snowy fields

Just a fresh, clean and oh so atmospheric winter landscape, on our umpteenth winter walk this week.

On a quiet country road, near our house we came across wide snowy fields, a swan couple and even a green parrot.

We were certainly treated to a plentiful portion of winter splendor this week.

week of winter walks - part two

Wednesday 10th of February

After I removed the thick layer of snow from the car we drove to the countryside nearby. Beautiful scenery, sunny weather, less cold than Monday and a lot more steps.

We go outside every day and slowly increase the number of steps. Henk's recovery is going reasonably well and I'm happy to be his personal trainer.

Recipe for the shawl:
You start with a foundation chain and make the chain as long as you want your shawl to be.
I've made a foundation chain of 250 chain stitches (ch).
All the following rows are worked in half double crochet (hdc).
The first row of stitches is worked into the foundation chain.
Always start with 2 ch for the 1st hdc and continue the row with hdc (it's a long row!)
Second and following rows: 250 hdc, but instead of going through both the front and back loop, you insert the crochet hook ONLY through the f r o n t loop of the previous row of hdc.
After some rows you will see a textured crochet fabric that resembles a knitted rib.
My shawl is 24 rows wide, but you can make your shawl as wide as you want.
(I used a crochet 5 mm hook and about 300 grams of yarn)

week of winter walks - part one

Monday 8th of February - 2473 steps and a small snowball fight.

lemon painting

Today was all about painting.

For the background of the lemon (that I painted yesterday) I mixed a soft salmon pink, just like our lemon tapestry on which this painting is based.

Applying the color neatly along the lines was even more work than painting the lemon itself.

Eventually some tiny dots here and there. Which I thought was quite a tricky job hahaha, the idea you can screw up everything.

Fortunately that did not happen and I am well pleased how the lemon turned out.

And even though the lemon was supposed to be placed on a tiny wall in the kitchen, Henk and I both agreed it should be placed in the corner of the daybed.

It totally looks like a fresh spring boost!

And THIS is where the inspiration came from.

lemon painting - work in progress

L E M O N - work in progress.

I'm painting a lemon for our kitchen wall.

Haven't been paiting on canvas for months, and all of a sudden this morning I felt right in the mood for painting.

The beautiful bright 'snow' light in the studio, motivated me to start with fresh new painting project in my atelier this morning. Some white canvases were already waiting in the corner for me to pick up the brush again.

The lemon itself is inspired by the lemon wall hanging and the lemon poster from Arles in our livingroom.

The lemon base is ready, tomorrow i will continue with the background and 'perfecting' the lemon.

Henk came to visit my studio (with camera hahaha) and afterwards I had to laugh about my peculiar painting postures. Blame it on my utmost concentration.

In the afternoon we went out into the freezing cold for a walk through the picturesque snow landscape.

A fresh start of the new week so far!

blizzard

Braving the blizzard on Sunday morning.