'River of Tulips' Egg Tempera Painting

Here's the latest painting: 'River of Tulips', 16 x 10" egg tempera.


The flowerbeds in Spring in Geneva, Switzerland are amazing. This painting shows a cascade of tulips one Spring at the Parc des Eaux-Vives. There were many more tulips than these, and in many brilliant colors.

There are all sorts of arrangements and flowers. Stay tuned for a display of some of these in a future post on DweezelJazz blog.

Butterfly Egg Tempera Painting

Here's the finished Butterfly 10"x7" painting.


It's based on a photograph I took on a walk in the Jura foothills in the Spring. It was a beautiful day, with bright blue sky and the fields were full of brilliantly red poppies. This butterfly was out enjoying the day too, and this is where we met.

Over a period of a few weeks after completion, the egg tempera paintings continue to become brighter and more distinct in color. This is because the egg yolk, which is used as a base for the pigment, initially tints the colors in the painting. The yellow of the egg yolk disappears completely when exposed to daylight. See previous post, Egg Tempera Painting, for more about this type of painting.



It turned out that the last two photos of the Geneva Lighthouse painting were taken in different lighting and so the photos aren't really possible to compare. But here it is after it has had time for the egg yolk color to vanish.

Lighthouse Painting

The egg tempera painting of the lighthouse in Geneva is done. Here it is.


I'm now working on a painting of a butterfly, which I hope to finish today. This is the photo I'm working from.

It was a beautiful day back in spring and we went for a walk out in the fields. Jasmine was there too. I'll post a photo of the finished painting soon.

A Car Trip Up Le Saleve, France, Part II

Once we got to the top of the road (see Part I for the journey up) we could see the view on the other side of Le Saleve. The white peak in the middle of the mountain range is Mt. Blanc.


Down the hill from where we were standing there are houses.



Some of them have garden plots.
Looking to the left there's a house that has a magnificent view over the entire valley and all the mountains that circle it. Click on photos for larger image.


Further to the left there's a nice restaurant with an outdoor terrace; they also serve great desserts.

In front you can see where we parked the car to stop for the view.


Turning even further, with our backs to the view of the mountains shown in the first photo, there is yet another restaurant.




We got back into the car, passing with this restaurant on our right.



A short distance along, we stopped to look at an even broader panoramic view of the mountains. This time Mt. Blanc is on the right side of the photo.

Gradually turning south, the panorama unfolds.


Turning further you can see the expanse of the valley.



Turning even further south, Annecy Lake can be seen in this photo. For more about Annecy and the Lake you can look at the Annecy articles posted here in Parts I-V.


The Alps are stunning.
The road goes further up the hill to a place where it's possible to see the valleys and mountains on both sides of Le Saleve at the same time.

Right here the camera batteries ran flat, both of them! The shots shown, in the rest of the article, from the top of Le Saleve were taken on another day, which is especially noticeable because, as you'll see, there's a sudden development of clouds and a more winter appearance. This didn't happen last Saturday!

The top of Le Saleve is a favorite spot for taking in the views, and the locals enjoy coming up to have a picnic in the cool breezes at the cliff edge.This shows the Lac Leman looking over to the Jura mountains and North, towards Lausanne.

Looking back to where we came from in the Geneva valley below Le Saleve, this shows the valley south of Geneva. The Jura mountains are on the far side.

You can see Geneva spread out down below, along with the famous Jet d'Eau, the 140 m high fountain.

A Car Trip Up Le Saleve, France, Part I

We went up Le Saleve in France on Saturday. It's a small cliff-edged hill (or mountain) approximately 1100-1400 meters high, on the East side of Geneva just outside the Swiss border. There are a several ways to get to the top: driving by car, cable car, cycling and even hiking. A good number of years ago we hiked up the cliff face on a dirt path.



.To the left of this view, much of the cliff face has been quarried, leaving the light-colored bare rock to view.


The road at the base of Le Saleve is now lined with many new houses. There has been a lot of construction in this area in recent years.










There are pretty flower-lined streets and sidewalks.





.Looking up you can see undisturbed nature in its rugged beauty.If you look closely, you can see paragliders. This is a very popular sport on Le Saleve. The sport involves running down a tilted platform off the edge of the cliff - that is a sport for the brave-hearted, and isn't something I could persuade myself to do, no matter how lovely it might be to glide around up high.Fortunately, the world is made up of many different types of people!





As we make our ascent from the base of Le Saleve we see flashes of bright color from the side of the road.











The hills are bright green after all the rain we've had recently.





Looking back it's possible to see the valley south of Geneva.


The road starts out gentle, but further up it winds in tight bends with very steep gradients, forcing the driver to first gear on a couple of the curves.












On the way up we were surrounded by woods.





Nearing the top the trees thin out and the sun on the grass is a welcome sight.

On reaching the top we were greeted by open fields and a vast expanse of sky.




My most favorite scene of the trip is this one of the field and the bales of hay.Shortly after this we reached a spot with fantastic views over the other side of Le Saleve. Stay tuned to see them!