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A Slow Trip towards Sydney….

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It was the last day of October and we headed off towards Patras, Greece to get the overnight ferry to Italy. Definitely couldn’t say I was going to miss the awful weather we’d had for the week before we left – not at all Greek.  We arrived in Bari to a lovely mild sunny day – the light always seems different there – somewhat more filtered, and the sky is not as quite as blue as in Greece, but still beautiful.

Italy2We’d decided to venture into a different part of Italy for our first night – something that’s getting trickier each time we land there as there are only so many directions you can head in. We booked a room in Sulmona, a lovely town set in a valley surrounded by mountains. The drive there was a little slower than expected but spectacular, and yes, that is snow in the background! Once again it was an area that would be great to spend more time in….. next time perhaps.

Italy1aIt turned out it was All Saints Day, and after checking in and having a wee siesta, we ventured downstairs onto the main street just in time for an amazing ‘Tutti Sante’ (All Saints) procession. The band was playing mournful, yet beautiful music and the procession of crimson robed men holding massive candelabras was amazing – we felt quite privileged to be able to see it. This is what I love about travelling – there are always little surprises to be had – mostly good ones!

BolsenoaNext morning, off to yet another new spot on Lake Bolseno, not too far from Rome. We had originally thought we might stay in Tivoli then decided it might warrant more time on a different trip. We drove through it instead which wasn’t such a great decision, as got stuck in a one way maze of streets and didn’t see much at all. Figured it was probably best visited on the train from Rome one day.
The trip through Italy is always interesting, and we generally scoot along through Tuscany at some stage. I always have the camera at the ready, as I just can’t get enough of the sweeping hills, which somehow look magnificent with absolutely nothing on them.

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A quick lunch stop at Sienna was called for, (and to buy another new handbag!) before we headed off to Moneglia for our next stay. It almost always rains on us here, and it did again. In fact, the rain followed us all the way to the France the following day, with bad flooding. In Provence, We gave in finally and pulled into one of the motorway-side hotels near Frejus, just to be able to relax and stay dry.

Next morning as we left Provence, we also left the rain behind and when we arrived in the Languedoc, the sun was shining beautifully.  One day we might get here in some other season other than autumn or winter, but it always looks so beautiful with the golden and sometimes almost leafless vines.

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We spent a week or so in France sorting out paperwork for various things and catching up with friends, and then it was time to start phase two of the trip with an early morning flight up to Paris and then onto Seattle, via Minneapolis.

US23The stop wasn’t our choice but in the end well worth it just to see what the Central North of America looks like covered in snow. Admittedly though, my imagination doesn’t quite extend as far as living in snowy conditions for numerous months of the year. US22

The flight over the mountains coming into Seattle was spectacular – so many mountains in such a small area! We headed immediately north of Seattle for our first night just to be on our way to Vancouver which was a good idea looking at the traffic, and I was very impressed by the single transit lane which meant we could speed along and not be bothered with all the slowing down of exiting traffic. We had a great stay in a very luxurious, but reasonable, Best Western that night and a rather daunting introduction to the American fast food manner of eating with a meal at Dennys.  My order was a huge blueberry pancake, with a separate plate of bacon, eggs and hash browns. Silly me expecting an amount that could fit on plate – how anyone could eat it all in one sitting puzzles me, and even with subsequent meals I never quite got my head around serving sizes!

US6Vancouver was as lovely as I’d expected. It was incredibly cold but clear and sunny. We were upgraded in our hotel and felt very at home in a stylish one bedroom executive apartment, just near Davies Street with all its restaurants and cafes. The boulangerie most definitely had the best almond croissants we’ve found outside of France, not to mention the tarte fraise!

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Like all good tourists, we took the cable car up Grouse mountain and had a wander around in the snow for a while, met a buck deer, but couldn’t see any bears in their enclosure. We then met some Canadian friends we’d met in Greece in Chinatown for a wonderful late lunch. I’d most definitely like to come back here again for a longer stay.

 

US9Portland was our next city to visit and I was very happy to find that it did seem to have a ‘cafe culture’ which I’ve missed in so many American cities. We also had a great drive along the Colombia River – more snow!

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but before going there we drove down the Pacific Coast. It was wonderful to see ‘real’ waves again and the big wide open beaches.

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We spent a night in a town in Astoria, on the side of the Columbia River. To me it was reminiscent of Hawkes Bay, NZ with its art deco buildings – nearly the whole town was burnt down in the 1920’s and rebuilt soon after. It was an interesting place, and I got to have wild Alaskan salmon for dinner – the local salmon wasn’t running, but this was the best salmon I’d ever tasted.  I loved the rubbish bins!

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Over the few days we visited all sorts of nice spots along the Pacific Northwest Coast and came across lots of interesting things to be photographed…..

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A few days in Los Angeles where the sun always seems to be shining, and then off to Sydney, where we had a great stay, until we hit the road again in mid February, with a drive down the coastal route to Melbourne.  That will be covered in the next blog, so I’ll be back soon!

