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
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.
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…
Working solely with painting knives and oil paint…no medium. I quite enjoyed this…very messy and I look as messy as the painting, but I really had fun in doing this little painting! I’m getting there…
…a bunch of red onions…
oil on cotton, 20x20cm(7.9×7.9″)
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.
I have been working a bit more in gouache and oil in the fields…doing the few hay balls still lying around in the fields here and there. The following pieces are only exercises done on site in plein air. I’m working hard at just interpreting, not rendering the reality, but only the essentials.
…close-up 1
Close-up two was done using only fench ultramarine, white an a touch of black. I’m quite happy with this one…
…close-up 2…
I am finding that I enjoy gouache more and more. I like the touch of it on the paper’s surface and it is creamy enough for me and I can work thick with it or thin in washes. I also particularly like its “flat” two dimensional appearance, which looks very “painterly” to me.
…Bales of hay in gouache…
These two gouaches were done on a large sheet of light grey laminated paper/carton paper (65x50cm..25.6×19.7″)
I did a small oil as well.. I have to regain my confidence in oil as I lost it completely during an experience a few weeks ago. I’m hesitant, I don’t really know what to do and where to go to on the canvas. But maybe it is a good thing too…maybe something new can be born from this. I hope so.
…bales of hay in oil…
oil on linen, 33×24.5cm (13×9.7″)
Africantapestry 