I Bring You Flowers and Art

 

The florist's are selling their uplifiting spring bulbs already.

I really liked this watering can planter filled with pink Hyacinths.

The words on the can say:

La Vie en Rose

Bleu Ciel

Plein de Soleil

Meaning:

Seeing life through rose-tinted glasses

Blue Sky

Lots of Sunshine

That first phrase, is best described as living with an attitude or outlook of positivity.

Trying to see the beauty in the everyday,

rather like when you first fall in love!

On January 6th, which is the Epiphany, it's tradition to eat a Galette des Rois.

They come in different forms, but the most delicious one is made with flaky pastry

and a ground almond filling.

There is always a tiny 'king' statue or similar figurine somewhere in the filling.

The person who gets the slice with the tiny king gets to wear the crown

and is king, or queen, for the day!

We had a few light snowfalls at the beginning of the month

and after watching the beautiful flakes float lazily from the sky,

I noticed my little glass dish of marbles catching the reflections from

the crochet cloth below.

Early one morning, there were beautiful pink and blue colours in the sunrise

and I ran out on the end of my balcony to capture them.

Can you see the tiny bird in the distance flying high? 

It's very small, but if you click on the photo, you will see it better.

I set off for a walk to the higher part of my neighbourhood.

I love passing these tall poplar trees on the way.

The branches are still bare so early in the year, but look at that blue sky!

When I walk uphill for about half an hour, I can reach some fields.

They were quite muddy, so I only stayed at the edge to see the view on the mountains.

After a period of misty and fairly warm days, it became much colder again

bringing a big drop in temperatures, to about 2C in the daytime and below zero at night.

A few days of cold wind, blew the grey skies away and we are experiencing blue skies

and sunny days. It's so uplifting, don't you think?

A cheerful collage of yellow Primula flowers on my spring cloth.

Little sunshine flowers that remind us that days are getting longer and we shall soon

have gained a whole hour of daylight since the winter equinox on December 21st.

My deep red velvety Amaryllis gave me twelve beautiful big blooms

over a long period.

I love having these plants in my home over Christmas and the new year.

Now it is the turn of the pink striped Amaryllis.

It's so elegant and somehow feminine and delicate.

This is the very first bud.

Then a second one opened on the other side.

Here they are both together with two more buds to open up.

"Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees"

Lawrence Weschler

I've always enjoyed creating the abstract quality of subjects to concentrate on shape and colour,

and in this case, flow.

This is the brochure of a wonderful Van Gogh Alive art exhibition

which is on show in Lausanne.

I loved it so much that I went to see it twice!

If you are a Van Gogh fan, you will love this exhibition.

Here is Van Gogh's bedroom which he painted when he was living in Arles in 1888.

His beautiful Iris

The Almond Blossom which he painted to celebrate the birth of his nephew,

also named Vincent, to his brother Theo and his wife Johanna.

Theo was an art dealer in Paris.

He was a good brother to Vincent, encouraging him in his art and helping him financially.

This was one of Van Gogh's Starry Night paintings.

It looks slightly blurred because the images are moving with shooting stars.

I'm showing it because of the sheer and beautiful intensity of the the famous blue

that Van Gogh liked to use.

The self-portrait in this collage is one of my favourite ones he painted.

The manner in which this exhibition is presented is difficult to explain, so I'm including two links

for you to see for yourself. The first one is here

in Lausanne

The second one is a longer YouTube clip is from the

Atelier des Lumières in Paris

I preferred the chosen classical music in Lausanne.

The whole show lasts for 45 minutes.

It's tragic that Van Gogh remained virtually unknown until after his death.

He died, far too young, at only thirty-seven

but he painted more than 2.100 works of art.

Some of Vincent's quotations were projected onto the walls and my favourite one is this:

" I dream my paintings and then I paint my dreams."

Thank you, Vincent Van Gogh, for painting your dreams and sharing them with us.

If you like Van Gogh's paintings, 

please go and see this immersive art exhibition.

You will come out of it transformed.

Bringing Colour into the New Year!

I thought a swirl of luminous colours might do us all good today!

Now the days are getting longer, one minute at a time.

You would never guess that this abstract was created

from a crocheted piece in warm colours and yellow Christmas lights!

