Hello Again Everybody,
A special day today because we saw the cranes. It had started to snow this afternoon and the light was just beginning to fade, when I heard them calling away. I thought at first that it might have been the Egyptian Geese, because, even though there's only two of them, they sometimes take it upon themselves to migrate to Siegfried's and make a lot of noise while they're doing it - but it was the cranes. Flying up high in the chill twilight over this old meandering River, with their whooping call and the snow falling on their wings - now that would have been a good close-up photo.......
I didn't even have the opportunity to take a long distance one as they flew over so fast, but I did take one last year.....
This year they're almost a month earlier, but perhaps I missed the first ones then. Flying all the way to Scandinavia and the Baltic from their wintering grounds in Spain and they pass right over Ediger-Eller. What with this cold weather they're probably wishing that they'd stayed in Spain for a little bit longer.
And yes, my painting is finished - 'Wilbur in the Window' is what I'll call it, even though to myself it's called something else. I did a bit of adjustment to the celtic circle to make it a bit less prominent, as it was overpowering Wilbur slightly. Then a little bit of paint here and there, then the whiskers.
I'll scan it into my trusty computer tomorrow and sort out the print - must update my website as well.
There's a new painting underway already (they overlapped a small bit) - and it's going to be my Avatar..... Now, I never really thought that I would have one of these, but there ye go. I'm going to need it for my shop, so I thought that I'd combine a painting, a print to sell and the Avatar all in one.
It'll be in my next post,
so,
soon,
Tschüss!
Hello Everybody,
Well, they were frosty a few days back. There was a beautiful bright blue sky and many of the trees up on the plateau were covered with a crunchy coating of white.
It was the coldest time of the whole winter so far - just when I was considering jettisoning the thermals and looking forward to Spring. There were some lovely landscapes though. The temperature on the plateau of the Hunsrück or the Eiffel (it depends on which side of the River you are - east is the Hunsrück, west is the Eiffel), can be a lot colder than down here in the Valley - it's still nippy enough though when the wind blows along the Moseltal.
I had the opportunity to spend a bit of time on my painting - I had to make up a new batch of teal and go over the whole area again. It took a while to do the lettering - first I traced off an old Celtic font, scanned it into my computer, centered it up and printed it out the right size. Then I cut it out, scrunched the paper up so I had some authentic creases to look at, traced it out and painted it on. I wanted the lettering to have an uneven look to it, but it looked a bit too uneven, so I had to straighten it up a bit. I was originally going to put the lettering inside the circle by the mountain, but I was reading my Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera books over Christmas and they used to paint pictures with messages painted on, as if they were on a piece of paper 'stuck on' to the painting. 'That's a good idea' thought meself, which is why I had to add a bit more to my original teal background.
And what does it mean? - it's the last line of one of my favourite books.
The real Wilbur inspecting the work in progress. Isn't he sweet....!
Soon,
Tschüss!
Hello Everybody,
As we stumble from the wreckage that was Christmas and the New Year, there are a few things that we must make a mental note to not do this year coming. Among them is not to spill a glass of water (yes it was really...) over this laptop and another important one is not to watch the clip of 'Hear my Song' 73 times on You Tube.....
The water over this computer was a right bollox altogether - all I wanted for Christmas was to have our laptop back, but it wasn't looking good. Plastic bags and cat litter (Wilbur was very suspicious) and giving it 'just one more day' because we knew what would happen when we switched it on. Zilch.
But then we had an unexpected trip to England and H booked us in with an appointment at Apple in Bluewater. And here we are up and running again - brilliant service, especially as it was over the New Year.
Driving back from England, we were in the middle of a huge storm - the ferry was up and down like a rollercoaster and so was my stomach, but H managed to down a plate of spuds, carrots, peas and lamb chops.
The rain put plenty of water in the French rivers - the Meuse was flooded and when we got back the water level on the Mosel was a lot higher....
Ediger was flooded along the main road, but Eller is a bit further back so we were O.K. In the bottom photo you can just about see the row of trees in the water, which is where the path by the river normally is. It makes a right ol' mess as well, as all the sticks and twigs that are in the flood water get left behind when the water recedes - either that or they get caught up in the branches of the trees and end up looking like huge nests when the river is back to normal.
Back to my painting again today. Took the plunge with the background and painted it a dark teal blue - then I thought about changing the composition slightly so I had to make the bottom part longer. Of course I hadn't mixed up enough paint to do this and my new teal is the wrong colour (of course it is) - you can even see the join in the photo......
See, there it is.
Oh and by the way, the 'Hear my Song' clip is the one with the fishing boat.
Yes, that's it - isn't it great - 74 was always my lucky number.....
Soon,
Tschüss!
