HUNGRY DUCKS

Back now from our holiday travels in the camping car with a handful of sketches to share.  This group of ducks came to see us each day in search of food.

The Gorse is still in bloom!

 

Have you heard the old saying 'When the gorse is out of bloom, kissing is out of season?'

Well, here in Brittany it's very true and despite gales, heavy rain and some frost there are flowers all year round and of course we kiss our friends and neighbours every time we see them, on both cheeks!

Happy new year to all you nature lovers, keep on loving and drawing it at every opportunity!

TULIPS

 

My tulips lasted a week till the petals started to fall gracefully down to the table.

FUSCHIA FROM JUSTINE

When I came to live in France 12 years ago my daughter gave me a collection of cuttings and seeds from her own garden to plant over here.  I can honestly say that most of the perennials and self seeded annuals that populate my garden now came from her.  This Fuschia is opposite my dining room window and very popular with the bluetits that feed on the insects that crawl on it, allowed to flourish because I don't do any pest control except for the slugs and snails that eat my dahlias.

EVENING SUN

 

After a hard day's work in the garden we finally relaxed with a cool drink in the house.  I noticed how the low evening sun caught the hairy edges of the geraniums growing up just outside the window and tried to capture the image in white gel pen and coloured pencils.

SILVER BIRCHES

 

During our English trip we stayed on a campsite near the junction of the M25 and M23 in Surrey.  It's hard to believe when you're surrounded with beautiful trees and bluebell woods you're in the busiest part of the country!  I had a wonderful time drawing everything I could see from our pitch in my home made mi-tientes sketchbook.  There's more on my blog http:// valeriejaneg.blogspot.fr

Winter in France

 

It's been a few weeks since I posted from my corner of Brittany, it's been windy, wet and cold so not a lot of outdoor sketching!

 

 

I take my walks to the beach when I can and today I found a few things to inspire me. The wild garlic plant was in the pavement growing in the crack between the boundary marker and the tarmac, these plants line the roadsides everywhere at the moment giving a bright accent to all the green and grey.

 

 

We had some amazing skies at dawn and sunset before Christmas but now it's just grey clouds and rain or snow!

Chestnuts are bursting open all over the place here in our corner of northern Brittany. They seem smaller than in previous years despite all the rain which I would have expected to swell the fruits.  Maybe they need more sunshine too!

It seemed sunnier in August when I drew this a couple of months earlier but then the rain came back!