Here are the same lights with my red candle

I do love candles and lights to brighten my home at this time of the year.

This was a pretty sunrise from my balcony one morning

and later on that same day we had blue skies and dappled clouds.

Snug afternoons at home with a cup of tea and a new book to read.

The two lovely packets of tea were given to me by my grandson for Chrisltmas.

A mug of soup 

in a new mug from my daughter,

I'm trying out different recipes from the accompanying recipe book.

I love eating on my Christmas tablecloth too!

I promised myself to do daily walks, whatever the weather.

These tiny cyclamen growing under a big oak tree were a delight to discover.

I rather like early evening walks

and loved these fairy lights along the railings.

Even if the day has been grey, the evenings seem to develop into a lovely

shade of blue if you catch them just at the right moment

after sunset in what is known as the Blue Hour.

These pine branches were particularly lovely.

Back home again to enjoy some candlelight.

This pretty jam-jar lantern was made by my grandson when he was little.

We always used to do crafting together and had pressed some leaves

in my flower press to use them with coloured tissue paper. 

The photo of my grandson was in my nearby park when he was a baby.

I have left my scintillating Christmas cloth on the small table because it makes me happy!

On January 1st, I baked some Florentine biscuits with flaked almonds

brushed with chocolate and flavoured with grated orange rind.

I also opened a bottle of Clairette de Die

which is made from Muscat grapes and very bubbly, like champagne.

 My second Amaryllis plant came into bloom.

There were five huge blooms which lasted over a week.

I protected my plants on the balcony with pine branches

and this tiny yellow viola popped out through a little space one morning.

We did have a light snowfall in the night leading up to the first day of January.

So I took my little gnome and red mug for a walk to add some colour.

I rather liked this snowman which some children had built.

He's sitting on the very same table where we had our Christmas Eve

get-together to exchange Christmas gifts.

See us HERE

The snow started to melt quite quickly, but it looked perfect on the branches

with red berries.

One week ago, I bought some red tulips

and today I took a photo of them looking very beautiful still.

So despite the rather grey days we've been having

and cold temperatures too, around 1-2C  (33.8 Fahrenheit),

I've been enjoying lots of colour in my home.

One last swirl of colour, this time in blue.

Colour is so therapeutic, don't you agree?

What I Love About December

Now the days are shorter

I simply love to light candles in my home.

It makes it feel so warm and snug.

The trees are so expressive without their leaves

I did love how this tall Poplar tree just caught the sinking sun at the very top!

I went down to the lake one afternoon and the lighting was very unusual.

Can you see the pale circle of sun hiding in the clouds?

Three seagulls were circling the C-shaped elegant weather-vane.

I find we notice things differently in the winter months.

Don't you just love silhouettes?

I love going for brisk walks in my neighbourhood and catching the mid-afternoon light.

These little catkins will remain tightly encased until the spring.

There are plenty of red berries on the bushes everywhere

We've already had our first snowfall

and I took this photo from my balcony. I chose this coloured house because it shows

up the snowflakes so well.

It's time to get my winter boots out of the cellar again.

By the time I got out to take some pictures of the snow, it had warmed up

a bit too much and the snow was melting very fast.

Another tree in my neighbourhood with a large nest very high up.

Does that mean that the winter won't be too cold?

Just a little higher up from where I live, I found some patches of snow that hadn't melted.

A few lovely Maple leaves were hanging from the tree,

but most of them had already fallen on the ground.

These two had fallen on the snow

showing off their beautiful shape and colour.

While most flowers have finished blooming.

The Winter Jasmine is looking beautiful.

As soon as December is here, I start to crochet Christmas items.

These four tiny Christmas stockings were made for a gift.

Now I'm making some for myself in a different colour combination.

What I love about December the most are brisk walks in the crisp air,

noticing the beauty of the winter scenery

and then coming home for gorgeous long evenings in which to read,

do crochet, make decorations and prepare gifts.

An orchid plant is in full bloom

and when I look up, I notice the lovely petals from the back against the light from the window.

I heard that it's going to snow again very soon

and I shall be outside to enjoy it to the full!

Next time, I'm going to talk about the Lights Festival in Lausanne

and show you some of the pictures that I've already taken of this event.

What do you love about December?