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Art Weekly 176 – Spring’s Welcome – SOLD


13th June 2017 – SOLD

I love painting irises – the shape and colours are always so random. Masses of stalks and leaves all heading skywards, and leaning and crossing over each other, and the flowers with their various shades of purples and blues, (unless of course, they’re yellow or cream!)  I’ve named this painting ‘Spring’s Welcome’ because whenever I used to travel to France in the springtime, these cheerful irises seemed to be the first of the spring flowers to greet me, often growing wild along the deep ditches in the countryside.

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.

Spring’s Welcome
Price: AUD$ 90.00
Size: 15 x 21cm
(Postage and handling included)

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Art Weekly 173 – A Touch of Sunshine

aw-173-atouchofsunshine27th September 2016

I took this photo a few years ago in France, when I was tootling around the back roads of the Lot. I came to a break in the trees, and there tucked away amongst the sombre colours of the surrounding forest, was this little field of sunflowers. What else could I do, but screech to a halt and leap out with my camera!  It’s always so good to be able to capture these memories with paint.

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 Touch of Sunshine
Price: AUD$ 75.00
Size: 17 x 13cm
(Postage and handling included)

 

 

 

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Nearly Open, Honfleur

PN-07_NearlyOpen-Honfleur

Honfleur has long been one of my favourite towns in France and its well known throughout the world for its beautiful harbour, which I’ve painted a few times. On our last visit I also tried to photograph the colours of the cafes and restaurants lining the harbour which are still very much a huge part of Honfleur.

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Art Weekly 169 – Menton Rooftops

AW-169_MentonRooftops31st March 2016

Its been a while since my last Art Weekly, but we’re now back in Koroni and I’m attempting to break the ‘creative block’ and get back into painting. I find it always takes a while to settle down after travelling.

I’ve painted the lovely French town of Menton, near the Italian border, so many times. There’s something I love about the colourful old buildings crammed together above the port – part French, part Italian, and I can never get enough photos when we visit – every one a potential painting! This trip we were only passing through Menton, but did stop off to meet my ex Sydney neighbours, of many years, for lunch – a perfect rendezvous and wonderful to see 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.

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

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Art Weekly 167 – Annecy, France

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4th February 2016

I’ve always loved seeing photos of Annecy in the Rhone-Alpes region of France, and we finally had a visit there in September. The architecture and scenery is so very different from what I’m used to in the South. The historic centre is jammed with cobbled lanes, tiny canals and pastel coloured houses, so my camera was clicking overtime! Our hotel was right in the midst of it all, so there was plenty of scope for exploring, and we were lucky to be there for market day for even more photos!

Annecy is also known for it’s beautiful lake which is reputed to be the cleanest in Europe due to strict environmental regulations imposed back in the 1960’s. Being in the Alps, there is plenty of snow in winter, but we were impressed to hear that they don’t even use salt on the roads, so that the lake is kept in it’s pristine condition.  Good news for us considering we bought ourselves a new car there!

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.

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

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Art Weekly 160 – Paulette, Cotignac, Provence

AW-160_Paulette-Cotignac-me
1st July 2015 –

A few years ago when I was tootling around France on my own, I spent a couple of nights in Cotignac, a lovely little town in the Var region of Provence. I’d remembered staying there way back in the 1970’s and was passing through the area, so I thought I’d take another look. Cotignac is very typical of the small towns and villages in the area, with lovely shady trees and a fountain in ‘la place’   – so very cool and relaxing on a hot summers day.

There were two beautiful little shops in the town with wonderful dilapidated faded facades, one of which was ‘Paulette’, and the other right next door, ‘Drougerie’. I’ve had the photos of them waiting patiently to be painted for a few years now, so here’s the first one!  Oh, did I mention that old faded shopfronts are another of my passions!

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.

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

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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 157 – Cafe Louis, Paris

smAW-157_CafeLouis-Paris25th May 2015 –

I’ve walked past this little cafe many times, but have to admit I’ve never had coffee there. I’m sure it was the colour scheme that caught my eye – there’s something very calming about turquoise and white, but that could be the Greek influence! Whatever my reason, I feel it’s a typical Parisian corner cafe, just crying out to be painted, and visited on our next stay.

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.

Cafe Louis, Paris
Price: AUD$ 90.00
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)

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Art Weekly No 156 – Roses at the Chateau 2

AW-156_Roses-at-the-Chateau11th May 2015 –

A few years ago my Art Weekly No 70 was a painting of dusky pink roses leaning against the gates of a chateau in the Charente area of France. These brilliant red roses were growing abundantly against another wall of that same chateau, and I’ve been intending to paint them for some time.

The photo brings back lovely memories of driving through France, from the Lot up to Normandy, in early summer. I had booked myself into this small chateau, and when I arrived all I could see was a large doorbell with ‘sonnez svp’ on it, so I did (push, that is).  After some time a slightly disheveled man appeared, who said that Madam was somewhere in the chateau gardens, and could I go and find her, and she would check me in!  It was on my wander around the gardens to locate Madam that I found myself in the different areas with so many beautiful flowers. I did eventually find Madam, who wasn’t after all sitting in the sunshine sipping her pastis and reading a book. She was equally as disheveled as Monsieur, and knee deep amongst the weeds in her wellies!  I had a wonderful relaxing night’s stay in a massive room, and an excellent breakfast!

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.

Roses at the Chateau 2
Price: AUD$ 90.00
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)