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Art Weekly No 139 – Pomegranate, Greece

AW-139_Pomegranate-GreeceFor Sale – 26th March 2014

The pomegranate has to be one of our oldest and most romantic fruit and has been cultivated since ancient times. There are a lot of pomegranates around Koroni, and they always seem to catch my eye, no matter which season. Right now they are starting to come into bud, and these, along with their branches, seem to produce an orange glow. The lovely bright green leaves are then complemented by the beautiful orange flowers, and then of course, the pomegranate fruit themselves arrive, which are in a class of their own. These seem to appear almost stealthily, changing from pale green through a myriad of orange shades, to the most vibrant tones of red. I think the pomegranate trees at their best towards the end of summer, still with some fruit, when their leaves turn from a luminescent lime green, to a vivid orange, before they shed them and go to sleep for winter.

PomegranateAutumn

Needless to say, the pomegranate fruit are a miracle in themselves – perhaps another painting and blog will be needed to cover them.

Pomegranate

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.

Pomegranate, Greece
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 135 – The Pioneer Church, NZ

The Pioner Church, NZFor Sale – 5th February 2014

As mentioned in my email, I’ve had this photo put aside to paint for years, and I always thought I’d taken it in Northland, New Zealand, when I spent some time there in 2005, but it appears that’s probably not the case! Now I’m totally flummoxed. The church does certainly seem to be in the style of those built in New Zealand in the 1800’s, but as someone pointed out, it could be Australia as the trees on either side look rather like gum trees and I suspect the dry grassy area in the foreground would fit too. If Australia, it could only be NSW, but at this stage I’ll leave ‘NZ’ in the painting title, and if anyone has any suggestions, I’d be glad to receive them!

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.

The Pioneer Church, NZ
Price: AUD$ 90.00
Size: 15 x 21cm
(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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Art Weekly No 132 – Le Marche, Aix en Provence

AW-132_LeMarche_AixenProvenFor Sale – 11th November 2013 –

As you might have gathered from my recent blog, we’re now in France, after a great saunter through Italy. My previous post gives you the highlights of that.

I’ve never managed to get to Aix en Provence, which is strange considering we lived within a 2 hour drive for 3 years. We’ve had a couple of attempts during our past French trips, but it never quite worked out, and once we even arrived there, but couldn’t find hotel.  This time we were determined to at least have a look at the place. We spent the night, and next morning managed to land right in the midst of the Saturday market – a real bonus for me, of course. I was becoming convinced that many of the French markets were abandoning the coloured umbrellas, and leaning more towards the practical white ones, often attached to the side of the ever more efficient vans.  But there they were, in all their glory – umbrellas in every colour, stretched through a large area of Aix.  It was a very crowded market, so taking photos proved a little tricky, and I have plenty of heads and elbows in some of my shots as proof, and although the overall impression was one of multi-colours, when narrowing it down for photos, I didn’t quite capture it as I would have liked, but ho hum….. it was still great. The mushroom stand was just amazing, as being autumn, the cepes were there in all their glory, giant ones this year too.

Anyway, this little painting is actually a watercolour, worked up in my rather heavy handed acrylic method of painting. The trick with watercolour I believe, is leaving lots of nice white paper – something I am still trying to achieve. This one depicts a tiny section of the flower market, but there will be more of these market scenes to follow. Have I said that before I wonder…..?

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.

Le Marche, Aix en Provence
Price: AUD$90.00
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)

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Art Weekly No 131 – Italian Lemons

AW-131-ItalianLemons
For Sale – 15th October 2013 –

I guess Italian lemons do look like any other lemons! I seem to have rather a collection of photos of them, and these are mostly taken around the Amalfi Coast or Cinque Terre areas of Italy. Many of the shops have beautiful displays outside, just waiting for a quick photo to be snapped, and many of the restaurants have a simple heaped bowl of lemons sitting on a table before the restaurant is barely open in the morning. Then of course, speaking of lemons, there’s also the wonderful Lemoncello, an Italian lemon liqueur. This particular photo, was taken in Manarola, Cinque Terre on our visit there last year.

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.

Italian Lemons
Price: AUD$90.00
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)