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Summer berries.

My August postcard to Charlene – 1150 words was done on walk around Coin Perdu. At the moment the berries are plentiful and the birds are having a ball.

I chose to do the drawing of berries for Charlene on some papyrus. I love old papers, old scripts, old books, old letters …it has a charm that we don’t find anymore in our contemporary life. The papyrus is definitely not easy to write or draw on and I have a renewed respect for the patience and dedication , not forgetting the love someone puts into a beautiful writing. I’m thinking here of my friend Dana…drop by Ginger parasol to see the beautiful cards she designs and writes!

..watercolor and pen on papyrus…

…envelope…

…some berry sketches of previous posts…

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Free expression on large format.

Busy with my people’s project, I just wanted  to do something different. Something completely free and unrestrained. Taking large formats of paper and canvas, I put down the brushes and used only my hands and rolled towel paper. even though it feels a bit like first grade finger painting, there is a liberating feeling that results from “playful” and experimenting occasions like these.

1.Tilleul tree in gouache on paper.  For the first tree, I shaped the thick trunk with a large brush and for the leaves, added gouache pigment with my fingers, sometimes very wet so the color runs and sometimes I dotted only dry splotches. Not a very significant result, but it did loosen me up, like all these free, expressive exercises always do. this one really looks like a first grader “picture”!

1…tilleul tree in gouache on paper, 65x50cm…

1…detail…

2. Prune tree in oil on canvas. For the second tree, I used a large canvas, primed it with a layer of thin gesso,  “shaped” the tree trunks and branches with modelling paste and painting knifes, and finished off with a last coat of thinned gesso. After leaving it to dry overnight, I built up the tree trunk with layers of  oil pigment, using a rag to wipe and build up up the layers. The leaves were all added with crumpled toweling paper and lastly spatters of oil pigment with a large brush.

2…prune tree in oil on linen, 92x73cm…

2…detail…

3. Apple tree in charcoal: Again on large format and loose application of pressed charcoal, I only made marks and got in there with the fingers to suggest the folage loosely.

3…apple tree in charcoal on paper, 65x50cml…

3…detail…

To do excercises like this:

  • Use large sheets of paper or canvas or cartons. Off cuts from boxes can work as well
  • Wear old clothes.
  • Work where you have enough room/space…even outside on the lawn, or go to the park.
  • Choose something around you like large shrubs, trees, flowerbeds.
  • Use only big tools…big brushes, pieces of rag, knifes, twigs, and of course, hands(You can treat them afterwards with some good creams!)
  • Work on the WHOLE paper, even if you run off the page.
  • Stand back, up often and look at your creation from a distance. Don’t consider right or wrong or any painting rules.
  • Consider only marks, color, texture, shapes.
  • When finished with one, put it aside and immediately start another…with another bush another scene.. don’t go back to a previous painting, rather start another one.
  • Don’t think, just do.


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Just some sketches.

I have done just some sketches. Nothing in particular. Just taking out a pen and small watercolor tin and putting something on paper.

…two plants on a coffeetable of a shop…

…a third potplant on another coffee table…

…a branch of berries picked on one of my walks…

All sketches done in pen and watercolor wash on Arches paper, 18x26cm

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Sketch of a market day in Beaulieu sur dordogne.

I took today off…apart from making my bed, I decide I am doing nothing else today. In terms of working that is. So I dressed myself pretty, put on some make up, which I haven’t done in ages. A dash of perfume…well OK, that I do every day, even when feeding the horses. But you know what I mean. A day where I ignore all kinds of  “must do” lists and let the day run free. Yes, I know, I’m fortunate to be able to do it.

…market day in Beaulieu sur Dordogne…

pen and watercolor on Fabriano watercolor paper, HP, 18x24cm

So I took off to Beaulieu, not to open my gallery, on the contrary, I hung a notice…”gone painting” on the door. which is of course not the truth. I had many coffees, chatted with friend and foe, shopped at the market, ate a delicious “flamiche au saumon”, I paged through the cote Sud and cote Est and Cote Ouest, found inspiration and new ideas, and yes. I caught a sketch. Of the market. While sipping my third coffee.

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Summer sunflowers.

Our July here in France was spent under umbrellas. Rain. Morning, noon and night. Not enough to lift the drought but enough to deprive us of of summer. No, I don’t complain. I’m fully aware that if I were in charge, the apocalypse would be immediate.

But there is  still a way to enjoy summer. Of course! Sunflowers!

…envelope…

…front page of card to vivien…

…inside page of card to Vivien…

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Two and a half pomegranates in oil.

Now that I have the gallery, I have to do more studio painting, since I can’t lock up every day and go painting plein air. I’m having a hard time though, adapting to studio work  “in public”. I’ve always preferred working privately in my atelier at home. Now I’m very self conscious and I worry about every stroke when there are eyes on me. I get distracted easily by what is going on outside and by people wandering in and out. I initially thought it wouldn’t bother me too much, but it does. Maybe down the road it will change.

…Two and half pomegranates…

oil on board, 40x40cm (15.7×15.7)

I’ve fallen into the habit of starting something in the atelier/gallery and then get completely distracted,  leave it, bring it home and finish it here at night. Like this painting. And it results in not being me. I  find the light very different, the atmosphere is different and even my mood is different. Working on the same still life in two different places just doesn’t sit right with me.

This is a very careful little painting, with no interest. If I look at it, I see a painting done by someone who was afraid to PAINT! Which was exactly the case. There is still this fear and uncertainty that has crept into my oil painting, as I’ve mentioned before.

I was never very fascinated by still life before and I still don’t get very excited about it. But there is a certain kind of meditation that creeps into doing a still life. I experienced it here in the barn at night, when I’m alone and painting on the still life…I sort of like the quietude that a still life conveys. Being someone who doesn’t have a “calm” personalty, I discovered that doing a still life is quite therapeutic for me. I think that is what will make a still life work for me…reaching that moment when I can feel my painting’s quietness, but without having it look and feel static. I will post some more still lifes later.