A walk in Provence

Last year a friend and I drove 3000 miles across France. Amid all the wonderful scenery one abiding memory is the bright, light greens of the vines. I don't know what I'd expected, but certainly not lines of almost lime green traversing the hillsides and valleys.

Katherine has captured perfectly that amazing colour and also the atmosphere of heat and sunshine using coloured pencils in, what I'd describe as,  a  very painterly way. This is a perfect reminder of my travels. Thankyou Katherine.

Detail showing lovely purple shadows and different greens.

This was the view Katherine saw frequently as she returned home from walks through the surrounding countryside when, with 3 other artists, she spent several weeks in Provence this summer.

This wonderful time has been recorded in the Blog Four Go Painting In Provence.

A willow tree at the river Neckar

Late, but not too late hopefully, I post this wonderful postcard with line drawings by Albrecht Rissler. On the front there is a stunning drawing of a willow tree at the river Neckar, on the backside you can see views of Heidelberg. I guess Albrecht did the drawings with his Tombow pen.
Once I had the pleasure to see how Albrecht's hand would move over the paper like a human high speed plotter knitting a landscape in a most varied line grid.

Thank you very much Albrecht for this generous gift!

Hi from California!

A lovely painting of a lovely day by Desirée Habicht

Isn’t this a great picture? Desirée’s card shows two wonderful ladies (probably watercolour painters) enjoying a perfect summer day at Glen Ivy Hot Springs. Unlike the dauntingly elegant, high-maintenance layabouts usually seen in spa advertisements, these ladies obviously deserved this iced-tea-drinking drift around the pool preceded by mud baths, massages and sauna… and Desirée accurately guessed that this might be my kind of place!

Memories of Winter

What can i say, this is such a beautiful card, it doesn't need words!

Vivien's use of mixed media is always so inspiring!  She tells me, this was started back in the winter as a demo for one of the classes she tutors. The first frostings of snow, done in oil with a palette knife on brown card. She then finished it off a couple of weeks ago on a scorching hot day "a nice antidote to cool me down" as she put it.

 All the veil of colour on top of the white is coloured pencil.  It's really lovely. No other medium lets you produce such delicate interweaving.  I am definitely inspired to pick up my pencils again.  I had no real idea one could get such effect over oil paint.

Thank you Vivien, it's such a wonderful mix of composition and colour.  I think it will look rather good framed and on my wall!

Seasonal Beauty from Felicity Grace

I've been an admirer of Felicity's extraordinary drawing talent for years now and her work never ceases to impress. Now she is combining watercolour with her coloured pencils so skilfully. I love the way she will take a small botanical specimen and focus on it until it reveals the beauty that many would overlook. This card is no exception with its little glowing berries.

I love the monotone study on the reverse side ...

and the wonderful little Swiss cow bell on the envelope. The bonus is the beautiful bird stamps.

Thank you so much Felicity, knowing you made this card just for me makes it extremely special.

A rampant garden, a postcard from Bridget to Ronelle

Bridget's garden is only three years old, but already so rampant that she suspects something is buried there. I would like to believe there is...wouldn't' that be just a great story!

...a rampant garden.
acrylic on paper

This is a lovely Bridget piece, with her signature written all over it...beautiful in color and atmosphere and her free spirit and easy going, carefree character is caught up in every stroke.

...detail...

Few things please me more than experiencing the freedom of expression through either a painting or a drawing, a written piece, a poem, a design, a corner of a home, or even something as simple as a fresh salad...when it comes from the heart, it is honest. True and strong. Exciting. It brings along changes. What more do we want.

Thank you Bridget, for expressing yourself in such a free and spontaneous way. I love my card.

Balboa Beach Sunset

From a park above Balboa Beach, California

I've received this delighful postcard of the view from a park above Balboa Beach in California from Pat. It's on heavyish watercolour paper.  I couldn't quite decide whether it was NOT or rough.  It certainly stood up to its travels very well.

Pat tells me that she climbs up the hill in the park so she can see the ocean, the rooftops and the sunset in the evening.   She then sketches at the top before taking herself off a pastry and a coffee!

The view and her story took me back instantly to 2006.  I whiled away some time during my drive down Highway 1 from San Francisco to San Diego having my Sunday morning breakfast in a cafe above Zuma Beach on Highway 1 in Malibu.

Pat's postcard reminded me so much of being up high looking down at the California coastline and the Pacific Ocean.  It's great to have a reminder of what it feels like to look down at the ocean.

From Liz in Australia to Pat in USA

I received Liz and Borromini Bear's postcard a few days ago and have been trying to figure out the best way of posting the image.  My camera just hasn't done it justice so I am posting it anyway with a disclaimer that...In real life it is much much better.  You will have to come to my house for tea and a rest in the garden to see the real thing though.  It felt so special when my husband handed me the mail saying you will be happy about the mail today.  Sure enough Liz's postcard has put a smile on my face for days.




Having a Cuppa in Nanna's China

Watercolor, ink postcard



  

I love the back of the card with all the wonderful
stamps and of course Liz's perfect handwriting. 





These areas were so wonderful I wanted to highlight them.
Especially the tea cozy keeping Liz's
 tea warm and ready for the second cuppa.



I want to thank you, Liz, for this wonderful addition to my growing collection of precious art from around the world.

Mt Blanc from Chamonix

You can imagine my complete delight when I arrived home to this breath-taking postcard from Alison. It is from Chamonix in the French Alps and shows the view of Mt Blanc at 4,800m - its massif is huge and every view is dominated by towering peaks regardless of which direction you are looking it. She says "You would love it here... Early june which is when we visit is very quiet ... you can walk for miles and not see anyone.you'd love the architecture too, old interesting facades and in parts begging to be sketched" It does indeed sound like I need to plan it into my next European visit. Hmm... I wonder if there is a tearoom there....

Thank you Alison... I LOVE it!!!

A Postcard from (Four Go Painting in) Provence

A little ray of sunshine arrived for me yesterday - not from Italy as you would think coming from Robyn - but from Provence, where she was sharing an artist's holiday that we would all have loved to joined in on with Katherine, Ronell and Sarah. Looking at this, I can just imagine the four of them sitting over... café au lait..? a beautiful beaujolais..? (a bit early for that judging by the blue blue sky perhaps - or perhaps not), gazing out of this window - see another version of it here -  and talking and talking and planning what to paint and how to paint it, in oils, or watercolour, or gouache... It's such a lovely soupçon of their time together and a beautiful, bright souvenir for me to keep and treasure, thank you Robyn, I'm so happy to have a peep through this sunny window!

Zaisersweiher, Germany

What a delight to recieve this card from Martin! On the back Martin has written 'These black and white greetings show a neighbouring village named Zaisersweiher (ink on paper).' From that description it sounds like a modest sketch but in reality it is very thick so perhaps it has been pasted onto board? I'm reminded of Cathy's words describing the back of another of Martin's cards as being like having a sample of his busy working studio, because it has some wonderful marks and textures, it's full of energy and industry. Also like Cathy, I put this on my mantlepiece, admiring the composition and the values, and then I found that it seems to change and reveal more details depending on the distance you are from it! It's a real treasure, thank you Martin!

Gallery-June postcards