Collection | Embellishments

Flowers are to a door what butter is to a baguette. Does that make sense?

We found this little greenhouse in the garden of Chateau de la Rue in the Loire region. There were potted blooms in abundance around the Orangerie where we had the pleasure to spend a couple of nights.

From tamed bushes to roses gone wild.

Especially in dark alleys it pays off to hang some flowers by the door.

The geranium is one of the most popular flowers found around the house.

And when pots break, flowering herbs appear.

Then the mosses take over.

And the ferns start growing on the doorstep.

Collection | Green

Oops, I skipped a week. Which doesn't seem to matter, because nobody sees my blog anyway. But for my own sake I would like to keep browsing through my collection of doors and group them together. 

This week the theme is GREEN, reflecting the climate summit in Paris. I wish I would live more sustainable, but as it stands now we drive, we fly, we shower every day, we put our laundry in a dryer and produce a lot of waste. In the Summer we always go to France where we camp and try to reduce our footprint a little bit.

These doors have nothing to do with the climate, but they're so pretty.

Although they do show that when we don't take care of our home, they fall apart. 

I so hope this little boy - my lovely son - and his children will have a healthy earth to live on.

Collection | Details

Welcome!

Today I'll be sharing details of doors that I photographed in France over the past years.

At every brocante I am looking for a door knocker like this hand but no luck so far. Then I bumped into this ogre! Very welcoming. Not sure I would want it on my door...

Lovely crocheting on display in this door. I am still figuring out the pattern.

Detail of one of the many carved doors at Azay-le-Rideau.

I think my stepfather once told me these hands were chopped off disobedient girls. I found that not hard to believe at all. 

I thought I'd be at the end of my collection by now, but I actually have many more doors to share. Hope you enjoy.

Collection | French doors in blue

Some people were interested in more photos of French doors, so here you are. This time I chose only pictures with a lot of blue in it.

This one is a bit out of focus, yet I couldn't resist sharing it.

No blue doors here, but don't you love the fuchsia plastic flower garlands against the deep blue sky? It was very hot that day in August...

One of the many abandoned houses in the old city center of Montluçon (Allier, Auvergne).

I don't remember where I took this picture, but it was somewhere south of Paris and north of Marseilles. 

Next time I'll show you the rest of my door collection.

Collection | French doors

When in France, there are many thing I can't resist. For example a fresh baguette with salted butter. Or a provincial market with fresh produce. Honey, garlic and olive oil. Castles, ruines and churches. And doors... I can never walk past a door and not take a picture.

This little collection has been photographed in several regions of France in over a decade.

The Périgord is one of my favorite regions.

I love city doors as much as country doors.

But I love them especially with some flowers on the side.

Let me know if you would like to see more.

Un mouton au pré

In our first week in France I took a tour around our campsite, and I bumped into these. Two discarded fleeces calling out my name. "Wash me, wash me. We are getting dirty here!"

She was a little shy without her coat, and kept hiding in to shadow - hence the bad lighting in this photo - but it was also very hot, so she must have been happy kind of naked.

Beautiful white wool that I didn't want to go to waste, so I asked the owners if they had any intention with it. They didn't. The sheerer said it's bad quality. Not fit for spinning. But what about needle felting? It's always worth giving it a try.

So I started washing wool again - on my holiday! Here I am washing by the outside shower.

It was harder to clean than I had imagined. Some parts were coated with straws. I decided to take a shortcut.

So this time I tried wet felting. But as usual that didn't go so well. The wool didn't want to felt. Look at all the holes!

So I enlisted the little ones at the campsite to help me with plucking the wool again! 

I had the pleasure to take two bags of soft white wool back to the Netherlands. I am now waiting for cool weather and early evenings to transfrom the wool into sculptures.

Summer flowers - July

Early July I kept up my daily walks in Vondelpark and enjoyed the beautiful weather and bright light.  But then our Summer break started and gone was my routine. We took it easy for a week - slept in really late - and then got in the car and drove to France for the rest of the month.

There were days that were too hot to even think of photographing flowers, but I did manage to capture a treasure here and there.

If you're curious where exactly we went on holiday, I invite you to take a look at my other blog called Pig Islands where I share unique holiday places that I have discovered though out the years in Europe and the United States. I hope you enjoy and would love to hear what you think.

