Sun between the showers in Dinan.

On Friday of last week I was in Dinan.

After sheltering from heavy rain and hailstones the sun came out.

Many of the small shops up the rue du jerzual have pots of flowers outside and they brightened the stormy sky encouraging the sun to stay out for a couple of hours.

The cobbled street winds its way uphill from the port to the centre of the lovely old town of Dinan.

I just loved the different reds with the pots of pansies and strawberries against the red door.

The bluebells against such a blue sky, such a contrast from the grey skies we've all been having recently.

Many of the houses have shutters in such wonderful colours - it must have taken many years and many layers of paint to achieve some of them.

After Dinan it was off to the coast for a few hours so more photographs to follow ........

A surprise in the forest.

Last Sunday I went for a walk in one of the many forests near where we live.

The sun was shining and it had stopped raining which was good.

I came across this wonderful sculpture studio which just had to be photographed.

I love the enormous feather and daffodil.

What fun !

In the wooded garden where these enormous mushrooms carved out of trees and the blackened, burned wood giving such texture.

Nearby where some enormous trees which were in the middle of being worked on.
One of them was so huge that the inside had been hollowed and burnt out so you could go and stand inside it. Of course I did.

Inside the tree .

Other pieces of trees were in the middle of being carved and I just loved the  patterns on the outside of them and the eaten away parts that held tiny wood chips.

Nearby, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air, was this friendly horse who came over to see what was going on. He'd been having a good roll in the mud !

Echoes of a fishing port.

On Saturday we went down to the port at St Brieuc most of which is now for yachts.

At the far end of the port is the area that was used for the fishing boats to bring in their catches.

The fish would have been sold from there in the past.

Now the fishing boats take their catch to other ports along the coast.

However the history still remains with tangles of nets, floats and rusty metal.

All of which was just waiting to be captured on camera.

Just love the colours and textures.

Time and the elements make such wonderful colours and patterns with the rust.

There are places where people have cleaned their brushes when repainting boats and that has resulted in parts that would be a credit in any gallery of contemporary art.

On one of the fishing boats plastic boxes used at the auctions where stacked and with a bit of work they made a great photograph, especially with the two boxes that had a turquoise colour rather than blue.

So despite the cold winds, rain and the odd hailstones it was a creative day.

Leeks from the garden.

The weather isn't too warm at the moment so it was a trip out into the potager to get leeks  for soup.

They looked so good that I took some photographs of them especially as Mr P had trimmed them so beautifully.
 









The potatoes and leeks are cooking away now and soon we will enjoy the hot soup for lunch.

I'm looking forward to the warmer weather coming back and then I can enjoy more time out in the garden.

For now though I will spend more time getting new art work done.

A Hare for Easter.

My painting of a hare playing the bagpipes.
Based on medieval wood sculpture.

Wishing all of you a very happy Easter - I hope the sun will shine for you all.

A creative day at the coast.

Last weekend we joined a group of French friends for a photographic day on the coast at St Briuec.

I don't have a very high tech camera so it was with some trepidation that I set off and took my photographs.

At lunch time we enjoyed a picnic together and then continued taking photographs.

At the end of the afternoon it was back to the house of one of our friends to look at the results of the day.

It was fascinating to see how each one of us saw things so differently and the choices we had made.

I could see in my work my interest in textures and patterns.

I have to say I was quite proud of my photographs and the rest of the group saw some merit in what I had done too !!

Small portion from a grafitti.

In this post I'm letting you see some of the photos I took and then in my next post I'll show you some of Mr P's - he has a very high spec camera !!!