Willow reflections

Katherine's card popped up at Coin Perdu in the New Year, but it was actually done still in the old year. Maybe reflecting on the old year, while sketching the reflections of the willow...?

..the willows..
done in colored pencil and pen on Arches HP paper, 19x28.5cm

Between the full sketch and the crop below, one can get a great feeling of the marks Katherine makes with her pencils and pen. a lot of cross hatching, some erasing for the higlights, some darker pressure here and a soft touch there... I especially love the darkness of the reflections breaking up into softer tones and hues and more highlights and finally disappear into the lefthand corner, adding such lovely diagonal movement. I feel as if I'm slowly passing in a canoe, dragging my hand through the ripples and reflections.

...the willows(detail)...

Katherine chose to compliment the Loire here in my world with her sketch of the willows at the basin of the Regent's canal there in her world...very appropriate and very special! Thank you for a lovely card Katherine!

My golden treasure.

Just before New Year, my postman drove all the way to the house to drop me my mail. We are now on good foot...we should be! I bought a calender from him! And to my delight, it was a postcard from Robyn. My Christmas was extended with a whole week.

It was an experiment she did with oil pastels on a gold acrylic ground. The gold doesn't show up so well with the scan so I took some photo's on angles with added light to catch the gold. I wanted you to see the gold acrylic ground.
On Robyn's blog you can see more of this technique she is playing around with(or messing around with, as she calls it...). How does the saying go..."One person's mess is another person's treasure"...?

...the gold reflects beautifully in the dark corner bottom left...

...more golden reflections on the ground and a view on "Giornata mondiale del teatro"...

Thank you for my golden treasure, Robyn!

A cup of french Earl Grey with Liz.

For some reason I am drinking much more tea since a few weeks back. It lifts many an eyebrow, because it is unthinkable that I would refuse a coffee for a tea.
"What happened? Are you sick?" Apart from a shoulder shrug and a lifted eyebrow myself, I didn't have an answer. Until I received my card from Liz. It hit me. Of course! It is Liz and her love for a cup of good tea!
For quite time Liz had been sketching these colorful tea scenes around a tea pot, a cup or two and yes...a tasty treat, like once again in this card. Now how does one stay on the right path when seduction is thrown so blatantly in your lap!

Thank you for a lovely tea scene, Liz, and I'm enjoying my cups of tea so much so, that now I'll be on the search for your latest discovery...French Earl Grey. By your hand I am becoming a refined lady!

Charlene in Austria

My postcard from Charlene Brown has arrived and what a surprise, it is from Austria!  Charlene is such a peripatetic artist.  I'm thinking there could be a book in 'Where's Charlene Now?'  Of course she is more than capable of writing, illustrating and publishing such a book herself.  I would appreciate a free copy for the brilliant idea.

Charlene said, 'this is Dürnstein, Austria and the 'Burgruine' above the town is said to be the very castle where Richard the Lion Heart was held prisoner'.  It goes without saying that Super Sketcherciser, Charlene climbed up there and painted the view from the prison.  She confesses that she made the Danube a little bluer and the trees a little purpler than they really are, but I'm not complaining because this is a beautiful watercolour with gemlike colours shining through. 

Many thanks, Charlene I'm thrilled with my postcard from Austria.

The Majan ruins of Copan in Honduras

If there is one thing that I find hugely exciting, it is discovering foreign places. If I can't discover it myself, receiving a postcard, is as an exciting confirmation of my intention to visit that place. Standing with a handpainted postcard from a foreign place in my hand, from a friend...thàt is the ultimate experience. I now have a burning desire to visit Honduras. And I have Charlene to blame for this shameless desire.

.. higher residential level of the Majan ruins of Copan - a city with several tree- covered pyramids....

