A VERY HAPPY 2010

And may your wishes come true!
And may your resolutions work out.
(One of mine will be: more regular and more frequent posting...)

Winter in Chateauneuf

An absolutely gorgeous aquarelle of the village, by Marina Teding van Berkhout, colleague - and aquarellista like me! She used salt for the mysterious "icey" effects.

The painting can be admired until 19 December in the Salle du Pontis in Chateauneuf village...

View on Saint Tropez

See here (click for "the big picture") the result of meticulous work with "one-hair brushes" of aquarellista Cathy van der Stel and myself. A commission from my real-estate husband, who sold this capital villa in "Saint Trop"... and wants to give the owner a beautiful memory. And the owner - the thing he liked best about the house was the view...so that's why we painted that for him. He will receive it upon signature at the notary, very soon!

My good friends Bill and Carole Lomas, who have a real estate firm "Maison 2", sold a wonderful 3-bedroom property in Seillans, a village in the Var... With a stunning view.

They asked me to do a painting, of the house itself, so I started a 70 X 50 cm aquarelle, on my favourite mouldmade Arche "torchon" (rough grain) 300 grams watercolour paper

I always start with the parts that I like best, and often they are the windows and doors, because there's "mystery" behind them! In this case, a nice, light and happy atmosphere...

Slowly working on the rest of the house - and while I am painting, my appreciation for the house grows and grows So that, after I'm finished I so want to be and stay there... but of course I can't - the new owners of the house are the lucky guys and I am pretty sure they'll be totally happy out there!

There were two more views, related to the house that were tempting to do:

The view and the terrace...

Saint Clair

This is a view on the bay of St Clair, a village in the Var, between Rayol Canadel and Bormes-les-Mimosas. And (to give you an idea of the location if you are not too familiar with our region - the Riviera) pretty close to Saint Tropez. Anyway, I made the above aquarelle for the people who sold this house with its stunning view and a similar one for its lucky new owners. The house itself wasn't that special but imagine sitting on your balcony looking at that view....! Pure bliss... I loved creating the painting and did my best on the island (one of the Porquerolles) that you see on the horizon - as we have sailed there quite a lot and I have very fond memories of it!

Moulin de la Brague

This is one of the first houses I ever painted, in aquarelle on handmade paper, for my husband who sells houses for a living. He gives away a painting for every house he sells and of course his clients are delighted with a present like that. Lasts longer than a bottle of champagne or flowers... I think I made it some 5 years ago and the funny thing is that the house is back on the market! Check this link for more info...So if he sells it I'll have a new go at it - and I would love to do it once more, from another angle. It is a lovely and actually very impressive house, completely surrounded by nature, yet 3 minutes walking from the old, active center of the popular South French village Valbonne...