And the winner is...

My sweet dear blogfriends, thanks for all your happy wishes,
I enjoyed them.
Your names went into a little bag and the one that was pulled out is
..................................
The Wild Magnolia !!
please email me your address my dear and the print of your choice will be sent to you, x.

In between

The end of February, not really winter anymore, not spring yet.
Just something in between.
No man's land.
No one rules here.

The lack of sunlight , the need of sunlight.
Wonderful photos of sunrise in the Aude (France) sent to me by my dear friend living there.
I gaze at them, I enter these images...it warms, it helps.

And a bright pink primula waits with me on the dividing line, a glimpse , looking ahead in time.

50 and a giveaway

Today is my birthday .They had this wonderful pastry made for me.
Vatel it's called, named after the famous French 17th century maître d'hotel and chef.
Roland Joffé made a wonderful film about him titled 'Vatel' with Gérard Dépardieu and Uma Thurman.
The pastry itself is very delicious and one of my absolute favourites, it's made of a crunchy almond pastry and butter cream.
But as I can't offer you a piece of this sweetness I will have a giveaway.
You can choose between two of my prints.
'Talk to the birdman' or
'She knew a safe place to keep secrets'
Just leave a comment with the print of your choice.
I will draw a winner next monday.
Have a nice week and good luck to you all ,x

Lost in France

Lost in France
acryl on canvas

Finished this one, for the moment, maybe later some things will be slightly changed..

And working out some more sketches.

The importance of links

The importance of links (especially the open ones)
gouache on paper 24 x 32 cm

Reds in the garden today

Had to look for some reds in the garden on Valentine's day ;)
The rest of the afternoon I will be painting .
The past week was very busy but now brushes are calling.

Saint Amour

L'amour est enfant de Bohème
Il n'a jamais connu de loi..
(Carmen Bizet)

Love is a gypsy's child
it has never, ever, known a law..


A lovely day to you all !!

xxx

With great pleasure I designed Boaz' birth announcement.

Vista gouache on paper 24 x32 cm

and just a happy Monday....

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.