A Few Faces

 

Recently I practiced painting faces again, most of them in a class setting. This first one, "Moon Goddess" is actually not that recent but from September of last year. It was part of the Taster Lessons for Art Soul Gathering; this was a class by Sue Young. I didn't know Sue before, but liked her style of teaching and had actually almost finished this painting by the end of the class. I only had to add the background a bit later.

A couple weeks ago Karen Abend invited to one of her Sketchbook Get-Togethers that happen live on Zoom. I knew that I couldn't be there for the actual class, but when you sign up you get the link for the replay. It was a "watercolor portrait play" with artist Claudia Kazachinsky.

Before the class we got a warm-up lesson during which we learned about shadows and created a face just by painting shadows.

This was very interesting, even though I don't like my painting very much.

The "real" lesson was much more complex and I was glad that I had the link for the replay, because I definitely needed much more time than just the two-hour class. While I'm not super content with my painting I learned a lot in this class. I definitely need to better manage the amount of water. I also chickened out in drawing my own face, but used the reference image that I copied onto the paper. Claudia explained very well and never became tired answering questions from the students in the live class. 

The class inspired me to practice faces more. It's definitely something I do not feel comfortable with. I practiced on scrap paper, mainly using shadows. But this time I drew the face as well - as you can clearly see, no one has a face like that! She looks like a bad tempered horse. This was done with graphite and charcoal.

Of course these faces are for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

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I have to say here that I am incredibly grateful for Senator Cory Booker and his amazing marathon speech in the Senate last Monday evening to Tuesday evening. Other than a certain senator from Texas who in 2013 used his filibuster speech to read from children's books (Dr. Seuss anyone?), Senator Booker's speech was substantial for the entire 25 hours. I first became aware of Senator Booker in 2016 during the presidential campaign, I liked his reasonableness and have appreciated him ever since. He stands up for democracy, for this country and for the American people. He is one of the few decent politicians we have. I hope we can keep him - he is up for re-election in 2026. New Jersey, stand up for him!

To the West

 

While looking for all those menhirs, we reached the very West of Brittany and stopped at Pointe de Corsen. If you'd swim across the Atlantic in a straight line from here (not recommended), you would end up in Newfoundland, Canada. Since we're sensible people, we don't do that and just stay here at Pointe de Corsen, the most Western point of continental France.

This is the Atlantic Ocean, but this part is also known by its other name, Celtic Sea. I have to admit that I didn't know this before we went here. But it doesn make sense since the sea also reaches the shores of Cornwell and Ireland, all well known for their Celtic history.

We took a short walk along the edge of the cliffs. It was an overcast and slightly chilly day.

At the end of October there was still a lot of Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus corota) around. Even though you see this plant in America, it is actually a native of Europe, but was naturalized in the "New World". It's such a beautiful flower and a great pollinator plant. It didn't mind the rather harsh conditions at all.

There were rocks in the sea where the waves crashed noisily. Further out there were a lot of smaller rocky islands - a treacherous sea to navigate for sure.

But ships and boats have a lifeline - it's called a lighthouse. Of course there is one here. Interestingly though, it is not right at the shore on the cliffs, but a little bit further back in the commune of Plouarzel, 500 meters (1640 ft.) from the shore. The Phare Trézien was erected in 1894 and automated a century later. It stands 37.20 meters (122 ft.) tall and its beacon ranges up to 35 km (approx. 22 miles).

The path up to the lighthouse is lined by many hydrangeas, still beautiful even though they were past their prime.

Someone posed as the lighthouse keeper.

We weren't far from Brest, the largest city in Western Brittany with a very important habour. We were looking for a crêperie where we had an early dinner (very unusual in France). Usually you have two crêpes courses, first a savory buckwheat crêpe (called galette) and then a sweet one as dessert. Here is my galette with salmon, leeks and a creamy sauce. It was delicious. 

Today I also want to show you where we stayed for several days while exploring the Northern and Western part of Brittany. We had found a B&B in a tiny village near Lannion from where we left for our daytrips.

Every morning we got a freshly cooked breakfast with lots of choices (the French are not known for a big breakfast) and Monsieur (our host) always made something different. Everything was delicious. We met the other guests at breakfast and had lively conversations, even though sometimes the language was a challenge for us (we were the only foreigners). Monsieur himself loved to talk as well and unfortunately he spoke with a very heavy Breton accent that was often hard to understand. Kaefer and I did our best to keep up, but the poor Geek, who doesn't speak French, was a bit lost, even though we tried to translate as much as possible.

The view from our second-floor bedroom (our appartment occupied two floors) at sunset...

... and right before sunrise.

