countrylife

Showing posts with label countrylife. Show all posts

Francophile Friday : Wisteria Wander in Brittany

26.4.24

French Country Pretty Wisteria illustration © Shell Sherree all rights reserved

Among my many armchair travels over the time, both in Blogland and on Instagram, I've become friends with lovely people with shared passions. Unsurprisingly, most of them love animals and all things French.

And as the world feels both enormous and strangely small when you're online, it can be extra special when you find those friends closer to home. Such is the case with the lovely Annette at A French Collection, a French lifestyle blog written by a fellow Australian who divvies up her time between there and here.

Annette is an entertaining and highly informed writer who takes you into the heart of French life rather than skimming on the surface of the touristy attractions, and her photography is luscious and beautiful! I highly recommend popping over and subscribing. Caution: you'll find yourself wanting to book a flight to France with great regularity!

Today's illustration takes its inspiration directly from her charming wisteria-woven wanders in Brittany (scroll her Instagram feed and you'll find them). The cute cat and bird are included with a piece of poetic license (or two!) And on that note ...

Happy Francophile Friday to you! (You can order fine art prints of this artwork Here.)

SHOP SHELL SHERREE

::: Beautiful French-inspired fine art prints to brighten your every day :::

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Fashionable Friday: The White Shed

29.6.12

pigment ink & watercolour illustration by ShellSherree for The White Shed

If I had a shed in my yard, there's a good chance I'd paint it white. Or aqua... lilac... pale pink ~ choose a pastel and add it to the list. One of the things I love about soft, dusty, lolly colours is that they play nicely with a favourite classic combo: black and white. Whichever pastel I settled on, my shed might have an awning like this, to add an air of jaunty distinction.

When commissioned by Letitia to illustrate a shop front representative of The White Shed, her elegant online homewares and design store, I was rather delighted {as you can well imagine} to find her modern country style furniture and accessories have more than a hint of French flavour. How fitting! Double the drawing pleasure for me. Letitia has been a joy to work with, and her clients must be more than a little in love with her. She has a lovely blog too, so feel free to pop on over and say Hello. You can wear this and be a chameleon. {We're friends, let me share my cold snap with you.} Then we can all meet up to pat colour co-ordinated cats and nibble delicately on colour co-ordinated treats. And on that note...

Happy Fashionable Friday to you!

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Black Forest Without the Calories

5.10.10

ink & watercolour weensy meep miniature, 3.5 x 2.5" [9 x 6.5cm ] ACQUIRE A MEEP

Ok, the weekend in Venice grew a little out of control. Last time I checked the apartment, Hiker and Margaret were having a Campari-fuelled debate over which Goddess would have best suited S. Fott Kitzgerald. Meanwhile, Hugh capsized our gondola several times due to his seeming inability to control his dancing feet once Mise lured him into trying some prosecco by telling him it was sparkling iced tea. Not to mention what happened when he caught a fish for Micio and Meepsie to share. On top of all that, we ate our body weight in risotto and chocolate-fountain-dipped Campari macarons that Katie magically managed to procure for us. And I wouldn't trade a moment!

Nonetheless, I felt it would be beneficial for us to take some exercise while skipping the calories today. Here's a charming little chalet that we found while powerwalking in and around the Black Forest and firmly averting our collective gaze any time we passed a Black Forest Cake Shop. {I have no idea where exactly, but thanks so much to Papirazzi for the inspiration!} By Friday, we should be in shape again for whatever treats the coming weekend holds...

Psst: You only have until noon Brisbane time Thursday 7th October to enter the giveaway draw to celebrate my 2nd blogoversary. Just pop over here to enter...

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Bicycle Built for Two

21.9.10

ink & watercolour weensy meep miniature, 2.5" x 3.5" [6.5 x 9cm ] ACQUIRE A MEEP

This is the closest I've come to a bicycle in a long time. Maybe I'll acquire one for decorative purposes. I'd consider riding it down to the local shops just for the pleasure of filling the basket with an armful of fresh tulips and a crusty baguette, but the last time a bicycle and I became closely acquainted, it was not a happy affair. And I don't fancy helmet hair. Better to lean it suggestively against the house and enjoy the daydream. You're most welcome to take it for a spin if you're so inclined ~ good luck encouraging kitty to wear her helmet...

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Francophile Friday: Paris, Honey?

17.9.10

ink & watercolour illustration, 7" x 8.75" [18 x 22.5cm] Paris Prints Here

My mum and her hubby keep bees. Well, technically, hubby keeps the bees. But as their hives reside just a hop, skip and pair of sensible shoes down the slope from the back verandah, my mother can't help but be a tad besotted with their endearing behaviour ~ therefore, she is going back where she went before {when the bees first moved in} and had vowed never to go again {after an unfortunate early incident involving a flaming smoke puffer and an ill-fitting beekeeper suit}, and is going to become a beekeeper's assistant once more {with a puffer she has personally prepped and a gaffer-tape-modified beekeeper suit}. After a happy ending to a swarming event by these dear little creatures earlier this week {spacious peach tree versus insufficient room for bees-knees}, I took inspiration from Cali's photo {merci, dear Cali!} of this quaint faux beehive on a street corner in the quartier des Halles in Paris to see us into the weekend. {Update: located on Rue Pierre Lescot.} May your weekend be filled with milk and honey. And well-behaved bees. And on that note...

Happy Francophile Friday to you!

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Francophile Friday: Who's in Le Paradou

7.5.10

ink & watercolour illustration, 7" x 8.75" [18 x 22.5cm]

Like many weekends, this one holds the promise of catching up on some reading. For such a purpose, let's borrow this former sheep barn in Le Paradou, a small Provençal village tucked between Arles and Saint-Rémy in Provence.

This illustration is loosely inspired by my copy of Pierre Deux's French Country: A Style and Source Book, by the two Pierres of Pierre Deux fame {sale on now, by the way!} and Linda Dannenberg. This country house now comes with a library, chandelier, resident redhead and puppy dog {the cats are sunning themselves out the back}, as all good country homes should do. And on that note...

Happy Francophile Friday to you!

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Geese, It's Chilly

20.4.10

Oh, is that the time already? Please excuse me while I feed the geese.

On second thoughts, it's just started raining heavily and the temperature is dropping. I'll send these young ladies with the vastly superior circulation to do it for me. Inspired by the autumn catalogue of my fave jimmy-jams designer, Peter Alexander {you may remember him from this}, I was still cold just looking at them, in spite of their scarves and matching pink home boots. After much churlish resistance, they caved and allowed me to add ultra-thin merino wool cardigans. They still have goosebumps... but not as many as I'd have.

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Just A Tiny Post Today

16.2.10

ink & watercolour weensy, 3" x 2.25" [8 x 6cm]

Perhaps because I'm a bit on the tiny side myself, I'm rather fond of tiny things, and I'm not just talking about petits fours, mini macarons and cocktail food. It's been a while since I drew some weensy works, so today I plied myself with hydrating eyedrops and set about it. One thousand three hundred and sixty-five blinks later, voilà, a little French farmhouse...

ink & watercolour weensy, 3" x 2.25" [8 x 6cm]

...and a little restaurant for lunch in the village nearby. {Let's not panic ~ I hear they serve standard-sized meals}. Depending on your screen, what you see here may be pretty close to actual size of the drawings. Now I just need a dolls' house to hang them in...

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Friday Francophile Fleurish: Delphiniums du Jour

9.10.09

7" x 9.5" {18 x 24cm} ink and watercolour on French cotton paper

Some flower names translate fetchingly to girls' names. Rose. Daisy. Violet.

Others are a tad more quirky. Agapanthus. Crocus. Delphinium. Mind you, delphinium could easily be shortened to Finie, one of our sweet regular commenters, so it could be quite fetching after all.

Certainly this charming old French wooden crate with its aqua glass bottles of delphiniums is begging to be fetched and carried out to the garden, to tizzy up the table set for our Friday afternoon bubbly and macarons under the trees, right next to the agapanthus. {Now available in my Etsy 'flower shop' .}

Happy Friday Francophile Fleurish to you!

PS: This offer's nearly over: A little 'thank you for your support' launch special for my lovely blog readers: If you order one of my originals at my Etsy store by Friday 9th Oct {whatever your local time zone is} and mention 'Brazen Hussy' in the order notes, I'll give you 15% off via a refund back to your credit card. And if you're a regular commenter, I'll add in a couple of Shell Sherree gift cards with my compliments, as an extra Thank You! Any questions/suggestions/requests, don't hesitate to email me. Ta!

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Pink Acres is the Place to Be

6.10.09

Have you noticed how everything turns pink in October in support of Breast Cancer Month? {I dearly wish it was called Healthy Breasts Month to help us focus on the positives, but it's a vitally important cause no matter what the name is.} And just when you thought you'd seen it all, I may have found something new for the hobby farmists amongst you to consider.

Yes ~ you can buy your very own limited-edition pink tractor, produced by New Holland Agriculture, which has released a small number of lolly-pink Boomer compact tractors to raise funds {in conjunction with Australian supplier Black-Trac} for the National Breast Cancer Foundation of Australia. So ladies, if you want to acquire a piece of agricultural machinery for "loading mulch, mowing the lawn or clearing a pasture" that you can pretty safely keep your man from borrowing, this is the tractor for you! And of course, you must wear a pretty dress and leopard-print gumboots to add your own modern day twist on Green Acres ~ or is it Pink Acres?

ps: A little 'thank you for your support' launch special for my lovely blog readers: If you order one of my originals at my Etsy store by Friday 9th Oct and mention 'Brazen Hussy' in the order notes, I'll give you 15% off via a refund back to your credit card. And if you're a regular commenter, I'll add in a couple of Shell Sherree gift cards with my compliments, as an extra Thank You! Any questions/suggestions/requests, don't hesitate to email me. Ta!

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