LITTLE BLUE HOUSE IN LAVENDER - 8 X 10 INCH WATERCOLOR/INK

DAY 12

OF

 3 0   P A I N T I N G S   I N  3 0   D A Y S

I thought I'd be finishing my blue poppies today, but I just wasn't in the mood to work on flowers today.  Maybe it was the cold and rain?  So, I went back to an old photo I used from the website, paintmyphoto.ning.com.

This is a lavender farm in France and I did a quick watercolor sketch of this same photo a while back.  This one took a lot more time but it was really fun.  I also did a really quick sketch of a different monastery/lavender farm, also in France.  Really rough, and really quick, but also fun to do.  "Little Blue House in Lavender" is available on Etsy and ready for your mat and frame.  

(Below is an example of how this piece will look with your mat and frame.) 

 "Little Blue House in Lavender"

(8 x 10 inch painting in a mat and 11 x 14 inch frame)

Watercolor, Pen/Ink

And the sketchbook version - pretty distorted because it's not on watercolor paper.  This was such a pretty little sketchbook that I picked it up even though it was a very porous handmade paper and NOT meant to handle watercolors.  Very different from today's version but I love the melding of colors.

And a really quick sketch with watercolor/ink just to have fun with the different values.

For purchase of "Little Blue House in Lavender", click the listing below:

Thanks for looking!

-Nan

French Lavender and Hedgehogs

                                                   

It's book group night.  A night to get together with one of my favorite groups of people and talk about one of my favorite things . . . books.  This month we read a book called "The Elegance of the Hedgehog", a book translated from French.  It takes place in Paris, which is right at the heart of so many blog themes and styles!

Since I'm now "retired" and have all this time on my hands, (as my friends keep reminding me) I decided to make something for the girls that would go along with the setting of the book.  France is known for its fields and fields of lavender.  Just looking at these photos makes me want to go to see these fields for myself.  The fragrance must be unbelievable!

 So, I used the "fabric through my printer method" again and printed out a frame graphic from the Graphics Fairy and filled it in with the words "Sweet Dreams", putting the graphic on the top half of the 8 1/2 x 11 fabric so that I could just fold it over for the pillow.

Then, I'm going to sew them into little pillows filled with lavender buds I bought on Etsy!  I got a one pound bag for $14.00 - that's about 14-16 cups of lavender buds.  There are a lot of Etsy shops selling lavender - I got mine here. The order came very quickly and - WOW! - did it ever smell wonderful when I opened up the box!


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later . . .
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Oh, I made that sound just so easy!  Well, lavender is everywhere!!!!
True, it smelled wonderful when I opened it up and it's a good thing I like the scent of lavender because we're going to be smelling it for a long time around here.

 I thought it would be no big deal.  I'd just make a little paper funnel and slide those buds right into the pillows.  Well, those buds are some of the stickiest things out there.  What makes them sticky is the fact that they're fuzzy and they like to stick together - like velcro.  So, anyway, I put them in the funnel . . . and . . . waited.  They wouldn't budge.  I poked and prodded - nothing.

    I had to resort to dumping them into a bowl and spooning them into that teensy opening I left when I sewed them . . . one spoonful at a time.

 I think it would be nice to put some in the linen closet to make the towels smell fresh, or on a guest towel with a pretty bar of soap.

So, they're done.  I bagged them up in ziplock bags so they
don't lose the any of the scent before I give them away. 

They are pretty.  I like them.  I sure hope the book group girls like lavender . . .