Vondelpark

Vondelpark

School gardens

School gardens

Vondelpark

Vondelpark

In my garden

In my mother's garden

La Pierre Verte, Uzès (France)

La Pierre Verte, Uzès (France)

La Pierre Verte, Uzès (France)

La Pierre Verte, Uzès (France)

La Pierre Verte, Uzès (France)

La Pierre Verte, Uzès (France)

La Pierre Verte, Uzès (France)

La Pierre Verte, Uzès (France)

Gite Baron, Cazouls-lès-Béziers (France)

Cazouls-lès-Béziers (France)

Gite Baron, Cazouls-lès-Béziers (France)

Please do not copy or reproduce my photo's without my permission.

Marie Antoinette's husband

After Joseph Siffred Duplessis, Louis XVI roi de France et de Navarre (1774)

Such a kind man, born at the wrong time and in the wrong place. Was never meant to be king. Was never meant to marry a duchess from an enemy country. Would have preferred being a simple locksmith. He was so simple they didn't think he would need his head.

Seventh drawing inspired by Marie Antoinette

After Antoine-Jean Duclos, La Reine Marie Antoinette annonçant a Madame de Bellegarde la liberté de son mari (1777)

They've all kind of fallen from the puppet box, haven't they?

Work in progress

After Antoine-Jean Duclos, La Reine Marie Antoinette annonçant a Madame de Bellegarde la liberté de son mari (1777)

In my version, I think she is trying to push Mme de Bellegarde outside of the frame. Too plain, perhaps. There are some ladies missing in this picture. Forgive me, I got a little tired of the lace and bows and curls...

After anonyme, Marie Antoinette avec une coiffure "a la Belle Poule" (ca. 1775)

That boat goes on and on. It didn't even fit on the paper. One can only wonder how it fitted on her head, that poor, poor head...

Fourth drawing inspired by Marie Antoinette

After Jean-Francois Janinet, Marie Antoinette (1775)

I remember sitting in front of a mirror and trying to do my hair like she had. How do you keep it up that high? How do you make those perfect rolls on the side of your head? And the grey... Why did even young girls have grey or white hair? I would use talc powder and cover myself in clouds of sweetness.

Third drawing inspired by Marie Antoinette

After Martin van Meytens le Jeune, Portrait de l'archiduchesse Marie Antoinette (1767-1768)

I'll have to redo this one someday soon. Something went wrong with the hand. It's like she's putting her finger in her ear, instead of looking incredibly elegant.

Second drawing inspired by Marie Antoinette

Détail de l'ornement du petit théatre de Marie Antoinette.

I am just going to work my way through my books on the subject. Today no face or clothes, but a typical decoration of that time. Kind of kitchy, isn't it?

A new serie of drawings inspired by Marie Antoinette

After Jean-Etienne Liotard, Portrait de l'archiduchesse Marie-Antoinette d'Autriche a l'age de 7 ans (1762).

 I visited Versailles for the first time when I was 7 years old. That overwhelming palace with its enormous gardens and park was the most beautiful place I had ever experienced. I remember the statues in the Fall light. Golden brown leaves. A soft breeze. The sound of rustling skirts. I remember marble busts with elegant curls. I remember the gold and the candles of the Hall of Mirrors. I remember dancing with my cousin. I remember smiling the whole time. 
 "She was beheaded," said my stepfather. Marie Antoinette has been with me since then and I have read almost every book that has been written about her life. She continues to fascinate me.

10th day, 8th drawing

Our maison de campagne has no bathroom, no toilet.
It has four rooms. Two bedrooms upstairs.
One salle de séjour downstairs on the left side of the front door.
And a kitchen on the right side. There are stairs in the middle and a big barn behind. 
There's an attic with strange noises. I think there are ghosts.


When my stepfather has to travel, my mother and I stay here alone with a gun behind the front door. My mother says she will never use it. So I practice shooting on empty cans. I always miss.


When we are alone my mother hears a horse on the front steps. In the distance a wolf.

7th day, 7th drawing

Marie Louise is posing with her friends behind the tractor. She is wearing a chemise. So are her friends. The chemise has a flower pattern. I didn't have the patience to draw the flowers. A chemise is worn on weekdays, over a shirt perhaps, no tights. A chemise  covers up any bodily shapes. Stains too. When you are a cook, like Marie Louise, you even wear your chemise on Sunday.

Marie Louise would wash herself every day with a cologne soaked wash cloth, at the mirror by her open door. I have never seen her brush her teeth (except with a knife).

My mother would say that people here look like they had fallen from the puppet box.