Around the world blog hop.

Last week I received an email from Daphne  inviting me to join the 'Around the world blog hop' 

Me ! who never links up with other bloggers, mainly because I don't know how !

I needed to think about it. It wasn't easy for me to say yes. This is going to be a big challenge, as me
and links are strangers, so please forgive me if the links don't work... here goes....







I met  Daphne in 2012 not long after we both started our blogs and that was through   I've been tagged  even then Daphne guided me through the technical bits, but I still didn't get the hang of links.
Daphnes blog has grown so much since then. She shares her delightful detailed recipes, and tells such humorous tales of her everyday happenings. I feel I know her although we've never met.
In April 2014 Daphnes blog   was featured in  'Woman's Weekly' an English magazine , I mentioned that I would love to see it, but wasn't able to get it here in France, so she sent me a copy, how thoughtful is that. She has continually  kept in contact with me through out my back problem, and I  still receive emails from her asking how I am.
I'm sure if you haven't already come across her lively blog you will be drawn in by her charm. She writes as if she is talking to you.
For those who already follow my blog, you will know that I'm not someone who posts on a regular
day, or has a certain theme for my posts. I just have to be in the right mood.

Now I'm meant to write something about me,
but if you take a look at my post I've been tagged
  you'll find out a lot about me.


I thought it was about time I introduced you to my husband who is usually in the background
and referred to as Mr France. This year in August we celebrated our 52yrs. wedding anniversary.

This year due to my back problem we haven't been out and about very much, but
  now I'm feeling much better, and last week my niece came to visit us and we
went to one of my favourite places Brantome in the Dordogne.
 

 Now I need to answer some questions.


1  ...   HOW DOES MY WRITING/CREATIVE PROCESS WORK.

Now this is easy for me to answer, as I don't have a writing process...
I just write what ever comes into my head, or make a post about something I might recently have seen or done. I never plan ahead, or have a special time or day to write my post.
I try to have my camera with me or in the glove compartment in the car.
That way, if I see something that might make an interesting post, I can take photos to work around.
However that doesn't always happen, my camera has often been left on the table in the kitchen.
 I could never class myself as a writer. When I was at school, in one end of year report my English teacher wrote 'Barbara seems to have a gift for writing, if only she would concentrate in class'
I still seem to lack concentration even now.


2  ...  WHY DO I WRITE/CREATE WHAT I DO.

I wrote about this in April 2012 in my first post.
Welcome to the 1st page of my new blog


I used to walk a lot, but that went on hold for a while.
But I'm back to walking along the lanes
near my house.

Picking wild flowers on a walk.

I find writing about the things I see and sharing the photos I take in my blog
 a good way to have a record of the area and see it in a different way.
Since I've started to paint much more frequently than I used to
I now have the courage to show my paintings,
which otherwise would only ever be seen by me & Mr France.
I know I'll never be a writer or an artist.
but blogging has given me the confidence to be much more adventurous.


3  ...  HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN ITS GENRE.

I think we all have our own way of writing for our blogs.
Some write very little and show lots of photos.
I don't have a particular style, so maybe that's what makes my work different.
I think it's for the reader to be the judge of that question.

As I have said before, although I live in France,  Paris is not my favourite place,
I know lots of people have Paris on their wish list to visit and that's fine by me , but you won't find me writing about it. However I do love reading blogs about Paris.

4  ...  WHAT AM I WORKING ON NOW.

I'm working on a painting at the moment.
 Not just any painting, this is to be a gift for some friends.
It's the first time I've ever painted something for someone.
It's been very challenging, at one point I was ready to give up, and go out and buy a present.
But Mr France has encouraged me all the way through.
I always feel they are not good enough, but it's just come back from being framed
and I feel very pleased with myself.
I'm not able to show you yet, in case they read this post.



Now it's time to introduce you to three very talented ladies who I have invited to take part in the 'Around the world blog hop.'
They will be showing their post next Monday the 15th September
so don't forget to pop over and see what they write about.

First is Debbie from Ohio.
http://wwwviewfromharmonyhills.blogspot.com

I have been following Debbie
enjoying her lovely paintings here for quite a long time.

We both love spending our time outdoors pottering about in our gardens.
She is a fantastic Watercolour Artist, and shows some beautiful  sketches
 she  paints in her journal, in such a lovely delicate style of painting.
If like me you enjoy gardening and /or watercolour painting
you will really enjoy reading and seeing her blog.

