So Miss Doodle gives her secretary, Andrea, some space here:)
THE HOUSE WITH THE FISH POND
and if you'd like to share some music with me, wakeup music, get aware music from Arcade Fire with a beautiful video clip
(I hope this link works, I don't post videos anymore as I got spam comment probably because of that)
My Dad was sleeping here, and I had a wonderful quiet moment to sketch him.
This is my brother's and my sister in law's house. My brother bought this place which was a barn with a pigpen.
He bought the necessary equipment from a carpenter who had shut down his shop plus an old tractor. Then he completely emptied the barn and , with the help of my dad and other qualified people, made a lovely home out of it.
You can see, it has a workshop attached, and a porch on the right side which is attached to the back of the neighbour's house. In front of the porch is the fish pond.
The gutters of the porchroof end in a dragon's mouth, you can see that on my painting, so when the rain is falling, the dragon is spitting water into the pond and the fishes are happy.
The fish pond: fat gold fishes and little grey one's, I don't know their names.
This is a view from the upper part of the place.
The family is sitting there in the shade, my mom Marianne, my brother Volker and his wife LovelyN, and my Dad Joachim. My mom is very amused and the picture makes her look as if she wear a strange headdress...The girafe in the background is made of fabric and was a gift from my brother's students. My sweet sister in law Lovelyn is from Africa, and in the house and around it there is a lot of African art.
I hope you all enjoy these pictures, I do, while I'm waiting to get my other blog back and enjoythe May sun.
love
Andrea
18 comments:
Hi Andrea,
What a lovely house! I wish to have a swimming pond one day also.........
Your drawing is fabulous! I thought it was so funny this giraf who is popping up there! But later I saw in the last picture , he really exists! So cool. (This is something for FY!)
You took this pictures during your holiday in Germany?
Your brother did a wonderful job renovating his house.
love >M<
Marianne, thanks so much for your comment! The pond is only for fishes,in fact, there are two ponds, I didn't photograph the upper one, perhaps next times. The one you can see is very deep, but the upper one is flatter, with lots of seaflowers and more for frogs and lizzards, and little things that need to go from water to earth and the other way round:)
Oh Andrea, what a beautiful place your brother and sister-in-law have! It is so filled with surprises and the Euro/Afro influences are so cool together! You have a very handsome family, and I know they adored having you there to share time with them.
I think that painting of your Dad is fantastic. What a special treasure for you (?) to have.
I just want to keep exploring the nooks and crannies of that wonderful house and garden.
Thanks!
Hi Kim, oh yeah its a pretty cool place, I envy my brother for his abilities to create these things with his hands. Next time we visit, I'll take pictures of the inside, which is wonderful too:) lots of nooks and crannies (I have learned a new expression here, thanks kim:)
I LOVE the drawing/painting of your Dad taking his nap. I thought you were using your imagination putting in the animals like he was dreaming but then I see they are REALLY THERE. and Now I know that the whimsy runs in your blood and family. And also where all that wonderful African art comes into play. Love seeing your family and homes. So glad you had this blog to post these wonderful photos on.
HOpe you get your main blog back working soon. What did your Dad say about your painting of him? :)
Andrea,
Now I am eager to see what the inside is like. I think it is very cool you are from a creative family. If anyone in my family or my husband's family needs anything creative done...even making a bow for a package...they call on "moi"! :)
But I have you and all these wonderful blog friends!
Cris, thanks:) yes this garden is whimsical too:) My Dad was very fond of me painting him, but he always likes anything I paint, even if I don't:) And it is funny how the african art look in this place. In the house in the hallway there are lots of big big masks, and my SIL Lovelyn don't like them very much, they frighten her, because in Africa the woodoo thing is still very used and it works with masks too.
I will shop more pictures of my "German homes" so that I can share them all with my blogfriends,
thanks for the wonderful comment,
Andrea
Kim, so you are very special in your family? They must all be very proud of you, being such a creative person! My dad used to explain me how to draw things better when I was little, my mom always was the queen of improvisation with any medium, she does miracles with old fabric and garments and always has a funny idea of how to make something new out of something old and my brother always loved carpenting and building whimsical things out of wood:) And he is a great poet too:) if only I could translate his poems, I'd do that but I can't:)
What a beautiful home. The African art is great. I have a lot of African art and little trinkets I picked up on a visit to South Africa. That's wonderful artwork you did of your dad sleeping. You should frame it. It's really precious.
LOL...I don't know if I am special in my family or not. They are very practical people who value "good paying jobs"! They also don't share with people how they might be viewed. I was highly discouraged from doing anything in the arts 30 - 40 years ago. But I am a stubborn person and one who can't ignore my intuition...so there you have it.
It just seems so lovely to have grown up surrounded by people who are creative.
Andrea, I too thought the giraffe in the painting was a dream your dad was having till I saw the real guy. What fun that your brother renovated a barn. HOw talented he is. It looks like a lovely place. the picture of your family is wonderful. And are those some wooden monkey's sitting with them? I enjoy reading all the ocmments on this post too. Thanks for sharing with us.
Hi Suki, oh yes, this giraffe:) She looks so funny there at the fishpond,I got used to her but now that I look at the pictures, I laugh:)
Yes, my brother is very talented, I wish I were this talented and brave with wood! In the inside of the house he built a wooden stairway with a banister that ends in a woman's body sculpture...I absolutely have to take pictures of it next time:) I love this kind of art in things you use every day.
The two wooden sculptures are african and I think they are man and wife, I should have taken a better picture, perhaps I have one in my archive, I'll have a look. thanks so much for visiting Suki, It is always a great pleasure:)
I love the house and would love to be there, l love ponds but the nearest l get to it is a bowl of water.LOL
The house reminds me of a English tudor house and there is a lot in Lincolnshire but further into the country from me.
Tell you brother if he makes the house into an hotel l would visit that is if the Dr signs the insurance.
No wonder you are SO artistic with a beautiful family like you have.
Jill
How nice to see your lovely family. It looks so pleasant there. Beautiful house. I can see they have done much work there.
Lovely family you have Andrea.
And your husand is quite the handsome aging hippie (not too aged as yet)...
Beautiful house created from that old barn and wonderful art there.
Love the cloth giraffe.
and it does seem like your mother has a jar on her head. Maybe that is why she is smiling, or perhaps because she is surrounded by her beautiful children and beautiful DIL.
Thanks for your sweet comment Lynn,; yes my husband is sort of a ageing hippy:) LOL, a Rollingstones fan and a socker fan and does take no BS from anybody:)
My mom is funny, in a very sweet and soft way, and whimsical:)
The other guys are great too, brother,dad and sil, I am blessed with these.
Andrea
home... family
family... home
roots
all the things good
life
life
love
Human Being, thanks for your words, you're a painter with words:), I agree!
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