April Showers!!!??? - Keiko's week

Keikos view of Bandouille

I know I know….before you all think it…It has been a long time but that’s because we have been so busy.  We were away for a couple of weeks at the very beginning of the month to recharge our batteries before our workshop with Keiko started.

Keikos Bandouille pond!

We had a fantastic week with Keiko….We had four lovely guests plus me when I could avoid kitchen duty…..and we were all blown away by Keiko’s speed and beauty in her paintings.  She produced 2 demonstrations per day which we later tried to follow and had for each roughly half a day to complete each piece.  What we learnt mainly from Keiko was her philosophy of tonal values and how they were paramount in her work and colour came as a secondary consideratoin.  This then allowed her to make her own colour choices to suit the painting.  She also taught us how not to be chained to what we saw in a photograph and be creative and see beauty even in ordinary things such as cars, traffic lights, signs etc.  Very inspiring. In this painting in Parthenay she has immortalized two of our guests.  Photos of our week can be seen on facebook  - click here 

David and Dorothea in Parthenay

Here is a link to more of her work so you can see for yourselves. http://www.facebook.com/ktanabewatercolor She did indicate that she would love to come back again next year, so watch this space and a waiting list will be drawn up until a confirmed date is set.

Around the studio stove!

Fortunately Drew had the foresight to see that our art week was probably going to be a bit chilly and we have fitted an amazing woodburning stove (that we just happened to have lying around)  in the studio which will now provide me with more opportunities to use the space in the winter and therefore will also open the possibilities of running workshops out of season too.  If anyone is interested please let me know.

  

Garden

Just before this wet weather hit Drew went shopping and was able to play for a couple of days on his fantastic new toy.  What a handsome beast it is (for now) and has a grass collector on the back too.  So gone are the days where I have to rake up the cuttings and take them away.  hoorah!  Now Drew is just waiting for it to be dry enough to go back out there…before the garden turns into a jungle…which of course will be demain!

Well…..April showers! At least that was true to form but what a contrast to last April where it was hot and sunny throughout. 

With these downpours come incredible skies and here are some that I managed to catch just in time.

Bandouille Monastery courtyard

Check out the video below -  boy did it come down.

Stormy skies!

The sky has been amazing for days now with the glow from the rape fields and the contrasting shadows.  So of course I had to try and paint this too!



Gardening is going to start a bit late for me this year and my veggie patch now has zillions of weeds growing on it but I am loathe to dig it over as these are mainly poppies….so his potatoes are going to have to wait!  As

I do have a couple of raspberry bushes, a gooseberry bush and lots of courgettes, melons and tomatoes to go in.  So am excited about that, amongst two packs of wild flowers seeds, nasturtiums and lots of other seeds that I collected from last year.  


Fishing! 

Great catch guys!- Bandouille April 2012

We have already had a couple of groups here this month and what a result they all have had.  The first group caught over 20 unique fish between two of them and the second over 35 between 5 of them and they were all biguns.  We look forward to receiving more fishermen during the year to see who will hold the lake record for 2012 so keep an eye on our Facebook Page  http://www.facebook.com/pages/France-fishing-carp/200670423304620 or if you would like to book the lake then please contact us through www.francefishingcarp.com on the contact page.

Cafe des Art - Thouars

In true Bandouille tradition…the ducks have been laying but in very random places.  So we have had to rescue the eggs and now one of our very broody chickens who was sitting on 13 unfertilised eggs (we have no cockerel) is sitting on 5 duck eggs that are due to hatch around the 5^th May…so that is always fun to watch.  Will keep you posted!

I have an art holiday week coming up this weekend so will be busy all next week and will post the results of that at a future date.

That’s pretty much it for now.  Will try and be more regular in future and do little and often, rather than these lengthy posts .

A bientot!!!
Bx

Sheep, snow and love!!!!!

