DweezelJazz Art Blog » Divonne Lake

Painting of the Office de Tourisme in Divonne Les Bains, France

DweezelJazz — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:43:05 +0000

At the beginning of May there was a holiday here in France and we took the opportunity to go to Divonne for a photo shoot. We discovered that very few people were out and about and there weren’t many cars on the road either. It was a great day for taking loads of photos around the place.

I’m considering doing a series of paintings of Divonne and so I have started with the Tourist Office. It’s in a pretty area with a stream flowing nearby and the Casino is across the street.

The painting was done in Adobe Photoshop, using brushes in very much the same way I would paint with normal brushes on paper. Painting digitally gives access to different styles of painting that I couldn’t achieve easily, if at all, with egg tempera.

Divonne is a popular place for tourists. There is very pretty countryside all around, the Divonne lake is near the town, and the town has small shops, restaurants and cafes. (If you’d like to see what the Divonne lake is like, I’ve written about it with lots of photos: you can see them by clicking: here.) On Sundays there’s a market from early morning until around 1:30 and there are loads of people. It’s great fun!

The Colors of Autumn

DweezelJazz — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Colors in autumn can be vibrant.Or more subdued…The sunlight can be mellow and the air misty, slightly dulling the colors in the afternoon.Lake views can be dazzling, but the light has an almost metallic cool sheen.The pale cornflower blue contrasts nicely with the plowed beige fields.The hills are full of color.Looking more closely shows individual trees with more vibrant shades……and even more closely gives a good view of the deep brown of the bark, punctuating the yellow, orange and even slightly green of the leaves.The brightness of these grasses peeping up over the hedge defiantly challenging the autumn cool to touch them.The cows have come down from mountains and are lazing in the low afternoon sun.Most of the fields are plowed over in autumn; some still display vines with turned leaves.Brass-colored leaves frame the lake scene.Autumnal flower baskets adorn the towns.Wisps of autumn are apparent on the bushes.Bright cheery berries make up for the gentler sun.Acorns show their splendor…Sour sweet hard apples are ready for the eating…Individual leaves have their glory…Each one lighting up a single tree…Every tree adding to the brilliance and wonder of a rock-hewn valley. It seems like the colors of autumn are harvested from the abundance of the summer sun and served up to us just before the sleep of winter begins.

Best Friends

DweezelJazz — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:00:00 +0000

My best friend is visiting this week!We’re having a great time, going lots of places. We walked around the Lake at Divonne-les-Baines. It’s very changed now with all the Fall colors.The yellow and orange leaves are gorgeous.We went to a cafe in Divonne that specializes in chocolates and also has very nice teas.We had gingerbread and a chocolate pie to share.The coffee cups are bright, colorful and very appealing.Cruising around the countryside we’ve seen lots of sights. We snapped a crow flying across the fields…Picked apples near the Lac Leman in Switzerland…Went for a picnic in the foothills of the Jura…We’ve been doing all sorts of silly things. Here it was apparently necessary to hold the boulder in place, in case it moved during the photo session.We’ve driven through villages with sweet flowers by the roadside…Passing time with your best friend is one of the most wonderful things in life. We’ll see what more fun and mischief we can get into for the rest of the visit.