Vin de paille - greetings from the good side of life in Correze by Ronelle van Wyk

Dear Ronelle,
you really cheered me up with this lovely card and beautiful envelope not to speak about the extra perks I found inside(top secret ;). It seems you have a great time and a good life down there in Correze.

Of course I will try to find a vin de Paille!

Another Cool Cracker - The Comox Glacier

I have always admired Charlene's paintings of mountains, glaciers and lakes. I've never been to Canada but have visited the European Alps many times. Charlene's views always transport me back to that landscape. Bitter cold wind off the glaciers, even when the day is hot, and the sharp pungent tang of pine resin. Glorious!  I was so delighted therefore when this card arrived in the post!  (Not so delighted with the postmen though, who'd managed to print an orange serial bar top and bottom...... grrrr.  Thank goodness it's relatively faint!).

This is a view of the Comox Glacier near Mt Washington.  Charlene tells me they had big snow falls here late into the season and there was still a lot around at the end of May.  I love the colour and shapes Charlene achieves both within the mountain and the fir trees.  It has a lovely rhythm.

London today is overcast and windy.  I'd far rather be looking at this view for real.  Thank you Charlene, I'll look at your card and just pretend I'm there instead!

A Winter Postcard from Germany for winter in Sydney

I received my June card from Albrecht a little early....but I put it away till it was June. Now Albrecht’s beautiful actually relates better to what we are experiencing here in Sydney..although we have blue skies and sun, (no snow!) and a fresh 15C (that is cold for us!!). I can feel the longing for spring in the black and white pen sketch with the colours below....just one touch of of spring green on the right hand end! Because we only have a few deciduous trees (introduced species – all native gum trees are evergreen) we always have plenty of green around.

I really love both the front and the back of the card- more lovely sketches and some great stamps too! - thanks Albrecht for a truly beautiful card

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!!

Sennen Cove

A wonderfully moody, atmospheric card arrived from Vivien this month. I feel very priviliged to own this as it must have been drawn when she was on holiday with her family in Cornwall and even more as she describes Sennen Cove as one of her all time favourite places. Vivien has painted and drawn a whole series of studies of Sennen Cove on her blog capturing the changing light, colours and atmosphere so it's amazing to have one of these.

I feel, even without reading Vivien's words on the card, that her love of this part of the world really shines through in this image. It's stormy and grey, not the sort of weather most tourists want to see when they come here, but it's still inviting - the lines are drawing us to walk along the path to the harbour wall and take in that sea air. And what view awaits us if we just walk a little further and see what's around the corner of the building?

In the flesh it has some lovely textures but I'm not sure what Vivien has used to achieve this - perhaps pen, pencil and charcoal? Whatever was used, it is a fabulous card and I love it - thank you Vivien!

Robyn and her binoculars!

I'd forgotten that, as well as sketching and posting postcards, I also receive them. So getting a beautiful  watercolour scene from Umbria, Italy was such a lovely surprise today. 

Now, we at Sketchercise know how much Robyn treasures her binoculars, but to use them to see a distant view which she thought I would enjoy, and, at the same time sketch that view is possibly even a first for Robyn! And I do love it - the hillside house, the patterns of fields and trees and the Umbrian greens at this time of year.

Thankyou Robyn for the effort you've made. I do appreciate it. Though, at the same time I have this lovely, quirky mental image of you holding binoculars in one hand and a paintbrush in the other busily sketching and its making me smile - as you always do!!

A Deer in Richmond Park

Hidden in the Grass - by Alison Staite

You really need to see this beautiful, subtle watercolour in real life, the scan doesn't do it justice. Wonderful texture in the coat of the deer; beautiful soft green washes and the lifelike expression on the animal as it seems to detect the artist's approach. Alison says, 'In the summer months they often become well hidden in the long grasses. If they choose an area with the tall bracken, one can be walking along and they are barely noticeable'.

Ever since I've know Alison I have envied her the proximity of her home to Richmond Park and her encounters with the deer. She says, 'They are so used to humans one can get very close. People pay a lot of money to go to Scotland to get a glimpse of them. Here in Richmond Park you practically stumble over them - for free!'

Well I hope I eventually get to stumble over them with you, Alison. I couldn't think of anything more delightful.