This is what was going on up here. Heard the saws and the crashing.

I found a strange setting on the camera, impressionistic.

I bought a salt block for the sheep, it's a bit of a strange noise they make trying to chew bits off, squeaking.

I did this painting a couple of days ago; I drew an outline, painted outlines and then used

a little walnut oil to improve the fluidity. It has dripped a bit so I need to work out what I can do. It needs laying flat to dry which I did but the drips came while I was still painting.

Figure in the garden coming from the pond.

 Road to the village, the snow plough came past last night but it's not too bad and it is melting.

 Strange prints near water, looks like it could be a bird or otherwise a Coypu or Ragondin, haven't seen any round here for a while now. 

We do have Mallards on the lake 4 pairs at least and the Kingfishers.

Just a tiny glimpse of blue but very little colour here.

colour

Christmas rose from my parent's. I have a few hope it will be happy here.

I bought this big zinc basin a while ago. Yesterday it thawed out so I quickly emptied it before it deforms in the next freeze. The gas froze too.

The village just after Christmas, the colours are lovely, I think strangely pink. Many of the rusty leave
s on the Beeches are still attached so the light transforms the forest to something unusual in colour. The other weirdness here is the vivid green grass that has carried on growing.

As we all seem to be, I am hugely affected by light. At the first peep or flicker of sunshine I start moving about the place with my camera recording any strong light and the way the light transforms everything. I live mostly in the verandah in winter and early mornings can be a bit difficult for me.The little wood stove pumps around some warmth quite quickly thankfully. Here I am looking through a piece of crystal glass with the lens at the garden.I might try a bit more of this using impromptu lenses. I'd love to do some of those photos using a vintage camera TTV
 that gives images a dirty lens and a border.

This is the subject of my current painting.

 We have a table for the birds just by the verandah so I started sketching as the birds swoop in grab something quick and then disappear. I can't really do anything with great precision but it's fun.

Not sure where to put the plants. The nights plummeted down to -9° so they all got moved away from the window ledges. The kitchen has this big pillar in the middle similar to the beams they use in mills here to pulley up flour.

I don't normally photograph rain. The Christmas lights are up in Luzy but it's still hard to be cheerful. 

Goosey waiting by the backdoor.

I painted the kitchen cupboard doors last night to go with the verandah, I think maybe circus, gypsy or even Italian insired by the Romans and a bit French too. Not bad.

Our road out of the village, not too bad and we are a bit higher than everywhere else.  Once on the main road it's fine.

You can just see the High forest is frozen.

We had this stove last year too. George thinks Gerrard gave it him. We were surprised when we plumbed it in at how good it was. I occasionally see others the same. 

The small kitty loves chasing screwed up paper which she drops by my feet for me to keep playing.

I made a few cards this year, mostly hedgehogs but a few geese and I tried mice and Wild Boar too.

 Ta Da.

Sewing a duvet cover from a vintage bolster and lovely cotton sheet. Probably a mix of linen and cotton.

Low cloud this afternoon, I had a walk round to see the recent demolition of the old tumbling down mill. It was a beautiful hidden stone semi ruin. I always thought it looked so romantic. Here. All that limestone I'd love some of the large blocks. The lower part of the village is named after the mill. On a lighter note there is a Kingfisher living along the shores of the lake.

There has been some wood stacking and sawing, I love the old tractors people use here.

 Animals chasing me everywhere. 

 I put up a shelf for plants in the studio.

Found a dress in the charity shop, rather polyester.

I found some old doors in the shed. I've been scraping off the flaky paint and generally scrubbing them a bit. Not sure what I shall do with them yet. I regret not asking my neighbour for all her old cupboard doors, like these. She had a new kitchen not as charming as the old handmade one but I daren't say.