Spring towards the Pyrenees/ Printemps vers les Pyrénées

70cm x 50cm

The air was quite cold when I painted this, which meant that the mountains were much clearer, more like in winter & yet with all the amazing lush vibrancy of spring vegetation in the foreground. I feel so uplifted by this view, I hope I can transmit some of that feeling to all those of you who also appreciate these sorts of places!

L’air était froid quand j’ai peint ce tableau donc les montagnes se distinguaient beaucoup plus, plutôt comme en hiver, tandis qu’il y avait une luxuriante végétation printanière verdoyante au premier plan. Je me sens tellement transportée par cette vue et j’espère pouvoir partager un peu de ce sentiment avec vous qui apprécie aussi ce genre de choses.

Late winter light

‘Late Winter Light’ 50 x 70cm Acrylic on Canvas. It’s very definitely Spring now, so I am glad to have finally been able to finish this painting & hopefully move on to something else a little more Spring like!

‘La lumière de fin d’hiver’. Sans aucun doute nous sommes arrivés au printemps, donc je suis contente que j’ai pu enfin terminer ce tableau et j’espère bientôt commencer quelque chose plus printanière!

First Blossom/Première Floraison

Wild plum is one of the first trees to come into blossom. A sign of hope in contrast to the bleaker aspects of the winter months. And let’s hope that our shared hope will be fulfilled!!

Le prunier sauvage est l’un des premiers arbres à fleurir. Une signe d’espoir par rapport aux aspects plus durs de l’hiver. Et j’espère que notre souhaît en comun soit satisfait!

Acrylic on Canvas 50 x 70 cm

Chêne d’hiver / Winter hedgerow oak

(I have written in English further below … I never really know which language will reach people the best! At least visual imagery is universal!)

Voici mon dernier tableau que je viens de terminer. (Acrylique sur toile 50 x 70cm). Les arbres sont l’un de mes thèmes préférés. J’aime explorer leurs personnalités! Toutes différentes comme sont les nôtres! Pour moi celui-ci a l’air un peu plus mouvementé que le précédent que je trouve plus calme. Qu’en pensez-vous? Et quand je peins, chaque petit trait change l’équilibre du tableau, jusqu’au point où c’est parfois difficile de décider si je l’ai vraiment fini!

Here is my latest painting that I have just finished. Trees are one of my favourite subjects. I like exploring their personalities! All different just as ours are. For me this one seems a bit more lively than the one before which I find calmer. What do you think? And when I’m painting, each little line changes the balance of the painting to the point at which sometimes it’s difficult to decide whether I’ve really finished it!

Winter Hedgerow / Haie en Hiver

Acrylic on canvas / Acrylique sur toile 50 x 70cm

My most recent painting … finished today. I enjoyed getting lost in creating the shapes inspired by the tangle of brambles. More meditative than being caught up in real brambles, which has also been my experience at times!

View of the Pyrennes / Vue sur les Pyrenées

The previous little painting is based on the left hand side of this drawing.. I think I need some different format canvases if I am going to pursue this subject!

View of the Pyrenees / Vue sur les Pyrenées

Acrylic on canvas/ Acrylique sur toile 30 x 40cm

Something a bit smaller than my usual canvas format & a bit freer than sometimes. Perhaps I’ll try another larger version sometime.

After the Rain /Après la Pluie

Acrylic on canvas 50 x 70cm

I meant to have posted this here ages ago as I completed it by the end of October 2020, but what with one thing & another ….! I was wanting to do a series of sunflowers, but I think now I am going to move onto something else as they are perhaps further off in my memory; It usually feels more right to paint from recent experiences & immerse myself in the present season I suppose. Best wishes & good health for 2021 … let’s hope things improve for everyone.

Sunflowers at Mondilhan

Acrylic on Canvas 50 x 70cm

After so many years of having posted nothing here, I have just about forgotten how this blog works! It feels good to be painting again…………finally! After so many years of teaching art in a school & trying to paint as well, the second of these activities finally gave way & I had no energy or inclination left over for my own art.

But since September I have taken a sabbatical & hope to get things back into a bit more balance. I even surprised myself really, by suddenly having the urge to paint again after all this time. I hope I won’t lose it again too soon!

Perhaps it seems strange to some of you for me to be painting something as joyful as sunflowers in the present gloom of our Covid 19 world! And perhaps I even wonder that myself. But it just came to me that that’s what I had to do. There is always so much that is depressing in the world anyway & it can really bring us down. This is maybe my way of remembering that if we are privileged enough to be able to, we can also appreciate what is amazing & life enhancing. I suppose it’s a way to try to combat negativity with positivity (without meaning to sound clichéd!)

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Screen printing Experiment

I’m sure a print maker would throw their hands up in horror, but anyway, here is my first attempt with screen printing! I hope I’m going to improve when I find the time to do some more! Still, at least I feel like I’ve already learnt something in the process. I quite like the fact that each one ends up slightly different. Hopefully though, some of the surprises in  future will be more along the lines of happy accidents rather than total disasters.

As you can see, I’ve cut up quite a few of the prints as they were really not worth keeping as they were!

Below is the finished thing in its entirety. I based it on a part of one of my paintings.