Summer Nights, past but not forgotten!

Summer Nights

24" x 24" - acrylic on canvas - $425

I have been working on this canvas for a couple of weeks and it's finally finished. It started out a over a year ago as a very sketchy abstract image using the same palette, but when I saw it recently, languishing against a studio wall, I thought it needed 'more'. I maintained the overall idea of the landscape with trees and a dark sky, but added the foreground flowers and jazzed it up using an acrylic white marker, creating lots of graphic marks and lines. I really liked how the painting evolved and am very happy with it now!

And BTW if it's Thanksgiving Day (or almost) where you are, have a wonderful holiday. 

Olive Grove at Les Bassacs

Olive Grove at Les Bassacs

30" x 40" - acrylic on canvas - $700

In July I kept returning to my photos taken in Provence searching for subject matter and in particular, olive trees, which I love. (Maybe it's because I really like eating olives, or associate them with Van Gogh, or just see them everywhere in the south.) I chose a photo featuring a group of olive trees, which as you can see, is quite dark, but once 'lightened' seemed like it had potential.

Here are two of the earlier stages.

I was really happy with how this one turned out, and in particular with the palette and stylized foliage. 

Tree'scape

Tree'scape

36" x 48" - acrylic on canvas

I know I have said (written) this before - that one of my favourite subjects to paint is 'trees in a landscape'. Yes, the basic landscape composition. I have usually been inspired by a particular image based on a photo taken at a particular place, and then, initially, try to interpret the scene in a fairly representative (though expressive) manner. 

While painting, however, alternative interpretations or ways to reduce and further abstract the composition suggest themselves and that leads to variations on the theme. Tree'scape was inspired by the photograph (photoshopped below) I took at my cottage last October. 

The first painting on which it was based is this one, started last December. It went through several drafts, and then I stopped, as it didn't feel like 'me'. But, I began to see other possibilities, and had a large canvas........

         

This was stage 1......

and then stage 2......

and finally the finished work with lots of texture created through using a palette knife. 

I am really happy with the final painting, and love the palette and textural quality of the trees. If some areas look a little 'fuzzy' in the larger photo, it's because those areas of the painting are not as defined.

And of course it has led to another painting which I will post next day!