I know that for many the snow was a pain, but it was very beautiful with everything covered in white…But sad when the thaw sets in and everything then looks dead and burnt.  But now room for our spring flowers to bloom...and I hope they will after being fooled before la neige arrived into thinking it was their time....

Tried as much as I could to take piccys whilst I was out and about but my camera gave up  in the end as it could not cope with the cold which reached -16 at its coldest….Be warned! The instructions (now that I have read that bit) say do not use outside the limits of 0-40 degrees....Now it tells me!  Not practical if you want to photograph snow though! Ouch! And I really loved my little camera.........

Came across these little sweethearts when I was out and about and they were having fun and came bounding up to me as if they had always known me….Early for the lambing season I thought, but that’s maybe because I was taught that they only arrive at Easter! Apparently not!

EVENTS!

Yoga fans******* take note ........

Liz Warrington - qualified and experienced Yoga teacher will be running a Yoga week with us here in July. 

The week includes full board ensuite  accommodation, yoga instruction and visits to local sites.  Vegetarian/vegan menus catered for.

It promises to be a very relaxing and inspirational week and if you want to join us and need more information click here

ART 

A reminder to those that Keiko Tanabe and Matthew Palmer will be visiting us for tutored workshops in watercolour in April..(and Matthew is back with us in June too)..For more information on either one of these artists please click on their names.  We still have spaces available but hurry as time is getting on!
Standard art holidays and fishing holidays are also available....check websites
www.francepaintingholiday.com  and www.francefishingcarp.co.uk

Sketching and Art Journalling 

Bandouille Lake

Gary's sheep - PMP

Conch sketch

My lovely son Toby gave me a wonderful sketching journal at Christmas as I promised myself that I would get into sketching more and try and be more disciplined....So chicken as I am I started sketching outside the book to get some practice. (It has to look right!!!!!)  I intend to take it with me when I go out and about and travel.  In the meantime here are three sketches that took approx 20 mins and are all A5 size and certainly learnt alot by working within a set time limit.


On the subject of art journalling have found another lovely site 
http://janeville.blogspot.com/2011/09/art-aprons.html which shows lovely journal pages and plenty of links within this site and also wonderful little tutorials on lots of arty stuff.  Well worth a visit!  Or just type in Art Journals in google and click images....A pretty huge collection!  Youtube is also a great way to view these and there are loads of instructional videos on how to make your own sketchbooks too.....Great fun!


Valentines day 
This was my painting for Valentines day to all those that I love - and I called it "Unlock my heart".


Its a handmade padlock that I found in our local medieval town Parthenay a few years ago and loved it and knew that one day I would paint it and now I have....

This little scene would have been perfect, but behind this perfect front was a blue plastic bucket support by a green nylon rope....Hence me not including those!!!!!!


 I also included this in this months I draw and paint watercolour challenge and there is still time to participate..We already have had some wonderful entries!

Next week now that the weather is a bit warmer and brighter I will be oing out checking out painting sites for our future guest tutors and their students …so that should be fun. Hoping to find something new and different.  The only way to really do that is just to get lost on the labyrinth of country roads around here.  Its amazing what you do find that way!  Will let you know what I discover.

So that for the moment is it!  Remember to log into facebook on our France Painting Holiday pages for more photos past and present and that these can be used as painting reference if you wish.

Looking forward to any comments you may have or suggestions of what you may like to see and in the meantime 

.......a bientot mes amis! B and Drew x

watercolour painting holidays
painting holiday
watercolour holiday
watercolor painting holiday

Happy New Year - Year of the Dragon

Bandouille lake                      St. Loup Sur Thouet                    Bandouille Terrace

Parthenay

Happy new year everyone…I know, I know...alot of time has passed since the 1st so this is Happy Chinese New Year - all the good intentions I had to do this more regularly has gone by the wayside…surprise!.  Although this is not due to laziness just due to life getting in the way…I have even not had time to paint, which for me is desperately tragic!.

