Sheds – Painting to see : Peindre pour voir

Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation. (Hans Jean Arp)

When I want to see huge, beautiful skies there is one place to go in my region and it is just between Rigaud and St. Clet. The skies are always luminous, grand and silent as they stretch west towards the sunset surrounding St. Polycarpe and St. Telesphore! I must have painted this sky many times up to now and here it is an older post. There is always a sense of awe that chokes me a bit in front of these immense skies… an inner peace.

I have been cooped up in the house for the past four days as the flu has hit us… the sniffles, coughing, sneezing and nose blowing type of sessions where you just want to lie down and sleep, and when it is time to sleep, you are wide awake! Have you ever had this? In a sense my husband and I were well timed as it started one day apart from each other, so I did not feel guilty binging on Netflix.

Paper: Handbook Travelogue Journal 8″x5″
Colours: Burnt Sienna, Q. Rose, Raw Umber & French Ultramarine
Location: Route 201 between Rigaud and St-Clet, Quebec, Canada.

20161218-st-clet-barn-watercolour-jane-hannah

Do the best one can. Do it over again. Then still improve, even if ever so slightly, those retouches. “It is myself that I re-make,” said the poet Yeats in speaking of his revisions.
— Memoirs of Hadrian, Marguerite Yourcenar.

I am presently reading Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar. A testamentary letter from the emperor Hadrian to his successor, the youthful Marcus Aurelius and it is beautifully written… its accurate historical moments, its psychological depth all work to make it a beautifully written novel. Well worth reading.

Driving back from visiting my mother yesterday, I stopped on Route 201 in St. Clet to paint this landscape. Lo and behold, as I had just finished my painting and was getting ready to put my car into gear, a police car pulls behind me and turns on his flashing lights. Heaven to Betsy! I thought… why do they want to give me a ticket? Then I wait in the car as I know that we should… I wait… I wait… then I turn around to look at the police car and no sign from them. Hum. What to do? Argh. I decided to put on my flasher, and just leave. They followed me until they had to turn to go someplace else. I think that they were trying to keep me safe as there were many cars passing on that road? So I continued on my little merry way, just happy not to get a ticket!!! Phew!

Hier en revenant de visiter ma mère j’ai décidé de peindre ce paysage au bord de la route 201 et tout comme je venais de finir, la police s’arrête derrière moi et met ses girophares clignotants. Eh bien! Je vais me faire donner un ticket? Argh! J’attends… et j’attends pour qu’ils débarquent de leur automobile et me donner le fameux ticket… et rien. Que faire? Je me revire de bord pour les regarder et je ne vois personne dans l’auto car il pleut. Tiens! Je pars, tout de go! Je mets mon signal et je pars. L’automobile de police me suit, éteint ses gyrophares et tourne pour se rendre à sa destination… et moi je continue sur mon petit poutte poutte de chemin. Fiou! Pas de ticket! Je crois qu’ils ont fait ça pour me permettre de décoller sécuritairement sur cette voie assez passante. Merci la police -)

Paper: Hand•Book Travelogue
Colours: Raw Sienna, Alizarin Crimson, French Ultramarine
Fountain Pen: Pilot Penmanship “Flexi Grip” EF
Ink: Noodlers Lexington Grey