Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

I've Been in France

Nasturtium Path in Monet's Garden

We had a wonderful opportunity to be in France last week. An artist friend and her husband were renting a house for a few weeks during her show in Giverny. They invited us to share the house with them for a week. We had a perfect sunny day when we went to Monet's garden. There was this amazing bed of nasturtiums that were arranged to make a zig zag path. 


Lily Pond with Bridge in Monet's Garden

Of course we had to take dozens of pictures of the famous lily pond with the bridge. The grounds are beautifully kept and there are profusions of flowers everywhere, even in October.

 Old Gold Clock, Rouen, France

One of our side trips was to Rouen, where there is a huge monument for Joan of Arc. This is a grand cobblestone street going under a huge clock. Such an interesting city, I had no idea how amazing it was. 

Vincent Van Gogh
In Auvers Sur Oise, this is "Van Gogh-ville". The house where Vincent spent the last 3 months of his life is preserved as is the room where he died. It's just an empty room now. Nearby is his statue, grave site and the church that he painted. The little French flag was painted and left by our artist friend. She calls it "A Random Act of Art Kindness" and has her contact information on the back for whoever finds it. 

Hotel Baudy, Giverny, France
When artists would go to Giverny to visit Monet, they would stay at the Baudy Hotel. They got so tired of the artists painting in their rooms and getting paint on the sheets they built a studio behind the hotel and also made a terraced garden for them to paint in. I don't know about the rooms but the food at the hotel is wonderful and reasonably priced. It's just a short walk from Monet's Garden.

What the Fashionistas Are Wearing

I thought I'd add a little fashion tidbit (a la Paris Breadfasts blog). It's true, the French are now wearing athletic shoes, gasp, and fringe is in. Here's a link to one of my favorite blogs.  http://parisbreakfasts.blogspot.com









Sunday, May 23, 2010

Spring

Ink Iris
I finally got a taste of a non-tropical spring while visiting our daughter in Portland, Oregon. She had beautiful iris in her garden that were begging to be sketched. I did this one with an Elegant Writer, a calligraphy pen that is not permanent. When you touch water to it you can get lovely shading and even some variation in color.
While we were there we went to the Portland Rose Garden and even though most of the roses were not quite ready to bloom, there were a few early ones that were stunning. With all the photos I took I'll have a lot of references to work with.

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