 
 

Next is  Sharon Chapman from  Washington.

 







                                      Wildflowerhouse By Sharon Chapman

 

 

Sharon paints wonderful cards which she sells through her 'Wildflowerhouse Shoppe' 

She also shares her beautiful journals which she makes herself,

 full of such a varied array of subjects she sketches and paints.

Quite recently she became the proud owner of two adorable puppies, Max & Cooper.

She has shown a few lovely short video clips of the progress

they have made  since they first arrived at her home a few months ago.

Sharons love for the flowers she has in her beautiful garden

 can be seen here through her cards & journals.

 

 

My 3rd invitee is Shane who lives in New Zealand.

 

I met Shane early this year when we both joined Grow your blog party. 

and she was the winner of  my Give away gift.
 

Since then she has continued to correspond with me by email.

 

I'm sure you will really enjoy seeing her lovely blog & sharing her posts.

 

Shane is a self confessed Francophile and loves France, especially when she can get  to see her grandchildren, who live in France. I've yet to find out if its anywhere near where I live. She collects pretty china, loves embroidery & old lace and makes beautiful collage cards from antique lace and vintage photo cards. Shane shares the same interests in flowers and gardening as my  two other guests. Shane shows fantastic photos of flowers which she has taken herself.





 

 

So Thank you to Daphne for inviting me.

and also

Debbie Nolan 

 Sharon Chapman

and Shane

 

for being my guests.

I hope I've done my linking correctly ( you've no idea how long it took me ) !!!
if I got it right it's thanks to  Daphne for giving me the link to Karen  showing me what to do.
I'm a late developer and just like Daphne I need to see how to do things
especially in the world of internet jargon.


 

I do hope you enjoyed your 'Around the world blog hop'

from my little corner of France.

 

 

 

à bientôt

 

Barbara Lilian

 



Sketches... painted of my garden during recooperation time.

 

 

Poppy painted on my Nepalese hand made paper.

After trials and errors I now realise

 I have to use more paint and less water.

 

 

This one was painted on hand made paper from Solange in the Provence.

When I was there I visited the paper mill where you could see
the process of how the paper was made. I wish I had bought the sheets of paper,
but I had only just started to paint with water colours then

and I only bought a pack of postcards, but I still have a few left.

 



 

 

Our pool, which I've only been looking at over the past few weeks.

and now I am allowed to swim, we have dull rainy weather

and as I'm a sun worshiper and not a keen swimmer

I need a hot sunny day to tempt me.

 

 

 

 

 

Our new brightly coloured sun brollies for the pool area

 

 

 

 

Where we sit for morning coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

 A corner of the garden that has given us plenty of colour,

especially the poppies on the left. which have now been removed

ready for some herbaceous plants to take their place.

The roses on the right where beautiful, until we had a terrific storm

 a few days ago and now they've all been battered .

Hopefully we'll get a second lot to flower over the following weeks.

 

 

This area is work in progress.

However since my back problem it has been put on hold.

The wall was built in the springtime

 and a few cuttings of Buddleia were literally shoved in,

have grown well and now beginning to give us some colour

along with the never ending butterflies that love it.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm now feeling much better so I've been pottering about dead heading,

nothing too energetic for the time being.

 I do start to get carried away and get told off by Mr France

 and made to rest, I must be patient

 

I'll be so happy when I can get my hands in the earth again,.

 

I've sketched a lot over the past few weeks.

So I'll be showing you some more soon.

In the meantime I hope you are enjoying lots of warm sunny days in your gardens.

 

 

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Having fun with watercolour / aquarelle painting .

Before I went into hospital, I knew there would be times 

when I would be twiddling my thumbs,

so got myself some new sketching books,

and a few brightly coloured Faber Castell Pitt artist pens.

Then selected  a few of my Micron pigma pens 

 along with my Daler - Rowney Artists pencils.

I thought I'd try something new and what fun I had.

 

 

 

 

 

My friends have just come back from a trip to India

and brought me a lovely gift, a sketch book of handmade paper.

It has lots of raised little bits of wood and was certainly a challenge.

 

This is the lovely book.

It folds together with both curved edges just touching

 fastened with hand rolled silky cord and lovely buttons.

I love the way the paper easily tears from the binding.

 I'm sure I'll be finding lots of new ideas to use this paper .

 

 

 

On the way to the hospital we drove down an avenue of trees

 full of beautiful pink blossom. I knew I would love to paint this.

I didn't have my camera as I had other things on my mind !

