Last week in Mandelieu, the water temperature reached 25°C !.  I chose to sketch only 3 characters , 1 woman reading in front of me  and 2 anglers at the back. As I did not have any salt with me, I took some sand and poured it onto the wet watercolour for the sandy bit to make some texture… The result was disappointing because the watercolour dried too quickly and the sand was not absorbent enough for this technique. Another interesting trial was to paint with my sunglasses on all the time. The result is a painting with stronger and darker colours.

This is a beautiful cottage which belongs to a family member. The location is North of the Loire Valley famous for its wonderful castles (Chambord,Chenonceau,Amboise,Cheverny…)and its wine (Chinon, Vouvray, Muscadet….)

I was invited to stay in that wonderful chalet in Switzerland this week. It was a real treat !

I liked the cast shadows on the crazy paving of the terrace. A simple afternoon scene on a Summer day.

I found this lovely butterfly the other day on a buddleia and took quickly a snapshot of it before it flew off. I had never seen one like that before. I painted it this afternoon at the Hangar (http://www.hangarart.org/) during a very zen afternoon spent with a small group of people.