A tomato, half an orange and a bunch of garlic in oil.

I only realized this morning that February has almost had it. I am still going strong with my little food studies and by now it has become a habit to do a little food study or even 2 a day. It is all still about the brushstroke. The best ones will be put up on my website, Ronelle’s art for sale after February and I will continue doing these studies…great exercise.

..a tomato..

oil on linen, 20x20cm

tomato on branch..half an orange..

oil on linen, 27x19cm

half an orange..a bunch of garlic..

oil on linen, 27x22cm

bunch of garlicUntil next time

Ronelle

A turnip, two spring onions and five gooseberries in oil.

These little studies !i do for February are really testing me. Sometimes I finish a canvas, stand back, look at it and it horrifies me! I then put it way back in the darkand when I come back to it a day or so later, I find it not so bad after all.The painting fairy passed by and touched it with her magic wand.

..turnip..

oil on linen, 20X20cm

turnips

..two spring onions..

oil on linen, 33X24cm

spring onons

I am a little under the weather since last Friday and feel tired, mentally and physically. The gooseberries were a bigger challenge than usual and if the Painting fairy hadn’t stopped by and woven her wand over it, you might not have seen it.

..five goosebrries..

oil on linen, 41X26cm

five gooseberriesUntil next time

Ronelle

An orange, a branch of dates and a fennel bulb in oil.

Our weather has suddenly changed from grey and rainy days into explosions of sunshine. Of course it makes me want to go into the fields for plein air painting. But I am restraining myself and keeping to my goal and project for February. Fruit and vegetable practicing in oils. I have had quite a few bloopers, but then there was/is also the successes, however small they may be. And of course, the process. Always the process. I love pushing oils around on the canvas and as it turns out, I even enjoy doing it in still lifes. I love the liveliness of a brush stoke, the vibrancy of contrasting colour, the depth of values, the brilliance of the oils. I love it all.

..orange and leaves..

oil on linen, 26x22cm

Orange and leaves..fennel bulb..

oil on linen, 20X20cm

fennel bulb-001

..branch of dates..

oil on linen, 26X22cm

branch with datesà bientôt with more fruit paintings in oil..

Ronelle

Pomegranates in oil.

My art project for February is oil paintings. I find February the most difficult month of the year. It is usually very cold, rainy and grey, and the worst of all, windy. So it turns put to be the month I spend inside most of my time, painting wise. I usually turn to watercolor work, or drawing, both of which I enjoy. But this year I am taking out the oils in February.

..pomegranate in blues..

oil on linen,  27x29cm

Ronelles art Pomegrante on blueI have bought a lot of small canvases on which I intend to do small and quick stillifes, not  a formal, still life set up, bit more single pieces of fruit and vegetables, objects from the kitchen and refrigerator and veggie basket. I am awful at doing still lifes, I have done only a very few oil still lifes and I can’t say I enjoyed it very much. I find still life too static for me. I have no adrenalin pumping when doing a still life…there is no changing elements like wind or changing light or heat or movement which prompt me to work loose and fast and prevent me from fiddling. Standing in front of a stillife gives me too much time to fiddle, to much time to stand back and contemplate what to do or change, too much opportunities to return to the work and “fix’ what I don’t like.

..pomegranate in greens

oil on linen, 20X20cm

ronelles-art red pomegranateThese little paintings are exercises in different strokes, using different sizes of brushes and techniques and rendition in everything BUT realism.. All of them are done in one go, painting wet-in-wet, impasto, sur le motif, in my atelier. After the third one, I actually started enjoying it. The first painting was horrific..I was so not in the mood for this project, but I didn’t want to fail, so I put 3 pomegranates up on the table, 3 canvases on the easel at the same time and painted all three at the same time. That turned out to be not too bad and I started enjoying it.

..pomegranates in yellows..

oil on board, 33X22cm

pomegranate in yellowsSo, back to the easel where I have a fennel bulb waiting with its greens and whites and yellows…challenging!

à bientôt

Ronelle