To catch up….ART

These beautiful paintings were painted by Keiko Tanabe - our guest tutor in April - click here for her page on our website detailing the holiday.  We have also just signed on Matthew Palmer, from SAA fame and we are excited about this start to our year.  Matthew is the ideal artist to learn watercolours from as his methods of teaching are step by step which enables the student to gain confidence and learn new techniques. Click here for his details on our website. 

Billy

Matthew Palmer

As for my painting...have not really had the time recently to get the paints out much but dabbled a bit with this little dachs "Billy" and he was fun to try and have done a couple sketchy nudes Degas style which is the subject that I launched on IDP for this month.  Pop by and have a look. Also on the 23rd January it was the Chinese New year and this year is the Year of the Dragon! Had to be done!

GARDEN

We have now recovered from all those storms that we had before and during Christmas - just!

These started in November and we had about 3 good blows over here which brought down, as mentioned before, many trees.  That though is not the dangerous time…..Those that are left still standings possibly have had their foundations rocked and roots loosened and it is these that are so dangerous as one kiss of the wind, then they come down.  So one morning…this is what we found on one of our barns. 

It punched a hole into the roof, but that seemed to be the only damage…..now to remove the tree from the top of the roof.  Poor Drew…Dressed in his lumberjack gear and climbed the damaged fir tree and started to chainsaw through the offending trunk..Unfortunately the tree moved against itself and against the chainsaw got stuck…(I hope his mother is not watching) It would not go at all…So Drew had to get a handsaw to cut the chainsaw out…est voila!  TIMBER!  and remarkable without too much damage on landing either. Then for the clearing up....but lots of firewood for next year!

We have had many visitors in the creature department in the last month.  The deer are still very elusive but make their marks both in our lawn and by what they nibble and leave behind.  Mr. Kingfisher is still a regular visitor fishing for what he can as are the cormorants and the herons and egrets..We are hoping for the swans to visit us again. If you missed the Kingfisher( video here is the link).

Miss White - Coypu

The coypu are still a regular pest to us as they cause so much damage to the edge of the lake and we have had to lay traps again as they breed so fast.  And then she came along!!!!...She wasn't quite pure albino as she was slightly cream, but had red eyes...Her grandma tho was pure white!
Pretty when they are like this, but not when they attack you!

 As for the rest of the garden, what is the weather doing???? My bluebells are all poking their noses through the earth, but my snowdrops and crocuses are no-where to be seen. Still experiencing such a mild winter, but not really complaining.  The levels of our lake are now full to brimming so the fish (and Drew) are happy!.

Empty living room!

RENOVATION

Underfloor heating extended to the living room.

Update on the underfloor heating project.  As you are aware we completed the refectory before Christmas and its incredible how warm it is in there without the boiler running or a logfire.  Because of Drews foresight, he bought a larger heat exchanger pump that would handle this increase in volume and we managed to extend the flexi pipes under the floor (in the trench that we built under the tiles a few years ago) that would eventually carry the water around the system. This with Drew’s tenacity was achieved with not too much of pulling out of hair. Then the task of lifting the chipboard flooring took place, numbering each section to reveal the 18 inch drop below with the network of breeze blocks in place ready for a future event like this one.  We then had to build 180 boxes like these to support the polystyrene where the pipes would be laid and then covered in cement.

  So 180 boxes made…(mostly by Drew as in the middle of the project (that I was thoroughly enjoying) I fell down a silly step and twisted my foot badly enough that it had to be rested in an elevated position for a few days)

Yesterday 23^rd Jan, the pipes were laid without too much hassle…..and today the cement is in the process of being placed ontop of the pipes.  Then I think we have to wait a week or so for the cement to go off.  Floor back on and then we shall see…..will let you know!

LINKS I LOVE

Check these out...Some recent links that I have discovered.


