WOYWW 840 Mountains and the wind

Hi all, I’m posting onto our weekly bloghop care of Sarah’s craftshed. I’m hoping you feel better soon, Sarah. 

We love this hotel near Mont Ventoux so we’re staying an extra day. 

Here’s my desk: watercolour painting on the terrace, mozzie cream and mojito in hand. I had to use yesterday’s painting as the Mistral is blowing in earnest today.  

Here’s Mont Ventoux, (over 6,000 ft high) often used by the Tour de France, and halfway up there’s a monument to Tommy Simpson, a British cyclist who died there in the 1950s. The mountain changes colour so beautifully in the evening , I’ll have to try a painting of it then. 

I was fascinated by the challenge of painting olive trees. 

I had to stop for dinner but I’ll try again. 

We went to the market in Vaison- La- Romaine. It was really big and busy, but then the Mistral strengthened and they were all packing up as fast as they could. Here’s one of their parasols in flight. 

A lovely mural caught my fancy on the way in (and helped confirm our route back to the car on the way back. 

Bella is doing ok, according to her Aunty Liz, and no doubt is sending us all purrs.😻

And finally…

You could read any of your favourite hobbies instead of quilting. 

We go up to Létra en Beaujolais for the weekend and our goddaughter’s birthday party. Saturday will feature a fancy dress ball on the subject of French revolutions. I’ll say no more now but will let you know next week. 😼

Happy WOYWW. I’ll try and visit but it’ll be subject to local WiFi. 

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

WOYWW 839 French monuments and heatwaves

Hi all, firstly my desk from art class. 

 

I’ll be adding to it when we get back. 

We came down to Central France on Sunday to see Chartres cathedral which had amazing statuary and stained glass. It was built around 1000 yrs ago and has that deep sense of spirituality that you get from more than a millennium of worship. I’ve felt the same in the temples of Angkor Wat, for example. 

The heat is ferocious,38deg today across most of France but it’s due to abate a bit soon. 

We drove down to Montluçon today to stay in the Chateau St Jean, which is superb. When we arrived we were given a gorgeous fresh and chilled ice tea made of lemon balm and mint. Waiting for us in our room was quite the nicest welcome pastry I’ve ever tasted. Sorry not to take a picture of it. It was a tartlet made with almond shortbread pastry, filled with crushed pistachios and blackcurrant caramel. It’s an excellent way to spend our 42nd wedding anniversary (2 days early, but so what😀). 

Tomorrow we’re going to a 14th century paper mill. Last time I visited, B had a nap in the car. However, they did the specially French style of guided visit where they shut doors behind you and you can’t opt out, so he didn’t see me for 2 hours 😅 This time we'll go round together. They make watercolour paper too!  😻 Here’s their link: 

https://www.richarddebas.fr/

We’ll spend a few days at a hotel north of Avignon in the hills before going up to Beaujolais for our goddaughter’s birthday. 

Bella is being looked after by her Aunty Liz; she no doubt sends us and you all purrs. She was happily supervising me with hen mark 3 before we left. 

And finally…

For other aged CSNY fans like me:

That was almost B, but we found a shop in Chartres to replace the one he left at home. 😹

I’ll try to visit but it will be dependent on hotel , and may be after our next journey. . 

Happy WOYWW 

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

WOYWW 838 Thrones and apricots

Hi all, I’m back for bloghopping care of Sarah’s craft shed, though it doesn’t seem like a week has passed. 

Here’s my art course desk for our ink and wash paintings. I’m now doing one of the logs and two details, one of a carved woodland throne in the park and another of animals on it. 

Claire asked us to go straight in with pens rather than doing pencil first - (“its summer, we should experiment”) it’s scary and when I got my hare wrong it looked like tracked motion 😹. Hopefully it’ll be better once I’ve added shading. 

Here’s the classes wild leaf and flower paintings from last week in the style of Sue Lewington,( not Levington, sorry).

Bella’s been helping me with emotional support chicken no.3. She sends you all purrs. 

I wish she could talk our apricots into ripening. For once we have an excellent crop. They’ve coloured but are still hard. 

Could they ripen in the car? (Next week’s blog will be dependent on hotel WiFi ). No, I’ve just checked and bl@@dy Brexit means we can’t take them to France. Brian’s ready to stuff our unripe apricots down the throat of the person I’ve called niff Sewage. 

For so many years we’ve had a poor or no crop, and now look at them! Hopefully our neighbours and Aunty Liz who’s feeding Bella, will get the benefit of them. 

And finally, 

I’ll be visiting tomorrow 

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

WOYWW 837 Chickens and leaves

Hi all, I’m joining in with our weekly bloghop care of Sarahscraftshed.co.uk/?m=1

This's my art class desk. 

I’ve now added notes:

📝 

I should’ve done them all in ink, instead of inktense pencil but never mind. I like the whimsical style of them. 

This week we’ll be starting ink and wash studies of the cafe at the country park where our course is now held. 

They’ll be in the style of Sue Levington, with several views per page. Here’s one of her books and an example of her work:

I’ve also finished my second emotional support chicken, received happily by my cousinette. 

I’m happier with the wings this time, sewn all together rather than just down the middle. 

Her name is Minnie Chucklebutt. 

Bella helped and sends you all purrs. 

And finally:

Happy WOYWW to you all,

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

WOYWW 836 Leafprinting and chickens

Hi all, 

I’m back for our weekly bloghop care of Sarah’s craft shed. 

Here’s my desk from our summer art class. 

We’ve started the season with leafprinting, painting the backs of leaves with watercolour (the secret is to paint them with washing up liquid first) and pressing them down, rolling over them. We also painted around the negative space, such as the dandelion leaf on the left, and rolling leaves on an inked plate then transferring them to the page. This week we’ll add watercoloured flowers. 

My second emotional support chicken is on its way. I call this the spatchcocked stage. 

Bella has been helping and sends you all purrs. 

I had a lovely birthday, thanks for all your good wishes. After my art class we went to a local restaurant, the Hide and Fox, which now has 2 Michelin stars and is very grand. The five course tasting menu looked like a lot but was lovely and not too filling, though there were salmon and tomato starters, turbot and pork mains and an almond and caramel parfait. 

And finally …

Happy WOYWW, 

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

WOYWW 835 Chickens!

Hi all, 

I’m back for our weekly bloghop care of Sarah’s Craftshed. 

I confess I’ve been obsessed this week with making my first Emotional Support Chicken. 

Please meet our cockerel, Billy, named after a bantam rooster we had when we lived in the North East. 

I got fed up of doing tails using a French knitting tool so did crochet tail feathers with notional wing feathers. 

He’s been fun to make and I’ve learned some lessons for my next one!

Bella’s not keen on him - a bit big for her. She loves  belly rub though, and sends you all purrs. 

The specialist reviewed my knee MRIs last week and confirmed it’s arthritis. Not bad enough for a knee operation yet, but they can replace knees with a spinal block so he reckons it would be possible, eventually. 

Till then it’s ice and my walking stick! 

We’ll be going out on Thursday evening for my birthday, to a 2* Michelin restaurant nearby. It’s new to us so 🤞🏻🤞🏻. 

And finally…

Happy WOYWW

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx