Winter sunshine

Hi Sheila ..
The picture has a lovely gentle brightness :o)

A lovely scene .
It's what we always imagine snow will be like , isn't it , Sheila ?

So picturesque and tranquil.
I love the winter light on it - it is beautiful.

I can really see why you love it Sheila. I can 'hear' the eerie quiet that accompanies the scene! And the great thing about it is this snow will never turn to slush! :)

Picture Postcard ~ takes me back to 1963 :-))

Beautiful.

Many thanks to all who 'liked' it and commented . . . I expect you recognised the painting as a Monet? I was thrilled when OH bought a large reproduction for me a few years ago for just a few pounds, and we have it hanging in a frame :))

I had no idea it was Monet! Tried to read signature but couldn't make it out..thank you Sheila!

Karen - I'm not surprised you couldn't read the signature, it's fairly blurred on the real thing where he's written Claude . . . Monet, and the last word appears to be almost covered in snow!

Tubby - I don't remember 1963, apart from the fact that I was living in Lilliput (Poole) with my parents, and going to Bournemouth College on my scooter . . . was it a particularly bad winter?!

Btw, picture is called "The Magpie".

1963 was the year I was born. one of the worst winters on record.

This is so lovely Sheila...the light is incredible...and it looks to be a happy winter landscape too!

Thank you Janey! It IS lovely, and I never tire of it :)

I love it Sheila it reminds me of the days when we couldn't go to school because the bus couldn't get through we were thrilled and could go out to play in the snow ....

Thanks Amy . . . that's right - snow in the sunshine is the best :))

The picture reminds me of Winchester in the 60's before fields built on
1962-63 was great for us as children ~ I lived in Winchester at that time, we lived on a hill which was covered in at least 2 feet of snow all over the Christmas period, we (all the kids on the estate) spent the whole of the 2 week school break tobogganing, it was so much fun ~ wet socks, wet gloves, freezing cold fingers and toes, blue faces with the cold but we absolutely loved it, we went out at first light until dusk ~ no iPads then!!!

Sooo much fun

Sounds wonderful Tubby! Hopefully kids still enjoy it when they get the chance. Did you ever progress to skiing? I was lucky enough to live in Switzerland in my 20s and absolutely loved the exhilaration of whizzing down the pistes - even with freezing fingers and toes and snow in my face!!

Lol Sheila, I thought it was one of yours ... i was about to mention how well you'd caught the light! Good job I read some of the comments or I'd have looked very stupid:-))))

Lol, Ba! Yes, it is the light that makes it so special, isn't it? Monet was unbelievably clever to achieve that effect with paint - no wonder he painted every day - he must have loved it so much. And I'm very grateful to have it hanging on my wall!

It's one of my favourites too. There's something very interesting about it and I love the positioning of the magpie and the way the horizon is ambiguous so that you could imagine the ground is sky and vice versa.

Thanks Mel, it's perfection isn't it? That's very observant of you . . . I hadn't even noticed that detail before. Which are your other favourites?

I'm not terribly keen on all the waterliles, I'm afraid. They are undoubtably beautiful, but they have been somewhat overexposed in recent years. I read that Monet was very short-sighted, which is why his paintings have that lovely, slightly unfocused look. One of my great favourites is Cezanne. I love the simplicity of his landscapes and houses. He uses all my favourite colours - rusts and ochres. Gorgeous! I also like James Whistler - there's a good collection of his paintings in the Hunterian Art Gallery, which is part of Glasgow University. Seeing paintings "in the flesh" is always a revelation. One of my all-time loves is Dali's "Christ of St John of the Cross" which is also in Glasgow, at the Kelvingrove. Breathtaking, with an amazing sky. It has always been controversial, for various reasons.

I know the magpie looks lovely sat on the perch but where is the Robin!!!! There's always a Robin, where is he :-(

Thanks Susanne! Have you ever been to Aix-en-Provence? We visited Cezanne's atelier there: kept after his death just as he'd left it, but we were amazed that you couldn't see Mont Sainte-Victoire from the window!

(I also love Turner and Van Gogh.)

Tubby - maybe Monet felt it was more original to have a magpie in the snow??!

That is so beautiful ... added to Faves ... :o)

OK, as long as he didn't eat the Robin, he looks rather plump!! :-)

Isn't it just, Shirley . . . thanks!

Thanks for making me laugh Tubby!

I've never been there, Shirley. I have a lovely book called "Cezanne - by himself", bought for me by OH, which is drawings, paintings and writings by Cezanne. Beautiful and fascinating.

That sounds wonderful, Susanne (I'm Sheila btw, lol! - but you're not the first to do that, and won't be the last!)

Lol, Sheila ... if I had a pound for every time I have been called Sheila during my life I would be very well off now!