Hello Again Everybody,
Here's the finished painting of my Tortie - 'The Avatar Purr', so called because she's now the 'New Me' on the internet - do you see the little picture over there to the right? That's the one I mean....
.......and here's the painting with the Torte herself - not as confident in front of the camera as my fluffy Wilbur (see, she is like me)....
Away from the painting, we had a busy past few days driving to Birmingham, to a printing exhibition at the NEC. Recession or no, from Eller to the Encore Hotel, the ol' Chevy was the oldest car on the road it seemed, but did us as proud as ever, giving the Mercs a run for their money, especially when we were going downhill. It was a tiring trip - too much driving in too little time, but all worth it in the end I hope.
We saw the Cranes again as we were driving back along the A4 from Reims to Metz. Circling up ahead, you could see some of them flying through the low cloud - again what a wonderful close-up photo that would be. What a strange and different world they live in..... H also heard them when we stopped at a service station, but I was busy battling the coffee machine, so I missed them by a minute. Best coffee of the whole trip it was though.
It would be good to do a painting of the cranes, from their own perspective, with the cloud or the snow or the rain, in the dark, in the sunshine, with that compass in their head which sends them so many miles across Europe.... My next planned painting is of a swan, but I must think of the cranes......
So, soon - and here's a photo I took in the NEC in Birmingham.
Appropriate enough I think.....
Tschüss!!
Hello Everybody,
I must admit that I'm a bit behind with my news of the ice-breaker in the Moseltal.
The ice on the River has been gone for a few days now, but back on the 15th, it was still thick, although the temperature was starting to rise. We saw the ice-breaker by accident at the lock in Saint Aldegund, when we were on the way to Somewhere Else. It wasn't as big as I expected at all - probably the size of a large tug, but it did the job O.K. It went very slowly backwards, then the Captain put his foot down and tore forewards through the ice, crunching and breaking it all up into bite-sized chunks.
The sound of breaking ice is as vivid a memory of the frozen River as the sight of it was....
Then as the weather got (a small bit) warmer, the ice started to break down even more and the surface of the River began to move again. Today, there are still chunks of frozen waterfalls left on the land, but the River is clear and the sky was blue and sunny.
I took the top photograph at the same time as the ice-breaker - the poor swans at Alf, standing on the Alf Beck tributary, wondering where all their water went to....
Then off to Foreign Lands at the weekend - we took a spin down to Metz in the land of Pastis and Fish Without BreadCrumbs. We spent a peaceful Sunday morning in Metz Cathedral, after some spiritual guidance with the signposts (it's France remember) and a parking spot. Now I said a while back that I don't like to use the word 'wow', but yep, that's what you just HAVE to say when you step inside. It's so high, there's so much space - more space I think than would be taken up if it wasn't there, if you see what I mean....
Anyhow, the Service was on, the organ was playing and the sunshine was pouring through the stained glass, reflecting blues and yellows and purples on the stone......
After the Service, we wandered around while the organ was still playing and looked at the stained glass windows by Marc Chagall (the bottom one in my photo) - what a wonderful artist he is, 'wow' all over again......
So, soon - (my painting's nearly finished).
Tschüss!
Hello Everybody,
Still shivering in minus temperatures here in the Moseltal. I took a few photos this morning at the village of Alf, about ten minutes up the road from here. The ice goes from one bank to the other now and all the barge traffic on the River has been stopped. There's a barge moored in Alf at the moment, wedged in by ice, so she's going nowhere until the thaw sets in.....
But not all the River is frozen, only a mile or so from here on the other side of the lock, there's not much ice at all, just some along the bank and some small pieces flowing down on the current.
Just think, there's a major European River under all that.
Cold days are O.K. for painting though - no distractions of walks for one thing (it's TOO cold). Got quite a bit done - most of my Torte is now painted in apart from her eyelashes, so now I'm working on the background, which is based on my favourite scarf. Remember that I'm painting this picture as my 'Avatar' so it has to have a bit of meself in it....
I wasn't sure at one point whether to go with the tassles on the scarf, so I draped the real one around the painting to see how it would look.
O.K. I think, so I'm putting them in.
The blue of the scarf and the blue of the background already painted in are the same shade - it just doesn't look like that in the photo, but I really like the colour combination of Torte and blue.
So, Soon,
Tschüss!
Hello Everybody,
It's so cold now that the River is freezing over. It was minus 12 yesterday, although it's a bit warmer today. Minus 12 - cold, cold, cold.
We saw a barge breaking through the ice just past Beilstein yesterday afternoon and it was brilliant to see - and to hear it - crunching away. Not all of the River is frozen, it's worse coming up to the locks where the water slows down and the ice starts to build up, but it's also appearing now on the straighter stretches as well. Thinking back to the summer when the Mosel was so still and green, you could never imagine it looking as it does today.....
Anyhow, here are some photos to give you a bit of an idea. The photo of the geese, I took on Monday when the ice was beginning to form. They live in Bullay and Alf and commute from one side of the RIver to the other. Just think of those cold feet.
And here are a couple of photos I took today, just before the lock in Saint Aldegund. There was a bit of a snowfall last night, which had settled on the ice so it's easier to see.
No photos of my picture today - next time!
Soon,
Tschüss
Hello Again Everybody,
Minus 8 degrees on the thermometer this morning, so it's getting colder. The chill is starting to seep into the ol' bones a bit now..... While we were out, one of the cats (not my sweet Wilbur, I'm sure) managed to open the door of the unheated room that's by my studio room, so when we got back both rooms were cold and I had to paint in my fingerless gloves. Warm enough here now - but we're using the unheated room as an extension to the fridge at the moment. Left-over chicken with noodles - and it's still in the wok to save on the washing-up.
I managed to get this much done anyhow....
Well, I've actually done a bit more to the ears, but they will be for my next post. The background will be the colour and the pattern of my favourite scarf. The colour isn't right, but I just wanted to block in an approximate colour for now.
Out in the freezing environs of Ediger-Eller, there's still a very small amount of snow in sheltered areas where it fell a few days back before it turned too cold, but no frost. The local fountain has iced up though - I think it's a sculpture of Bishop Urbanus but I'll have to check that. The Egyptian Geese were standing by it looking cold..... Someone had broken the ice so they had some water to drink, but as H pointed out, there's a Whole River just a short flap away.
The way the fountain is facing means that you're always shooting into the Sun if you want a photo of the front - but you can see the icicles better from the side view. I wonder how long it will be before they thaw out.....
Soon,
Tschüss!
Hello Everybody,
Jeez, it's cold today. Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold. Minus five out in the garden, according to my trusty thermometer.
Wilbur, who likes to accompany me on the adventure of sorting out the recycling every morning, had one little turn around the flower pots and was upstairs behind the wood stove before I'd even closed the bin.
There hasn't been any more snow, so there are no picturesque winter landscapes, but there is a bit of ice on the small village roads. We went out for our daily spin around the countryside, all snug and warm in the ol' Chevy - but when we got out...... that breeze chilled you to the bone in a second.
Which made it a good afternoon for sitting in the studio room and doing some painting.
As I said previously, this painting is also going to be my 'Avatar' for my internet shop. I've been wondering for a while what to do...... Not a photo as I wouldn't want to put off any potential customers...... A detail of one of the paintings I've already done? Not really. Then I saw something which gave me the beginnings of an idea and it developed from that.
I've managed to get quite a bit done in a short time, mainly because I know exactly what I want this painting to turn out like. With my previous painting of 'Wilbur in the Window' I had the thought behind the painting in my head, rather than the finished result, which is why I was fiddling about and changing it here and there.
As you can see, Wilbur is not in this painting. It's my dear Torte. Perhaps I'll tell you a bit more about her as the painting progresses.....
So, wrap up against the cold and I'll be back soon.
Tschüss!
