My new look website is operational

I have re-launched my website.  It was in need of updating, and had been in situ for 10 years in it's current format.  I have my suspicions that the amount of java that was in the template I had been using was detrimental to the ease of use with smartphones too, but I can't complain it served me well for the decade at a cost of about $60 when I bought the license to use it.  

I decided to keep the new (improved, I hope) site simple.  It is just a basic html and css setup with little to download other than the images to facilitate smart phone accessibility.  Hopefully it will bring a level of sales similar to the old site when  I was actually updating it.  I'd messed up my shopping cart for about the last two years without realising it by changing my email address and forgetting to update the paypal shopping cart- even though the new email is on the same account the paypal cart was only operating - or not operating as the case was- on the now defunct email.
Thankfully a buyer contacted me to let me know there was a problem, hence the rush to update without fully testing.  I still need to finish off my alt tags and keywords etc. but the site is fully operational (as far as I know until someone actually buys from it again ;)) I added a link to here on the site to add to the functionality.

Back from Monet's world, and into my own...

 Here are some of the promised Photographs from Giverny.  The gardens are beautiful, if a little crowded for any real atmosphere.
I did a couple of watercolour sketches while I was there, just for the sake of doing it as much as anything else.
We wandered through the house (surprisingly spacious) and studio (not as big as I expected) also and explored Monet's collection of Japanese prints which are on display on the walls where hed left them.

We visited the Orangerie the following day to see the Waterlilly paintings in situ (as well as the other art on view downstairs) .A pleasing experience enhanced by the visit to the gardens. 

the watergarden

 

the main avenue

the river Ru

the sketching artist

view to the Japanese bridge

 the lily pond from beside the bridge

 

I'm busy fishing for the next two weeks, but I'm going to try to get started on some work.   Monet's waterlillies have encouraged me to go large again.  looking around at the expansive canvases reminded me why I love to paint big canvases.  I think the recent smaller work may have stifled my creativity somewhat, but it's OK.  I'm cured.

Back to grey skies....

We are back from the Cote D'Azur (French Riviera), in France. The weather was beautiful again, February and 20 degrees, sunshine and blue skies (if a little hazy at times). Travelling along between Nice, Antibes, Cagnes-sur-mer and as far along as Cannes....we intend to go further on our next visit to the area....was most enjoyable in bright sunshine and warm breezes. However we are now back in cold grey windy Ireland...and wishing I was still there.

Visiting the Cote D'azur, among other places, allows you to experience the world of the Impressionists and post impressionists. It is much easier to appreciate or critique the work when you have seen the areas painted, the light of the region and it's natural colours. See what they saw when painting plein air landscapes along the coastal regions. But many other artists also spent time working here, among them were Pablo Picasso, Chagall, Dufy, Cocteau, Bonnard, Soutine, Derain, Boudin, as well as Monet, Renoir and others. There is even an organised tour based around the settings and landscapes they painted for those that like to be guided.

I prefer to meander along at my own pace rather than being chivvied or delayed by a herd instinctively trying to keep everyone happy....even those that want the whistle-stop tour!
I am amazed how some groups go into galleries and speed around as fast as possible...I tend to go to one or two rooms at a time and savour what I see....there is always another day to see further. But back to the Riviera...the light there is different.. one of these days I may get to spend enough time there to do some painting....maybe next time, we are certainly going back again, we had a better time this year than last year, mainly because we travelled more widely (last year we spent most of the time in Nice and Monaco) but we still want to see other areas of interest, and we still didn't go to the Renoir Museum (Cagnes) the Chagall Museum (Nice) time just passes and before we know it, it's time to go home again......Well at least until Barcelona next month..........