If you love making things, craft, cooking, recycling, furniture renovation this site is for you and there is zillions more.  http://www.curbly.com/users/diy-maven/posts/13294-the-8-most-colorful-cities-on-the-planet  (They also have a facebook page)...Initially found them by looking for recycling furniture ideas (look under Topics and Thrift) and then the craft and then the kitchen  - I could go on..take a look but don't just put 5 minutes aside....
This though (painted  towns) is amazing and I am astonished that I had not ever seen reference to these before...!


This site I found around 2009 and was hooked but like everything forgot about it till recently as I didn't know then you could log in and get emailed when blogs were updated...

Degas Nude - Bix

http://laurelines.typepad.com  She has a wonderful way of sketching and comes to France alot too and has lovely sketches of Paris etc.  


This was an article I saw in the Mail online the other day and was reminded how important sketching artists were before the camera took over...interesting!

Extreme sketching   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2089591/Amazing-sketches-Antarctica-arrival-cameras-changed-world.html 

In future I will try and post stories as they happen as these are starting to get a bit long and with fear of boring you……So till next time have fun and catch up then.  Please feel free to leave a comment.
Bx

La Tempete - Heavy storms!!!!!!

Calm after the storm - or is it the in the eye????

GROUNDS

Carnage!……..Two days of raging winds and unrelenting rain. Trees down, flooded land and surrounding areas, spur and driveway and water entering all windows and doors at front of the house through the ferocity of the winds….but the lake is filling up!....Good case of careful what you wish for!

Various areas around Bandouille where trees have been lost!

Last night (Thursday)…I think the winds picked up again around 7pm and even now as I type at4.30 Friday afernoon the winds have hardly slowed (except for half an hour or so to take the rainbow pic).  My greatest and saddest losses are the Magnolia tree and the wonderful fir (but we did expect that to go at some point given that the last storm had already weakened its roots and it had started to lean precariously) that we had in the front garden and my wiggly willow on the lake.  So now what….we wait till its dry enough to cut down and cut up the fallen trees and store them for another winter 2 years down the line.  So not all lost then!

Apologies for the break between postings, but this is due to life outside the computuer going on, as it does.   And since the last post I have visited England to go to some art events to promote our Art Holidays (www.francepaintingholiday.com) and of couse to see my lovely children too. 

ART

Kieko Tanabe

Great news!!!!!    We have  taken onboard Keiko Tanabe (http://www.facebook.com/keiko.tanabe?sk=photos) as a fantastic guest tutor from California and hope to be announcing some other familiar names in the near future…So keep popping in to find out more. Keiko will be running a workshop April 15^th – 21^st and I am really excitied with the prospect of painting with her…Come and join us! For more information visit our website on her page - click here

Pattern repeat block

Not really painted much since Buttermouse, but in saying that have done two Robins for Christmas and have zentagled lots designing a birthday card from my daughter Holly….Got a bit messy in the end as complicated it a lot…..but fun nonetheless.

 

                                                                                  

In November I was thrilled to discover that I was one of three winners of the Sunflower competition on www.idrawandpaint.com and am now awainting my prize of 3 books that I selected to a value of £30.00….and also during November I was shocked to find that I had won 2^nd and 3^rd place in a photography competition for our AVF group depicting Parthenay – a local medieval town.  AVF. (Accueil Ville Francaise) – the group I belong to.  Amazing…So the prizes from that were two days out – one to Puy de Fou (an incredible medieval attraction park) and the Japanese gardens not so very far away…..Happy?  You bet!

Parthenay - 2nd prize

Parthenay - 3rd prize

So a couple of painting ideas formulating in my head but have some other things to sort first.

RENOVATION

The refectory….It has now been tiled and is lovely and warm..We have yet to furnish it and move in for the winter, but so far it has not been cold enough (I am not wishing anything……) to do so.  This we will do slowly after Christmas….But looking good! And Drew can't wait to move in there with the telly!!!!!

In the meantime my blogging friends and visitors I wish you the very best that this season brings and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and please feel free to leave a comment on any of the postings!

