Garden pearls

Snowdrops come peeping through

The luscious leaves of Arum italium (italiaanse aronskelk/italian lords and ladies)

Trio on Mahonia aquifolium

Helleborus niger

Milder temperatures lured me outside today.
Beneath the warm safety of the rotting leaves a new world is slowly wakening.
It felt good ; fresh air, shades of green, patterns and forms...busy ladybirds.
Working in the garden doesn't really feels like 'working' , it is something else.

A fool has many names (some I know)

gouache 24 x 32 cm

January garden

Grey and turquoise

Bird tale
gouache on paper 24x32 cm

The past weeks I seem to be in a pale color mood.
The darker work have to wait, I need to use these colors now.

Acryl painting in progress, don't know exactly where it's going .
After a difficult start, working on this one has become very restful, the colors are calming .
There is a siren song in my head, although I'm not painting sirens (half bird, half woman).
That siren sound is very pleasant, not distracting on the contrary it helps to concentrate.
Is this all the result of me longing for the seaside ?
Or started this painting my longing ?

Speechless

A beautiful baby boy came into our life.
Last week my step-daughter gave birth to this sweet little man.
She named him Boaz.
A new life, a new love.

Biscuit with 'little mice', traditionally eaten in the Netherlands when a baby is born.
Pink for a girl, blue for a boy, anise taste.

Sea longing

Sometimes I feel a strong longing , a longing for the sea.
  Waves and sand and sallty sea breeze.
Sun on rocks and sand.
  To be near it, feel it.
Calming voice of water. Rhythmic.
Flowing water, flowing thoughts.
I can't go to the sea that often.
But I have a sea room, and then.... then I close my eyes.

Targets

Rain and music.
Working on this one, looking at sketches, deciding which ones
will become a painting or not,or later maybe.
Feelings and stories and images.

Also working on this one, too many things on my mind to paint ,
so not going as I would like. Need a very clear head to paint on canvas.
More used to paper,maybe that's the reason?
Leave it for awhile, a little struggle is good, too much is not.

And this little guy is keeping me company.
He's old and made of plaster,used as a target at a rifle-booth.
You had to aim at his opened mouth.....
They didn't shoot him, I like him.

Unfolding

I finished another canvas. Finished ... but always possible I add a touch of paint here or there.
This one was difficult to photograph, but these images are pretty close to the real thing.
So: Unfolding acryl on canvas 40x40 cm

And this is the page in my sketchbook( it's rather a loose papers map) where the idea was quickly put to paper.

Prints

These are prints I had made of two gouaches I showed you in previous posts.
Finally found a place to get good prints :)
I have put some in my Etsy shop, you can take a look if you like.

Stories

The snow is gone,whiteness melted away. Colors have returned and the garden is whispering it's January stories.
There are clouds and rain and spring is still far away.
But the scent of hyacinthes, already so promising.

She knew a safe place to keep stories.
gouache 24 x32 cm

Back to birds

gouache and collage

I've been always been intrigued by birds, they have fascinated me since my childhood.
They appear in my garden, my dreams and often they did in my work too.
The last years they slightly disappeared, that is in my work, but I noticed today they have returned the last months. I don't know the exact meaning of that but the birds are back.

me at the age of 3

pastels 1989

Talk to the birdman

A party to start with

Had to put pencils and brushes aside for acouple of days.
Preparing food and having a drink, a laugh and some fun with loved ones, a nice way to start the year.

But too much days without painting always feel as something is missing.