'Aller au fil de l'eau' means to go with the flow. It is also, appropriately, the name of the café in the small French village where I live. On the terrace, the atmosphere is relaxed, life seems to mosey along no faster than the river that slips lazily by. In spring and early summer, conversations are often accompanied by a chorus of croaking frogs. Creating this blog is some kind of commitment to take brush or pen or pencil in hand every day and make art. As Julia Cameron says: "...creativity is not a marathon event that we must gird ourselves for, whacking off great swaths of life as we know it to make room for it. Creativity is not aberrant, not dramatic, not dangerous. If anything, it is the pent-up energy of not using our creativity that feels that way". Not making art is like trying to stop the flow of the river. I surrender to the flow and watch where it takes me.

Saturday 15 October 2011

No Entry


This month's Virtual Paintout took me, via Google Street View, to Sardinia which, like last month's location New Orleans, abounds with the colourful facades and wrought iron balconies I am so fond of painting. What really interests me is the shadows, their shapes and tones. Edward Hopper said: "Maybe I am not very human. What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house". I feel very much the same.

6 comments:

  1. Love the colours, it's gorgeous.

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  2. Really love the perspective you put on it and how you divided up the space!

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  3. I am here on your blog, from the Virtual Paintout blog. I saw your painting, and it stopped me in my tracks...I fell in love. This is a very lovely painting...the colors are gorgeous...but my very favorite, is the wrought iron scroll work...so beautiful!

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  4. me too... I hopped over here from the VP blog. Great colors, shadows, and love the skinny strip of the distance on the left.

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  5. It's really great to have visitors from VP! Thanks for your lovely comments everyone. They really gave me a boost.

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