Her postcard took many small roads to finally get to me and it's far and wide travels had clearly left its mark...but somehow it has added to the mystery of Charlene's card...lost civilizations...age...endurance..a card. Do you want me to go on? I can if you want...if you had this pilgrim card in your hand, you would feel the same...
Thank you Charlene, it took months for Copan to reach me, but it is my story card and well worth waiting for!

Wee Scottish House in Straiton

Acrylic 14.5 x 20 cm
Bridget Hunter

This is wish fulfillment - to own a landscape painting by Bridget Hunter. What a temptation this must have been for postal workers but thank goodness they delivered it safely to me.

Trying not to gush over Bridget's work because it really speaks for itself. Click on the image to enjoy a bigger version so you can enjoy the brush strokes and the colours.

It shows how much Bridget loves this landscape. Straiton, near the Galloway Forest is where she lived happily for twenty years with her three daughters going to the tiny two teacher school. She says, 'the hills are grazed by black faced sheep and lower down by hardy beef cattle. It's Autumn now and the leaves are turning and being blown off the trees by the squally showers we're getting'.

Beautiful. Thank you, Bridget.

A ray of Tuscan sunshine!

This beautiful card came from Robyn in Tuscany. I'm afraid my scanner hasn't captured the colours at all well but the stone walls are painted in a range of very delicate pinks and soft browns which seem to radiate with the warmth of the Tuscan sun! I love the shadows playing across the blue/green door and it's all been painted so delicately.

On the back Robyn has written "This is the door to the old convent house we rented when we first arrived in Castiglion Fiorentino. I stop by often because it is now owned by friends but mainly because it holds such great memories of our first year in Italy with an open fire, two dogs and no television!" Isn't that wonderful? Now I want to open the door and go inside!

The Value of Strong Values

Watercolour 21 x 15 cms

The richness of the values in this beautiful postcard from Cathy Gatland is a fantastic demonstration of the power of deep, contrasting values in watercolour. The painting pops right off the card. The beautiful detail of the Sparaxis on the reverse side is stunning. A real prize! Thank you so much, Cathy.

Gallery - July postcards

Just as difficult as it is to sometimes control our appetites, just as difficult or even more so is it to control life. And so our gallery for July isn't complete yet.

Life delivers us full trays. But we'll take it in the stride and add the postcards to the gallery as they show up!

In the meantime...hope you still all enjoy seeing the cards as much was we all enjoy receiving them!

Gallery-June postcards

A cold, but sunny afternoon-postcard from Cathy to Ronelle

...a bright splash of colour...camelia..

Our postman complains all the time. First it is about the mailbox not being the standard size. We have an old vintage one from 1930.
Then he complains because the rules say it should be locked. I don't care much for keys.
His biggest complain is probably about the narrow road in which he can't make a U-turn, he has to pull back up all the way uphill in reverse.
So when the postman visits and I'm outside, he recites his whole poem of complaints while handing me the mail. I am then depressed for the whole of the day, because I don't want him to be unhappy, but I also don't want to give in to all his boring demands.

But, according to Hartman who received the card when I was in Provence, on delivering Cathy's card the postman didn't complain a single word, instead, he patati patata'd the whole time about the "jolie envelope"! What a delight for both of us...me and my postman!

...une jolie envelope...!

...A sunny wintry afternoon at Emmarentia dam in South Africa...
watercolor and pen on watercolor paper, 25,5x18cm

..and some detail ...

Thank you for a special card Cathy, with all its snippets of typical South African delicacies...rooibos tea from Eleven o'clock....Jungle oats....and redro fishpaste - how I hated that as a child, well, I probably still do, but now I love the memory of that hate!!

Felicity's Curiosities

a maple curiosity - a watercolour painting on a postcard by Felicity Grace

As I was packing to go to France, I received a delightful postcard from Felicity Grace (Felicity's Philosophies and Other Curiosities).

One of the things I like so very much about this project is how people choose subject matter particular to them and also related to the person who's receiving the card

Felicity Grace knows how much I enjoy botanical art and her postcard for me is a delightful painting of a maple twig.  I love interesting leaves and these are gorgeous.

I'm not sure what she's painted on but it's a lovely warm buff coloured card with little crimson red flecks in - which reminds me of the papers which incorporate petals and leaves. 

She says

Hi Katherine

At this time of year I should be drawing something bursting into life, but this dried up maple twig is what caught my eye.  Below are Acquilegia seed heads from my garden...... 

Acquilegia seed heads from Felicity's garden

The Jet d"Eau in Geneva

and on the envelope, the Jet d'Eau - something "Geneva" for you

Hope you have a fabulous time in Provence!


All the best Felicity

The sketch on the envelope was so effective I thought it was something that had been printed and done specially for people sending envelopes from Geneva!

I'm sat here writing this in London - while having a break from the panic associated with packing and generally getting ready for a long drive across France.

By the time this publishes I should be sat in the sun with Robyn enjoying  the view from our temporary home in the Vaucluse.

I didn't get a sketch done before I left so whoever is getting my sketch in June will definitely be getting a postcard sketch from Provence!

Colourful Autumn – Cathy's postcard from South Africa

This colorful autumn postcard I received yesterday on a wonderful early summer day. Cathy wrote that she drew this great little work of art at the May Day public holiday. Cathy has a beautiful handwriting: "We are fully into autumn now & there are so many colours where I walk round the dam - too many to hit on a postcard! ... lots of people walking in the park. The birds are Hadeda Ibises (because of the noise the make) which graze on the lawn every morning ... "

Thank you so much Cathy! Everything on the postcard, on both sides, fits perfectly together including the stamps and the very well characterized silhouettes of ibises.

A postcard from the Island of Sky

Today I received a beautiful postcard from an area which is still on my list of places I would like to visit in my lifetime. Great, many thanks Bridget! I guess you have painted the postcard with acrylic. A few strokes of a pen are visible. Bridget wrote: "I've spent the last week on the Island of Skye. Though it frequently rained nothing could spoil the dramatic landscape, the Black Cuillin Mountains plunging into the sea. Its history is also full of drama too - the remains of abandoned crafts (small stonehouses) when the crofters were forced to leave their land to make way for sheep, many having to emigrate and the stories of Bonnie Prince Charlie who took refuge here. This view is off the shore at ARDVASAR, on the southern part of the island.«
I of course immediately asked at Wikipedia about the unfortunate Charles Edward Stuart. When I come to Rome next time I will visit his tomb in St. Peter's.
One more time: Thank you so much Bridget for this gem in my collection of postcards!

Richmond Hill - a view protected by an Act of Parliament

The View from Richmond Hill by Alison Staite

I was absolutely delighted to receive a watercolour painting of the view from the top of Richmond Hill from Alison.

This is an absolutely classic landscape view.  So much so that it's actually the only view of a landscape in the UK that is protected by an Act of Parliament - the Richmond, Ham and Petersham Open Spaces Act passed in 1902 - to protect the land on and below Richmond Hill and thus preserve the fine foreground views to the west and south. This might possibly have had something to do with the fact that Sir Joshua Reynolds who was President of the Royal Academy of Arts used to have his home in a large house at the top of Richmond Hill and this was the view from his house!  Plus Turner painted this view.  It's certainly been painted by a lot of other artists since - and now that list includes Alison.

I know you loved views and vistas so it seemed appropriate for you!

Then I remembered that I'd had in mind to do the same view for her when her turn came round - so I guess I'm going to have think of something else now! :)

Alison has gone for an extended landscape format and she describes it as a rather oversized postcard.  She has painted the view on khadi which is a handmade cotton rag paper with an interesting deckle edge.

It was the first time I'd tried it for sketching, so what with all the greens to mix and an unfamiliar paper I was way out of my comfort zone.  The paper is really good fun though and I'll definitely be having another go.  I need Robyn's help so I can make a proper bound sketchbook out of it.

Looks to me like Alison has had a great time and I certainly recognised the view straight out of the envelope!

The reason everyone dreams of a villa in Tuscany

I was so pleased to receive this enchanting Tuscan miniature by Robyn Sinclair in the mail! Doesn’t it look about as idyllic as your wildest imaginings of fantastic places to live and paint… and garden or, better yet, admire other people’s impressive efforts?  Robyn says the town, Castiglion Fiorentino, is “right in the heart of the breadbasket of Italy.”  Looks like they can provide the makings of a pretty respectable antipasto and something nice to drink with that bread as well!

A crazy day in Sydney

I’ve received this incredible annotated map of a day in the life of Liz Steel. It makes me feel like a complete slacker, but I love this postcard! Here’s her numbered guide to the whole extravaganza:

1. walk south along/across the Sydney Harbour bridge

2. visit Tara Tearoom with sketching buddy Alissa

3. walk past the building I intend to draw and take photo as the sun is in the right location, then walk through the city to get to the gardens for Sketchabout Week I – after great time sketching and afternoon tea with 8 fellow sketchers, leave garden

4. walk around circular quay, dodge tourists

5. sketch for you (that would be me!) looking into the sun

6. too late for Parker’s Art Store this week

7. back across the bridge, including sketch

Liz describes it as an unusually crazy day, but if you follow her blog, you will know she does this sort of thing ALL THE TIME!

2010 Whistler Olympic Monument

Charlene Brown
Watercolor on Paper

Charlene has been climbing every mountain and visiting every country and reporting about it for all to enjoy through her many blogs.  Go and visit and you will be thrilled as was I the first time I found her wonderful art and words over a year ago.  Her web site “1150 Words” @ http://charlenebrownpainting.blogspot.com/is a real treat.  However not as big a treat as receiving one of her pieces of art in the mail…..just for me……all mine……but I am sharing the image with you all now.  The computer screen with its back lighting does make it beautiful but not as nice as holding it in my hand.  I used a flash to show off the touches of gold added to enhance the monument.

Echium Spring in California

A 4.5" x 6.5" postcard from Desiree Habicht

My mouth has been watering for ages over Desiree's beautiful botanical studies in pen and watercolour. Now it's like a bunch of Echium has been delivered to my door, which just goes to prove if you want something enough it will come.

Desiree's postcard message says 'During my 9 day plein air paint-out I saw this brilliant blue spotting the hills. The bush can get very large and woody so best grown in background or kept pruned.' There speaks an authentic gardener as well as an artist.

This gorgeous postcard tingles with colour. I'm hoping Desiree will tell me what that beautiful blue is because I don't find anything like it in my paintbox.

Thank you Desiree. One very happy fan here.

Winter in Richmond Park; a postcard from Alison to Ronelle

Alison Staite's (Lens and pencil) postcard reached me just in time before I took off to Singapore.

What can I say? Beautiful in its monochrome colours, with a serenity and quietude that captures your spirit. "...but oh, wait a minute...what is that behind the tree stirring this peace...? Oh look, a deer! There...to the right! Oh, and another one,..! Aren't they so beautiful?"

Winter in Richmond Park

A story...this is what Alison's postcard is about. And reading her story in her own handwriting, makes it personal. Gives it life. Movement.

I know you would like Richmond Park.  Some of the old oak trees. like the one I have painted here are so contorted and bizarre they seem unreal.

The park is full of deer who eat the lower branches.  This gives the trees a manicured loo, some of them like lollipops - like the ones in the distance on my postcard.

The rest of the park is covered in rough grass and bracken.  All this surrounded by a huge continuous wall enclosing the area 10km2 - that's three times the size Central Park in New York.  I am so lucky to have this on my doorstep!

Come and visit!

Stirs the desire to look again. Closer.

And simply enjoy.

Links re Richmond Park, London

• More reading:  Royal Parks: Richmond Park
• Location on Google Maps:  Richmond Park