Oppede-le-Vieux and painting

Oppede-le-Vieux

11.5 x 11" - acrylic on paper - $65

Wow, four months have passed since my last post....painting after arm and shoulder injuries has been a trial but things are improving. I have said this before, prematurely, but I see some light, Yeah!

It's a case of 'balance' in every meaning of the word: physical, mental, emotional and when it comes to the 'act of painting' - deciding where and how to position the surface (paper or canvas) so that one's neck and painting arm/hand are not stressed. And of course restricting the amount of time spent painting, which for me is really hard. I am not one of those people who need to do laundry or clean house before painting, LOL. 

At this point I need to paint 'small' and in shorter bursts of time which I think is helping to stay loose and painterly. This work is based on many photos from some plein air painting time in a sweet little village called Oppede-le-Vieux in Provence. And I had fun, as you can probably tell, with the palette. 

I am really happy with this one, and hope you like it too!

Have a great day.

30 in 30 - Day 7 - Top of the Hill

Top of the Hill

9" x 12" - acrylic on wood panel - SOLD

The challenge continues, and so does the painting fun! I am having more fun with this whole thing than I did in January, and am giving myself permission to try some things that I never seem to have time for.

The actual painting is dark in value, but what is difficult to see here are the transparent layers of rich colour in the lighter pink-purple hill area - which is really quite lovely, if I do say so myself. 

30 in 30: Day 25 - Red Earth/Yellow Trees

Red Earth/Yellow Trees

12" x 16" - acrylic on canvas - sold

I am riffing on a design/composition inspired by a photo I took of a (man-made) lake near where I live, and have already painted twice. I did make some changes though - in size and format, and by painting with a palette knife, rather than the brush - which created a lot of yummy (that's an art word!) surface texture. The is Day #25, and another one for the 30 in 30 challenge. Only five more to go....

30 in 30: Day 18 - Maison a la Campagne

La Maison a La Campagne

8" x 10" - acrylic on Canvas paper 

The French title (country house) for this little painting is meant to connect it to 'place', in this case Provence. It is based on a photo I took while there in September. Below is the photo and a more abstract version I did en plein air, though it doesn't look like traditional plein air. This was a fun one to do, and is the 18th of the 30 to paint this month for the 30 in 30 Challenge. 

More tomorrow!

30 in 30: Day 15 - Summertime Memory

Summertime Memory

6" x 8"  - watercolour, gouache & charcoal on watercolour paper - $30

Trees, rocks and sky in summer, rendered in brilliant colour,  a good antidote for the winter greys. This little watercolour is day 15's offering in the 30 in 30 challenge. Getting there, day by day.....

Night Fall

Nightfall
8" x 6.5" - watercolour on paper - $25
SOLD

Another of the abstract experimental landscapes I painted last weekend.  I began each painting with almost no idea of what exactly I wanted to paint beyond using lots of colour and allowing them to mingle on the paper. Once the first few colours were laid down then landscape ideas suggested themselves and I went from there. Here I painted broad bands of blue and then yellow which became sky. Once it was dry I then loaded my brush with lots of juicy wet paint to form the tree tops and then used the end of the brush to drag some of the paint down to form the trunks (I did go back in later when the canopy was dry and add some gouache). I really like how the trees are backlit and how the 'light' seems to shine through foreground hills. All quite serendipitous, but seems to work.

Rock Abstract

Rock Abstract

18" x 18"  - acrylic, pastel, pencil crayon on archival acrylic paper  

This is for sale - contact me for price if interested.

This painting was inspired by the same photo of 'rocks in a stream', used as the basis for yesterdays' painting post.  

I had intended to paint more, but at this stage I really liked the painterly looseness, brush work and more limited (for me anyway) palette  - and so decided to stop. I think it was a good decision.

More Rocks

Rocks Upstream
18" x 18"  - acrylic, pastel, pencil on archival acrylic paper  
This is for sale - contact me for price if interested.

Another in my recent painting exploration of rocks in or near water. This one is based on a detail from photo I took of a fast running stream in British Columbia. As the rocks were small and difficult to see (covered by water) they share the compositioal stage with the water - flattened and simplified into two larger shapes. I really like how the image can be seen and understood both abstractly and representationally. Working on the heavy acrylic paper allowed me a great sense of freedom in both painting and mixing media as the surface was very receptive to pencil, pastel and charcoal line and scumbled paint - all of which was applied liberally. Great fun and I am very happy with the result..