Inside, Monsieur had decorated with some pictures - nothing special, but I liked them.

I especially loved the big poppy on the wall in the upstairs bedroom. How could I not?

Long Stones

 

Today I take you to the menhirs of Brittany. "maen-hir" literally means "long stone" and refers to the large upright stones from the late Neolithic and (early) Bronze Age in Europe (c. 2800-1800 BC). However, recent research in Brittany suggests a far older origin. So much is still unknown about these long stones.

Brittany has the highest number of menhirs, about 50,000 examples. Yes, you read that right, fifty thousand. Some of them just stand nonchalantly by the side of the road like this one, Menhir de Lannoulouarn.

It looks small from the distance, but when you actually stand next to it, it looks so much taller. Kaefer is 163 cm (5'3") tall, but the menhir is thrice her size.

Like most of these ancient monoliths it was covered with lichen and there was a White-lipped snail clinging to it. I'm always surprised how these small creatures get to these places. Endurance I guess.

Here the menhir plays the fourth part in this family photo.

Some menhirs are a bit further away from those narrow country roads and require a short walk through the countryside.

What a lovely opportunity to look at the wildflowers in the autumn landscape. Red Campion (Silene Dioica) is such a beautiful blotch of color.

 The bees were still busy on the Common Hogweed (Heracleum Sphondylium).

You can already see the menhir.

Getting closer...

And here it is, the Menhir de Kerloas.

The Menhir de Kerloas was erected at this spot over 4000 years ago. With a height of 9.50 meters (c. 31 ft.) it is the tallest of any stone still standing. It has a circumference of 6.20 meters (c. 20.5 ft.)  and an estimated mass between 100 and 150 metric tons (100,000 and 150,000 kg; 220,462 and 330,693 lbs.). It had to be transported from the nearest quarry 3 km (1.8 miles) away. How did the people do it? The simple and very unsatisfactory answer is - we don't know.

It is also still a mystery what these menhirs were for. They were definitely cut to last and must have had a very specific symbolism. But which one?

Kaefer next to it, just for proportion.

The last menhirs I'm showing you today are the Menhirs de Kerfland which is actually a megalithic alignment. They are aligned almost perfectly along a north-northwest/south-southeast axis. They remind me of a group of old men.

Even though these menhirs were smaller than the other two in my post, they were still quite impressive.

The faces are for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

On a different note. We're having very typical Northern California weather right now. Last weekend was supposed to be the first warm weekend; instead it was chilly and miserable. Then we had two really warm days with temperatures in the 80s; now we're back to the upper 50s and "light rain" which turned out to be quite heavy. So I turned the chilly into Chili con carne which was delicious and accompanied by a very good Malbec from a local winery. Cheers!

Escaping into my Art Journal

 

In my last post I wrote that I have gone back to art journaling in order to escape at least for a short time the dreadfulness of the current times. However, the page spread above I did a year ago, but I never showed it here on my blog.

The following page I also started about a year ago. I had stencilled the forest and the purple women, but then got stuck and couldn't decide how to proceed. In cases like that I usually take a break and step away.

I stepped away for quite a while. But just a couple weeks ago I pulled it up again and suddenly knew how to go on. I simply added the white human shapes, some purple textures in the upper corners, whitish dots and finally the stars - done. 

The following page is for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

The nosegay stencil was my inspiration here. This was a very quick page, I didn't have to think very long what to do (and usually I'm very slow with my artwork). I worked this one on an existing page that I had started and didn't like. So I gessoed over it, glued down some book pages and tissue paper, covered with gesso and rubbed away some of the gesso in places. Then I stencilled with raw sienna and payne's grey and rubbed the remaining color around the page. Added some dots and text - done. 

For quite some time I had played with the idea of making a page about hollyhocks. I love these old fashioned flowers. Under these layers there also is a lot of journaling about my "love affair" with hollyhocks. This page also came together smoothly without any longer breaks. One technique I enjoy doing is painting with watercolor over acrylic paint or gesso - the effects are so beautiful and the watercolor does whatever it wants. The pink scrolls were done that way.

And here's a page I'm stuck with.

I started this one out with gluing down torn sheet music on the gessoed pages, then spread fluid acrylic in titanium buff on top of it and then watercolor. I messed up some of the birds of the stencil (that's beneath those circles), but now I have no clue how to proceed. I guess I have to put it to the side for a while, knowing that eventually I will come up with something.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. We're going to have the first warm and sunny weekend this spring.

Calm Sunset

 

For the past two weeks I have been in quite a funk. While I try to stay away from politics on my blog for the most part, there are times when I just can't keep silent. Wouldn't that make me complicit?

