Le tournesol / The sunflower

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Acrylic on canvas 50cm x 70cm Oct / Nov 2022

Bonne Année 2023 / Best wishes for 2023 ! One of my personal hopes for 2023 is to practise a little more artwork than I did in 2022! That shouldn’t be difficult given I did so little. And every time I restart I feel so rusty! Perhaps I should start painting cats & dogs instead ! One excuse for so little artwork is having adopted a puppy & then a kitten! So actually my other hope is that they will gradually need a little less input of my time & that the calm moments will increase. When I was teaching many hours in a school & feeling tired though, I used to do more. I don’t know how I managed it now! But then I think I burnt myself out a bit, so these days I try to not have high expectations & to not feel guilty for not producing. And for not promoting the little I do !!

I don’t always succeed in this though. I did very much enjoy painting the sunflowers & was a bit scared to finish in a way. Because when I paint I become so absorbed & then when it’s finished I am confronted with starting all over again & a sort of sense of emptiness. Despite knowing I have so many other things to be grateful for! Is this perhaps just the creative predicament ? Do other people feel this way? I suppose it’s really to do with it being the process that’s important, which applies to living in general really.

Spring towards the Pyrenees/ Printemps vers les Pyrénées

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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

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‘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!