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Art Weekly 141 – Polperro, Cornwall

AW-141_Polperro-Cornwall22nd April 2014 – SOLD

I took this photo of the harbour in Polperro when we visited the UK in December. This is my first ever painting of anywhere in England and the colour palette was a bit challenging! One of my reasons for wanting to visit Cornwall again after nearly 40 years was to see and photograph these tiny fishing villages tucked into the Cornish coast.

Polperro is a magical place with its jumble of small white houses and narrow streets set around a pretty harbour with its bobbing boats (when the tide’s in) – sounds a bit like Greece really, apart from the tide, but, way different! The fish and chips eaten in a little topsy turvey pub on the harbours edge were most definitely a high point. It really doesn’t take much imagination to evoke the centuries of its history as a thriving smugglers port either.

If  you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you’d rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

Polperro, Cornwall
Price: SOLD
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)

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Art Weekly No 140 – Blue Boats, Sanary sur Mer

AW-140_BlueBoats_Sanary-sur9th April 2014

There is something about the little harbour in Sanary sur Mer that I find quite magical. It’s lined with colourful Provencal style buildings, and tightly crammed with lovely old, even more colourful, traditional fishing boats. Tiny sea food stalls often line the port, selling today’s catch;  each stall proudly labelled with the name of the boat it was caught on. There is also a wonderful daily market under the trees with the usual spectacle of beautifully arranged fresh fruit and vegetables that the French do so very well.

Sanary sur Mer is a small, but interesting town on the French Cote d’Azur.  In the pre-war 1930’s, Sanary became home to a large number of German writers and intellectuals. I particularly like a quote from one, Hermann Kesten;  “If one lives in exile, the café becomes at once the family home, the nation, church and parliament, a desert and a place of pilgrimage, cradle of illusions and their cemetery… In exile, the café is the one place where life goes on”.  How true!  Sadly, following the outbreak of war, most of these exiles were imprisoned in Camp des Milles, a French concentration camp on the outside of Aix en Provence.

If  you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you’d rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

Blue Boats, Sanary sur Mer
Price: AUD$90.00
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)

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Art Weekly No 138 – Sitia, Crete

AW-138_Sitia-CreteFor Sale – 5th March 2014

This painting is a smaller version of one I’ve nearly completed. My first painting of this scene was about 15 years ago, from a photo I took when we stayed there in the 1970’s.

On a visit back to Crete a year or two ago, it seemed a good time to visit Sitia once again. I’d always had great memories of staying in a simple room there, right on the edge of the lovely harbour, and was interested to see what had changed.  Rather a lot had in fact, but despite a lot more modern apartment buildings, it has still managed to retain lots of character around the harbour, and if one squints a little, the buildings behind it can still look as they did back in the 70’s!

If  you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you’d rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

Sitia, Crete
Price: AUD$ 90.00
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)

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Art Weekly No 137 – Colours of Parma, Italy

AW-137_ColoursofParma_Italy
For Sale – 19th February 2014

Here we are in Parma, Italy, with this week’s painting.  We spent some time there in October and really enjoyed this attractive town, not far from Bologna and with similar coloured buildings and lots of narrow streets, though with no porticos!

I hadn’t ever imagined sitting down in a rather smart (and fairly pricey) restaurant, and and eating lunch consisting entirely of parma ham (3 different varieties) and parmesan cheese ( 3 different varieties again) but it was totally wonderful, and a must if you’re visiting Parma. Of course, it’s pretty damn essential to wash it down with a good local red as well!

If  you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you’d rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

Colours of Parma, Italy
Price: AUD$ 90.00
Size: 15 x 21cm
(Postage and handling included)

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Art Weekly No 136 – Reflections of Alonissos 2

AW-136_Reflections-of-Alonissos2For Sale – 13th February 2014

This is another painting based on one of my favourite themes, ‘reflections’. Once again I took this photo on the lovely Greek island of Alonissos. The line of fishing boats in the harbour below my hotel just cried out for frequent visits to determine which time of the day gave off the best reflections. Early evening, with the intensity of colours and patterns on the water, seemed to be the winner. I enjoy painting these and losing myself in the abstract!

If  you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you’d rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

Reflections of Alonissos
Price: AUD$ 90.00
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)

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Art Weekly No 134 – A Quiet Spot, Bologna

AW-134_AQuietSpot_Bologna
For Sale – 29th January 2014

As mentioned in my email, I had intended to try to ‘tone down’ my palette somewhat this year – but that certainly hasn’t happened here!  There is something about Italy that to me, turns on the reds, terracottas, and yellows, and Bologna is a definite example of that.  Everywhere in the city there are amazing rich coloured buildings;  in the wide avenues, and the tiny narrow laneways. Some are newly painted with well thought-out ‘accent’ colours, and others are peeling and crumbling layers of centuries of paint. The little Osteria in this painting was nestled into the deserted back streets and come lunchtime, I bet it would be packed with people.