But I didn't need it, it was imprinted in my mind,

just the thing for the hand made paper.

 

I wasn't sure how to tackle this quite flimsy paper,

so I tore a page out and jumped in with both feet.  

I kept it loose with not too much water

and was greatly surprised at my first attempt.

 

Here it is finished which later I carefully  stuck in my sketch book.

 



Recently I signed up to follow Polka dot April challenge 

 

 



 

This was my funky effort.

 I had great fun doing it.

But I haven't had the courage to send it !

 

 

One of the many blogs I follow is

Sharon Chapman at Wildflowerhouse

She has just become the proud owner of two of the most gorgeous

 fluffy cream coloured pups you could ever see.

 

   Pop over and have a look.

Her posts are varied and she paints lovely flower sketches.

 Recently she showed

 

Just Fun Doodles 

 

Which really inspired me to try something completely different.

 I'm always doodling when I talk on the phone.

so thought this would be fun and it was.

 

At first I didn't know where to start

and then all of a sudden I found I'd run out of paper.

I'll certainly do some more.

 

 

Also I've been wanting to start a sketchbook journal for ages

and  read that lots of  people  who keep journals

 always recommend to buy one of good quality.

Naturally  : Moleskine 

so I treated myself to a 21x13 cm. Carnet aquarelle .

Which are not available locally where I live in France.

What would we do without Amazon. 

Also  Stillman and Birn Beta series seemed to be popular.

I thought that while I was dropping things into my Amazon basket

I'd get one of each.

 

This is the front page in the Stillman and Birn journal.

I'll show you some of the inside pages later.

 

 

 

I think I'll be using the Moleskine more for landscapes.

 

Hope you like the very varied sketches I achieved

in between my treatment while I was in hospital.

Now I'm back home still unable to do any gardening.

So I'm painting like mad.

 

I've also done some  Annie Sloan Chalk painting.

 

That's for later too.

 

So for now I'll say

 

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 

 

 

 

No Gardening, so I'm painting.

It's been raining for days and the forecast is more for the next few days, which means our garden project has been put on hold ! So what do I do with my time after the daily chores have been completed.......
Well, now I don't have any excuse not to be working on  the painting challenge I gave myself.

Before the rain I'd collected a selection of different leaves so thought I'd start off with a little bit of Autumn.

and a couple of cones from the many I've collected

waiting to be used in decorations for Christmas.

I have various watercolour painting books on 'How to  ....... '

and the many techniques on how to use aquarelle in the style I like.

.However that day my mind was blank

 I had no idea what to paint, should it be scenes, buildings or flowers ?

Being so undecided I thought I'd sketch a few things in my journal

I started with what I could see in front of me on my work surface.

Then I saw my journal. !

 I only started  it at the beginning of this year 2013

 Unfortunately I'm not disciplined enough and only make the odd entry every now and again.

My journal has brown paper which is like wrapping  paper.

and it's a very different surface to paint on which I don't find  easy.

  so I usually just sketch.

then use my watercolour pencils.

I will state this is not meant to be a self portrait ! 

but it is my usual style of dress for gardening on cold drizzly days.

 .

We had a break in the clouds and it had stopped raining for a short spell

I decided to get outside and divide up a few plants &  re-pot a few others, also

 I'd just bought a tray of pansies to brighten up the window boxes and they needed to be planted.

so that turned out to be my subject for sketching.

I do like to paint pansies.

I put one in a little blue glazed, terracotta pot.

This one below is one I did during my first period of painting in 2008

Mr France was so proud of me, he made a mount and framed it .

I had a period of busy family life and painting was shelved for quite a few years.Then when I did have the time, I found it difficult to begin again. I felt I'd lost my way, and was never happy with what I produced.  My art teacher at that time gave me a very good piece of advice, 'never throw away any of your paintings, otherwise you'll never have anything to compare your recent painting with' 

I'm glad I listened, as I took out some of my early paintings, and saw I had improved, and now feel I have the courage to gradually slip a little painted sketch into my posts.Some of my lovely followers have asked, where I've been hiding my talent. I don't see myself as producing good work or being talented. I enjoy painting, but always want to paint in the style of others.

I received an email from one of my follower friends, telling me I should be chuffed at what I'm producing in my own style..That was the best encouragement I could receive and I take it as a compliment.

Slowly I'm gaining my confidence again. 

and trying to paint as often as I can.

I hope you like what I've dared to share.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian