Meg and Fred. They follow me now because throughout the winter I feed the geese while the grass is too thin.. We give them scraps and pasta. They spend their days wandering down to the pond where they wash and off to the fields to graze. By tea time they return to their cave under the house. 

We had cloud today and a little rain. 

Painting

This is my space in the house, the sticks at the window are vines.

This is the view at the top of our field, looking over to the neighbours. The tree is a huge cherry.

oil painting, oil on canvas 100cm x 72cm

Frog, lamb and Scamps

My Scamps being silly, he has 3 legs we found him on a lonely road with a limp leg. Someone had obviously rejected him and his leg. I found him and I love him a lot.

We have a lamb! Quite early for us. Behind is the ram rolling about. Its very dry here the grass hasn't started growing yet.

 The frogs arrived this afternoon! Most of them hid when I went down to take pictures.

T

I like the colours here the sun is low and although it's mild we aren't out of winter yet.

shed, pond,stream

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waiting for frogs!

I have been feeling weak with some sort of cough and cold so not very busy . We have had a lot of sunshine so I have been clearing brambles from around by this small shed. It has a lovely lilac beside it and the tree behind is a Lime which provides shade in the summer. There were a lot of brambles and wild raspberry. I am thinking I shall plant shade loving plants around or bulbs which come out earlier than the tree leaves.
Meanwhile I am hoping the Egyptian's are soon free from their regime of terror and achieve a fairer society. We could all do with a bit more of that!

wood pile

This is what happened yesterday, a delivery of wood. It was lucky as the neighbour was having his delivered. I managed to ask the farmer and he returned with this 2 1/2 staires later. Ordered in french I was quite surprised when the tractor returned with the wood. Anyway it's great he was a sweet guy who has Charolais cattle and this chestnut and oak wood.

To Luzy

I took some photos, a lot, on the way to Luzy while George drove. These are some of the best ones. I feel uplifted by the sunshine and inspired to paint from these.

landscape on the way to Luzy

Pouchard's farm

I tried adding 3 photos. This one I took because I like the wiggly field boundaries and the view up to a farm, right up on the left, the Pouchard's. The snow has melted only a few small piles left by the snow plough. The lake is half frozen. I saw shoots today on my walk common orchids pushing up through the dead leaves.