Bologna is also a city of porticos – nearly 40 kilometres of them! I believe way back in 1288, Statutes established that all new houses should have a portico and it was required that these be big enough to allow the passage of a man riding his horse. This act left a wonderful imprint on the final appearance of the city which makes it so unique today.

If  you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you’d rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

A Quiet Spot, Bologna
Price: AUD$ 90.00
Size: 15 x 21cm
(Postage and handling included)

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Art Weekly No 133 – Reflets de France

AW-133_Reflets-de-France
For Sale – 10th December 2013 – SOLD

This title is actually a well known food brand here, but I do think it also suits this painting as, to me, it is one of the rather memorable ‘reflections of France’.  These long straight roads lined with plane trees are such a wonderful sight at all times of the year, but there is something quite stunning about them in winter when they’re almost bare and their trunks glimmer almost white in the sunshine. We have been getting plenty of sunshine here in the Languedoc, but that also comes with COLD. When I got inside following my early morning trot down to the boulangerie recently, Peter was pleased to point out that was minus 5oC! I suspect it might almost be warmer in the UK (and that’s saying something!) where we’re heading off towards tomorrow, with a few days exploring Normandy along the way.

If  you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you’d rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

Reflets de France
Price: AUD$ SOLD
Size: 15 x 21cm
(Postage and handling included)

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Bologna Porticos and Parma Ham & Cheese

We’re now in France and along the way, spent a lovely week or so sauntering through Italy. This time we decided to try out a different route, along the east coast from Bari in the south.  Our first night was spent in a nice little town called Vasto on the east coast. A night there was perfect recovery from a rather gruelling ferry trip with disturbed sleep by a horde of Russian Orthodox priests and entourage, all talking loudly, who then sat down near us and chomped on sausage and bread which they washed down with vodka – no sleep after that.

Once we found our way into Centro Storico – our usual method of attack in Italian towns – we discovered lots of narrow alleyways with restaurants and bars and interesting little shops – just our cup of tea, or vino rosso!  The ‘old town’ was perched on a hilltop, with lovely views down to the sprawling coastline below. There was the most amazing cloud formation when we arrived – in fact, there are always amazing cloud formation in Italy I find!  Vasto Vasto2 Vasto-chilli

At dinner, a simple pasta dish is always what we’re hankering for on our first night in Italy, I was asked if I wanted ‘picante’ with my pasta, which I usually expect to mean hot sauce.  It was a pleasant surprise to be presented with a whole fresh chilli and little pair of scissors!SanMarino-001We stopped for lunch the following day to have a look at the Republic of San Marino. A strange place really – it was shrouded in fog, so perhaps I’m being a bit harsh. It didn’t really seem to have an identity of its own – the souvenir shops (of which there were a lot) seemed to be happy selling all sorts of tat which really didn’t represent much of anything.

Bologna was our next stop. Wow what an amazing city that is. So much Italian grandeur all in one place. Every time we turned a corner, it was wow…. There are beautiful old arched patina-ed porticos absolutely everywhere. I believe there’s 4kms of them.  Most of the buildings are red brick, and those that aren’t, tend to be painted wonderful shades of terracotta, ochre or burnt sienna. Unfortunately on our arrival in Bologna, we’ve met with northern European autumn weather … grey and gray with lashings of fog – atmospheric perhaps?Bologna-007 Bologna-008Then it was down the road to Parma for the next couple of nights. Another lovely town. Smaller than Bologna, and also mostly pedestrianised, except for the cycles which seemed to be everywhere gliding silently around – they needed a bell or two, in my mind.  I never really thought it possible to have a whole (expensive!) meal of Parma ham, and parmesan cheese. Needless to say, and it was wonderful. The parmesan is softish and crumbly, and tastes almost sweet quite unlike the sharp dry stuff we tend to eat normally. It was wonderful to be able to visit the Salumerie and buy great big chunks to bring through to France.Parma2 Parma1 Palma-002Our last night in Italy was in another interesting little place, one which we’ve whizzed past on the Motorway many times.  Finale Liguire was a great find. It’s one of the towns along the Ligurian Coast so you have to make the effort to leave the motorway and wind down to the old coastal road below. We found a lovely hotel right on the water, and behind it were more laneways with restaurants, shops and cafes – again!  We had our last meal of soup and pasta for a while, and lay in bed listing to the waves – just like being in Koroni! 1-P1000449 2-P1000457Its always so nice to be able to spend time in Italy on these trips, and soak up the Italian way of life for a short while. Paintings to follow at some later stage!

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A Painting A Week No 130 – Reflections of Alonissos

AW-130-Reflections-of-Aloni

For Sale – 1st October 2013 –

When I was staying in the port of Patitiri on the lovely Greek Island of Alonissis in July, beneath my hotel window was a long line of fishing boats. They would be ‘missing’ when I woke in the mornings, and then gradually returned later in the day. I wandered past them most days in the hope of some good reflections and found that after 7pm they were at their best! Quite a few of the boats were red, and their reflections against the brilliant blue and turquoise water was definitely a painting in the making.

If  you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you’d rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

Reflections of Alonissos
Price: AUD$90.00
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)