I stuck my nose out in the cold today…just outside the atelier and sketched the Jack Frost plant, whitered from the frost and the dry iris sculptures and a tree and shrub, struggling to hold onto some last colour.
…à la prochaine…
Ronelle
Picking up leaves on my walk by the Loire resulted in autumn sketches number II during our art afternoon earlier today. This is what I did, while Marie-Christine continued working on her cheetah.
All my sketches were done in pencil, pen and watercolor sketchbook, 19x20cm
…yellows in autumn…
…reds in autumn…
With her permission, I photographed Marie-Christine’s painting this afternoon, to show the stage where it is at now…far from finished of course. It is an old painting that she is reworking: keeping the cheetah, and started changing the background, wanting to work towards a warm African feel with heavy skies. Looks good to me already so far!
..Marie-christine’s cheetah in progress…
oil on canvas
I’ve cleaned my garden, prepared it for autumn and the colours are already turning beautiful golds and reds…and old colours, like the hydrangeas.
This afternoon was the first of my art afternoon with MArie-Christine. We do such different work, which is inspiring. I forgot to ask her psrmission to show her piece here today, but she will be continuing next week, and maybe even the week after, so keep an eye open on Thursdays to see how we progress on our pieces.
For today I only did two sketches in pen and watercolor, but from next week on I’ll also do more serious work…I was so fatigued today and didn’t have the energy to do an oil painting..
Sketches of the autumn hydrangeas in the garden just outside my atelier..
both sketches in pen and watercolor in sketchbooks.
…hydrangeas and greens…
…hydrangeas and urn…
I was dropped off at the market in Bretenoux, about 30 minutes drive from Coin Perdu, early this morning. After doing my market shopping…olives and saucisson and tomatoes and peaches and berries….oh, and salad… I had time left while waiting to be picked up. Took out my sketchbook, walked around, sketched two market scenes and the “eglise”, opposite the market. My ride showed up and I had just enough time to blotch the church. A quaint little town in the department of Lot…see the link above for some nice reading on Bretenoux. But I still prefer the much quieter and rustic Correze where we have our little hide away…
…le marché à Bretenoux – baskets galore…
…colorful umbrellas on a sunny day at the market…
…l’eglise à Bretenoux…
Sunflowers look so easy to paint, but it is everything but easy! One can either paint it too stiff and controlled, depleting it of all character, or it can be painted sloppy, in which case it looks as if you didn’t know what you were doing. I think I fall in the second category. But it sure is fun to paint! Robyn made the remark that sunflowers remind her of happy people. While painting these, even when scraping off and starting over, even when throwing sunflowers 2 out the barn door and picked it up afterwards and finally completed it… I was happy. The colours, the shapes, the smell of the oils, the touch of the sunflowers, the buzzing bee around the paints and flowers, the leaves wilting and drying and taking on shapes of their own….I was happy. Still am.
…sunflowers 2…
oil on canvas, 41x33cm (16,1″x12,9″)
I did struggle a bit with sunflowers 1…he composition gave me trouble and I overworked it completely. It actually had a stage where it was perfect…sort of undone, half finished, a slight background with an attractive unfinished look. And I just had to add a touch here and there, which eventually turned into a completely different painting and I lost that “unfinished” stage forever. Fortunately , there is always the next one.
…sunflowers 1
oil on cotton, 38x46cm (14,9″x18,1″)
Two sketches from today…Two scenes for plein air oil paintings.
In “green hills” I didn’t do well on the dark shadowing under the trees…far too warm and not receding – because I once again didn’t stop when enough is enough and continued fiddling! Just hope I’ll do better in the uocoming oil painting!
…green hills..
…old breadoven…
both sketches in pen and watercolor in watercolor sketchbook, 19x20cm (7,5 “x7,9”)
…until next time…
Ronelle
Africantapestry 