IT'S SUMMER AT LAST!

 

The sun's been shining here for a few days now and we're keeping our fingers crossed that it will last long enough to feel like a proper summer. 

The hydrangeas in my garden and all over the town are in their full glory in all shades of blue through pink and red to deep purple.  I picked a wonderful bloom the size of a football from one of my plants to draw as part of my flowering shrubs series.

 

These Hypericum plants flower for a long time with new flowers popping up every day.  The leaves have a delicate fragrance when you crush them and parts of the plant are also used as a drug to treat depression.

 

This happy looking plant with silvery leaves is called Senecio.  The yellow daisy like flowers only last a couple of weeks before the dead heads have to be cut off so that the surrounding hydrangeas and hypericums can take up their own space.

 

I've been out and about with my sketchbook, drawing the beach at Tregastel before a nice lunch out with friends.

 

The lanes are full of wild flowers at the moment and I managed to pick a good bunch before the council came along and mowed the verges.

 

We love to go walking along the lanes and paths by the sea at this time of year and I realised that I needed a shoulder bag to carry my sketchbook and water in.  As soon as we got home I had a rummage through the fabric stash and came up with some fake suede and a colourful print for the lining.

 

I measured the sketchbook and the water bottle to make sure the bag was just big enough to carry them without being too large.  I'm really pleased with the result and I've been using it nearly every day.

SUMMER IN THE GARDEN

 

This summer has been fabulous so far with sunshine almost every day since the beginning of June.  We've been making the most of it as now we are working hard building our new garden sheds.  This sketch was drawn early one evening when the low sun caught the beautiful white trunks of the silver birches opposite my kitchen window.

 

 

This is another view from our terrace where I sat on my sun lounger while Bob watched the football.  The sun was casting long shadows across the rather yellow grass and leaving the ivy bank in the background in deep shade.

 

 

This is the west facing side of the house with my wonderful array of scented geraniums. 

 A few years ago I took a few sprigs from our friend Hervé's garden and planted it in this rather dry spot next to the house.  I have obviously found the perfect spot as the plants have flourished and spread so much so that now I'm going to give some back to Hervé! He pulled all of his plants out because he got fed up with the maintenance but now Luba, his wife, wants some to put in a wall garden next to their terrace.

 

 

The flowers are a magnet for bees, butterflies and this hummingbird hawkmoth which came to feed for a while.

 

 

Another hungry visitor was this seagull who could smell our barbecue from far up in the sky.  He swooped down and walked up and down expectantly but had to leave disappointed as we don't want to encourage them to come into the garden.

 

 

I decided it was time to draw the old garden shed before we demolish it when the new ones are finished.  It is 11 years old and we are quite surprised it's still standing, the floor on one side has collapsed and we dare not move too many things inside for fear of the whole lot falling over!

SUMMER AT HOME part 1

 

This summer we are staying at home for a change as we have a project to get on with.  We have been planning for years to build 2 new garden sheds and at last we are doing it!  So I thought it would be nice to show you some of the lovely places we have within walking distance and which visitors from all over France and Europe come to enjoy for their holidays.

 

Every other year we have always been away either on the boat or in the camper car after the boat was sold so this is a big change for us.  Already we are having our meals on the terrace and Bob is busy cooking on the barbecue.  I've searched my sketchbooks from the last 12 years and found lots of drawings to put together as a collection.  The 2 sketches above were both drawn from the terrace of the bar Escale, our favourite for a rosé on Saturday lunchtime with our friends.

 

 

These 2 old customs houses are on the quay next to another little bar, the Titine, a favourite with the local sailors where they serve a delicious chilled 'Bordeaux blanc' for only 1.30Euros a glass.

 

 

We came to live in Perros nearly 12 years ago and chose it mainly because we needed somewhere to moor the boat and because we had been coming for our holidays for the previous 10 years. We had a place in the marina and these cottages appear in a sketchbook every year as they were part of the view from our deck where we sat to enjoy the sun and aperitifs.

 

 

After the boat was sold in 2011 we felt very fortunate as the next winter the pontoons where we had been were badly damaged in a storm and the whole length had to be replaced and reinforced. We had been complaining for years about a broken part of the walkway and this had obviously turned out to be the weak point!

 

 

We spent many happy summers staying on the boat, in the marina as well as out sailing to the Channel islands or the rest of Brittany.  This is the walk along the arcades towards the beach at Trestrignel, lined with pink valerian flowers growing out from the granite rocks on the shore.

 

 

If you looked across from the arcades you would see this tiny lighthouse in the distance across the bay.  It's now a pretty holiday home right on the beach with fabulous views.

 

 

Another part of the coast just beyond the marina next to the sailing club with Ile Tome just visible beyond.

 

 

Perros marina is at the head of a bay which dries out at low water so there is restricted access for boats only 1 or 2 hours either side of high water.  When we came back from our sailing trips we had to moor to one of the deep water buoys to wait for the tide to come in high enough for the harbour gates to open. I spent many happy hours here with my sketchbook drawing the houses as well as the seabirds.