Most native speakers of the English language are far more eloquent in voicing their opinion and concern, so I will not even attempt to do that. However, just saying nothing isn't in my nature either (ask my daughter and husband who have witnessed many of my ventings). Therefore, just a few things.

Dressing down and bullying the president of a country in war is beyond indecent and horrible. I believe this disaster was a complete set-up and Zelinskyy got trapped by two men who are supposed to be the "leaders" of the "free" world. Didn't Trump say "this makes great television"? Reality TV meets politics. What a disaster. And - this wasn't America first, this was Russia first. I'm sure Putin laughed up his sleeve.

Please explain to me how tariffs will help the American people, especially those who are already struggling with high rents and grocery prices. And while we're at it, how can it be beneficial for the US to alienate their allies? This is not the art of the deal, this is the art of turning friends into foes. When Canadians, who are usually friendly and nice people (most of them), boo the American anthem when it is played before a hockey game, one should pay careful attention. How can you betray your closest friend - without any reason? I'm surprised the Canada Goose has not been renamed to American Goose - yet. 

I can only join in the call, elbows up!

Of course Europe is next and I take this very personal. I'm glad to see that Europe takes action, that the United Kingdom is closer to Europe now than during that entire Brexit chaos and that Canada is in the "mix" as well. And I feel myself closer to Europe, too, despite the danger that is evolving for the European countries now. Or maybe because of it? Again, Putin must have a heyday - finally it seems the West is breaking apart, something he has been waiting for for a long time.

Would you have ever believed that the cause for that would be coming from the USA, the "shining beacon on the hill"? That beacon has dimmed a lot.

There's much much more I could say - there are new horror news every day. It's exhausting and probably also serves as a distraction for something even worse.

But - I don't want to stay in that funk anymore. I want to do something. Our senators and my representative in congress are both democrats, so it wouldn't change much if I called them. I joined the local town hall meeting of our representative Mike Thompson which was lively with people asking questions what we as individuals can do. His answers, unfortunately, were not very satisfying since he only told us to speak to our friends and family in red states. Well, my family lives in Germany, Turkey, Portugal and Canada, and I don't have friends in red states. Instead, I have started to support our immigrant community. After all, I'm an immigrant myself, even though I have US citizenship (and I'm still a German citizen).

I'm also aware that I need to take care of my mental health. Maybe you feel like that as well - and I hope this sunset at the Northern coast of Brittany will give you some calm. My garden still needs a lot of work, so I'm out there a lot, as well as out in nature as often as I can. Art journaling has become another outlet that helps me to escape for some time, and of course I do read a lot. I've just finished "Remarkably Bright Creatures" by Shelby van Pelt, what a gem of a book. At the moment I'm reading "North Woods" by Daniel Mason - have you read it?

Have a good weekend, everyone - stay healthy, take a deep breath and a walk in the woods, and cook some fine dinner.

Remains of Ancient Times

Brittany is home to the largest collection of prehistoric stone structures in the world. There are so many dolmens, tumulus and menhirs, most of them from the Neolithic period (around 5000 - 3000 BCE), that you can hardly see them all in just two weeks. I'll start with our first visit to a megalith structure, Allée couverte de Ty Lia or Île Grande (covered alley of Île Grande). I personally would describe this as a tumulus which refers to an artificial elevation often covering a burial site.

This site was located just off the narrow country road with just a short gravel strip for parking. While these sites are all marked in maps and have signs, they are not particularly established as an attraction site - probably there are so many of them. There is one spectacular exception, but I will get to that in a later post.

It is called covered alley because it actually has an "alley" that is covered by a megalith and you can crawl in there.

It is interesting to look at the inside of it. These are huge stones and you really wonder how the people managed to move them. Often these stones come from places further away. There is still a lot of mystery surrounding these stone structures, and I wonder whether we will ever know everything about them and the people who lived at that time. I only know that our modern buildings will not stand the ravages of time like these megaliths have done.

Seeing Kaefer here points out the size of the tumulus.

Of course the most famous megalith is Stonehenge in England. This one was way way smaller, but still very impressive.

The lichen on the rock tells its own fascinating story.

I particularly liked this seasnail on top of it; I think it might be a limpet.

This was just a first taste of these fascinating megaliths. There will be more to come in future posts.

Now I need a drink for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday. Yesterday we went wine tasting (with food pairing) with our good friends Bim and Patti - we love to spend time with them, they are our dearest friends and very close to our heart. We always have interesting conversations, but we also laugh a lot together. It's exactly the right mix. No surprise that yesterday's afternoon turned into the most pleasant hours we had that weekend.