Bix and Drew x

Refectory Renovation - Complete!

This is our beautiful Refectory (a place where the monks gathered to eat)…..It was beautiful before, but now that it is practically in domestic use even ,better.

We started renovating this just over two months ago starting with sandblasting the walls, which was a mammouth task and extremley dusty..Although we covered every window and doorway and sealed every crook and cranny we thought exisited the dust still found its way through the house leaving behind its gritty residue…and this with 3 days to spare before our September guests arrived for their Art holiday…..PANIC!!!!!!

After our guests left we then had to deal with the Refectory floor. Although it already had a covering of concrete on it (done by the previous owner) it needed to be levelled ready to have the pipe system laid ontop  in preparation for the Heat Exchanger system.  (A machine that takes the heat from the air – like a fridge in reverse) Which heats up water which is then pumped through the pipes on the floor.   This took about three days to dry and then the workforce arrived to lay the pipes.  As you can see this was quite an intricate job but the boys seemed to know what they were doing…A few days after this the top layer of concrete was piped through a large tube and levelled out and then the Refectory was sealed for just over a week, when it was then firm enough to walk on but now had to be ventilated after the curing process.

We are now at the point that the Heat exhange machine has been connected to the outside of the Refectory (and at a later stage will have a wooden box covering it, so its more pleasing for the artists to paint) and a huge water tank has been installed in the “little room” ready to pump the warm water around the system.  We are hoping that the pipes and the system will extend as far as our living room as we have left space under the floor to implement this technology.  So we are nearly there.  This room will act as our “warm den” for the winter months and as a communal area for our guest throughout the summer months.  So watch this space to see how we tile it in the next few weeks and then furnish it too…..Oh what fun! 

GARDEN

13th November and the thermometer says 20 degrees...madness, but oh so lovely.  The colours of our changing trees are glorious and the light is wonderful for taking lots of photos - like this little fairy village of toadstools...aren't they wonderful and there are even more poking their heads through the ground ready to erupt in colour.....

ART

These are a couple of things that I have been doing in this last week. 

Hanging Basket

Zentangle was something that I discovered at the beginning of the year and got hooked on and have signed up with www.tanglepatterns.com for regular pattern updates and ideas.  Although it looks complicated it is in actual fact very relaxing and has helped a lot with my drawing too. You too can create your own unique Zentangle design by just looking around you as repeat patterns appear everywhere...Look closer and see! Well worth a go!  

Fish Dinner

The fish I saw in a supermarket promotion ad and couldn’t resist giving them a go.  Started with watercolour and finished off with pastels which helped highlight the spots on the skin and I used salt in the background.  Great fun!

Buttermouse

This little picture was done for the Paint my Photo November Challenge and it comes from an amazing photograph called Buttermouse from Pixelbloke who is a member...I just had to try it and test some of my theories and experiment a bit too...and I love the outcome. 

For copyright free photos to paint from visit ww.paintmyphoto.ning.com.  This site is run by Roy Simmons (who is an amazing artist using cheap materials (ordinary emulsion brushes etc) and paints in a wonderful loose style too) and has just launched his ebook - details can be found here.  http://www.paintwatercolorpictures.com/blog/2011/10/31/fearless-watercolor-ebook.html Take time to navigate the site for more of his paintings.

Enough for now and I will be back here again in a couple of weeks.  Have fun!

Bx

I can never resist taking pictures of our lovely sunrises here at Bandouille!

 GARDENING

A week has lapsed since I wrote last and apologies for that, but with this crazy October/November weather could not really be kept indoors infront of the computer writing for the blog…Oh the irony!  I intended starting this blog because of the winter months and the cold weather and hey presto we have had between 18-21 degrees this last week…Madness!

But we made really good use of it!

