Chani's Creative Space

Finally, we could change our clocks back last night, a little step to return to our natural rhythm, still not being in the right time zone (that would be GMT for Spain, not CET). I sometimes wish I could live in Portugal... It is too early to get excited about Xmas and New Year already, but it is nice to think about the free days we will have in December. I like this time of the year, when anticyclones bring us bright and cool autumn days.  Sleepless Corn field

Time is flying: another half alphabet - Birds - is finished this week at @AnimalAlphabets on Twitter! Here are the first 13 letters. Again, I have been learning a lot painting those birds. I did not know some of them at all!   Here a small collage with letters A to M. My favourites are the Dalmatian Pelican and the Mandarin Duck Enjoy! And - it is still not too late to join if you like: post every Monday evening at 7.30 pm GMT.

Here are four pictures of our second home town el Puerto de Santa Maria ("El Puerto" in short, province of Cadiz, Andalusia, in the very South of Spain), just to show you the atmosphere there. Unfortunately, I cannot let you neither smell the salty air nor feel the wind. I could have spent a whole week walking there in town. Now we have to say good bye until March or April. It was time to update my statement of 2012 (!) for my website on Fine Art America .  My new statement is a bit shorter:  The world with its differences fascinates me. I find inspiration in cactus gardens, on sandy beaches or rocky cliffs, among animals and in old towns in ruins. Abstract paintings and landscape photography are two sides of the same artistic eye that is putting up resistance and often lurks in the twilight.

It is still warm but days get noticeably shorter now. I enjoy most this time of the year, where we generally can visit El Puerto de Santa María again, our "second home" (even if we do not possess anything there) at the Atlantic coast. Evenings there smell like salt, fish, mud; music of violins and guitars accompanies the wind whistling through palm tree leaves. Nights are a mixture of joy and melancholy.  Wind, waves and tide

I finally had some time to show you some pictures of the beautiful nature near Saint-Chamond (Pilat Regional Nature Park, Loire Department in Central France), taken on a hike near the peak Crêt de l'Oeillon.  Loire is a quiet department, with forests, hills and mountains. Mass tourism is absent there. So e njoy! Looking at the valley Path to the Crêt de l'Oeillon Sheep near the Crêt de l'Oeillon Heath land near Crêt de l'Oeillon Clathrus archeri Amanita muscaria

It has been a long time since my last post. I have been on holidays and back at work, worrying about the forest fires in Southern France (not too far from the place in the countryside where we spent 10 days) and the flash floods in South-Eastern Spain (we knows this area quite well, we used to be there for New Year and sometimes also in September).  Therefore, I did not want to let this climate strike week passing by without expressing my my support and my concern. I want my government to act, finally .  Save the planet

August is coming to an end today and so the challenge #Waugust (and also #doggust). Thank you to @Meerhund and @kritzelich for setting up this; it was a good thing to have a goal every day and also discover the colleagues' creations. Here a collage with all of the dogs I drew with Indian ink during the month. My favourites? Nicki and the Utonagan, maybe... Missing (ideas for next year, who knows?): boxer, greyhound, bulldog, and so many more. Enjoy!