Oppede Soleil - theme and variation

Oppede Soleil

18" x 24" - acrylic on canvas - $400

I have said  this before.....I love working with a subject and interpreting it in different ways. In the last two months I have returned to a photo reference and subject that I am fond of and that evoke good memories of shared painting experiences. This is the photo of the olive grove below the Provence village of Oppede-le-Vieux....

September 2016

I have worked on this painting on and off  over the last 3 weeks. 

Here is an early photo and later one, as it evolved....

and a detail from the finished work

and two recent variations.....

Oppede-le-Vieux

Pink Olive Trees  sold

ok, think that's out of my system for awhile!

Tapestry Garden, with Hollyhocks

Tapestry Garden

20" x 30" - acrylic on canvas - $400

It has been a long time since I have painted any flowers. At one pointed I painted lots of tulips, singly or in small groupings. I loved how they looked once they were open in the latter stages of their short but expressive lives.

This new painting may be a brief foray into that subject realm, or may usher in a renewed interest. Whatever, the subject, a detail from a larger flower garden with hollyhocks, called to me and I decided to respond. I didn't exaggerate the palette or shape of the flowers and leaves but this time just enjoyed painting a semi naturalistic version of a slice-of-life-detail  from a hollyhock garden. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

detail

Blue ZigZag - fun fun fun

Blue ZigZag

acrylic on paper - 11" x 11" - SOLD

Sometimes I 'design' my landscape composition, but more often than not I base it on something that exists. In this case I started with a photo I took in Shenandoah National Park when travelling through Virginia in late October. 

It's not much to look at, is it?

However I liked that one lone tree in the centre  and when I cropped it down and saw the the zig zag arrangement of the road in front I knew I had a design to work with, and then had lots of painterly fun!

Pink Olive Trees

Pink Olive Trees

15" x 19" - acrylic on paper - SOLD

I seem to be in a pink phase these days. It's just such a happy colour and harmonizes so well with blues and greens, not to mention purple, yellow and orange - all the colours I love. The scene is based on a photo from the Provence village of Oppede-le-Vieux - and the olive grove situated at the base of the village walls. Fun to paint, and full of colour on a December day!
   

Blues

12" x 12" - acrylic on canvas - $125

I have painted this scene several times before, always different in some way. I wanted to try it again (think comfort food/comfort painting) but restrict the palette to mostly blues. Of course I had to have some fun with the water reflections and those colours. 

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. 

Lakeside, mixed media fun.

Lakeside

8'." x 9" - mixed media (acrylic & marker) on paper - $25

Trees near water, is a favourite subject matter. Experimenting with different application methods (brush vs knife etc) and then adding media, acrylic markers ....all good fun and I liked the result.

BTW....I paint on archival quality heavy paper designed for acrylic paint.