Finally got our bonfires going…that to me is always a sign of the oncoming winter and burning the leaves.  We also managed to catch this little chap unwittingly in our coypu trap…Of course we let him go and he was really camera shy!  This is the third one we have caught this way, with a bit of apple to tempt him….not the usual hedgehog diet – me thinks!  Disappeared quickly enough though!  Ahh!  And the neglected veg patch that was started and will be finished. It will, it will.....  But that digging is so hard!

With this lovely bit of late sunshine my figs are getting bigger and more ripe and I was blessed by the lovely Brian with a nice bunch of rhubarb and my brain began to whirrrrrrrrrr!  Fig, Rhubarb and Ginger jam I thought – and did! Seriously yum!

COOKING

So based on this recipe http://figjamandlimecordial.com/2009/02/25/fig-and-rhubarb-jam/ but reducing the sugar by 200gr so 1kg of each of figs, rhubarb and sugar and I added a good thumb of grated fresh ginger and instead of four lemons used two and two oranges, zest and juice.

The sugar I used was a JAM SUGAR or PRESERVING SUGAR which is really useful and worth the extra pence.

DID YOU KNOW?????

That this sugar not only contains citric acid (therefore reducing the need of too many fresh lemons) but also pectin too to help thicken the jam.  Check the contents to make sure this is the case on all Jam Sugars…

Note dented lid - since replaced!

This online reciped also comes with an amazing pectin stock recipe made from the waste of peeling apples.  (Wish I had know that when making all that chutney!). Check it out on the link above!

Finally cooked and jarred up (7 jars) and set to cool and couldn’t wait to taste….properly that is!  And taste I did…but was in such a rush to get the jar opened, that I dropped it and it landed on a strange angle on my toe and judging by the pain and the colour of toe, reckon I broke it….so beware  Fig, Rhubarb and ginger jam should come with a warning label!!!!!

Oh boy it does tasted good though and I reckon this could become a new favourite with scones or even drop scones! Let me know what you think and what you eat it with!

ART

Also this week managed to paint a couple of pictures.  Two that I have wanted to do for a while.  The first was a pic from a magazine that to me showed a lovely French scene and I love the inclusion of the French flag.  The reason why I chose this was mainly to get my head around perspective, but something clicked and I used a few techniques that I knew (but didn’t often put into practice) and hey presto….I was happy with the outcome..So more buildings are going to be practised now without a doubt.

The second is (as you can see) a portrait….I really want to do portraits of my children (grownups now of course) and one of Drew’s neice too, but felt I had to practice and followed some portrait tips and techniques first before going into family images.  I chose this picture as I liked the strong contrast in the photo but unfortunately the photo was zoomed in on and I lost facial characteristics but had what I needed to work from and I like the result.  So by measuring distances between the eyes eyes to nose, nose to mouth etc placed everything proportionally where it should be and it worked…Why am I always surprised!….Lots learnt and rules followed and now feel happier to move forward with my portrait work  too.  So watch this space.

Useful tip!♠ 

In the meantime a friend of mine (Roena from www.idrawandpaint.com) sent me this little tip via email.  So for all of you fans of corn on the cob and not enough pan space to cook them for a corn feast take note!

Cooking corn in a cool box – it works…..!!!!!

A cool box is retrieved from where it normally lives in your abode.  Is then wiped clean,  filled with the cobs of corn. Next, two kettles-full of boiling water are poured over the corn (or enough to cover) and the top closed.

Then nothing.

30 minutes later and open it, and the corn was is perfectly cooked.  I'm told that the corn will remain at the perfect level of doneness for a couple of hours.

Great tip Ro and I am sure that it will be used everywhere….what a great idea and not only space saving on the stove but also energy saving too…..

So with all this said and done…enjoy the weather (if you have weather to enjoy) and the autumn colours and pop by and see what else is in store at Bandouille.

Next time will have more information on how our Refectory is coming on to make it into a warm place to be over the winter and this will double up in the summer as a great communal area for our guests too.

See you next time!

Bx