Can't do one without the other

Faith in pastel

This is Alyssa's little sister Faith, who is four now.  I couldn't do one without doing the other.  I now need a picture of their little brother Sam, who is equally as cute, but in a boyish sort of way, then I will have a full set.

Faith
Pastel on Ingres paper
21 x 28 cms

Painting faces

Alyssa in pastel

My mum has come to visit in the mountains.  It is very hot which makes painting at altitude very tiring so we have been sitting in the shade of the awning on our terrace painting faces.  

My favourite medium for these is pastel, and due to the small size of the works I find pastel pencils ideal.  My biggest problem is keeping the image fresh.  The temptation is to go back in again and again, perfecting, adjusting and generally fiddling.  

I like to be able to see the pastel strokes and the texture of the support, but I do like to get a decent likeness (for me it a portrait isn't worth it's weight in paper if it isn't recogniseable, although there is a huge gulf between being recogniseable and achieving a good likeness!

This is my niece Alyssa, my brother's eldest daughter, aged 7.  She lives in California and will make a perfect Prom Queen in due course.

Alyssa

Pastel on Ingres paper

21 x 28 cms

Winter Flashback

Despite it being high summer in the Alps the weather can be unpredictable, so on the damp and dreary days I go back to unfinished work from the winter.  It seems really strange painting snow on a hot summery day, but when I look out of my skylight and see the mountains shrouded in mist it isn't a problem.

This is the Refuge at Barmettes, a very welcome hostelry to stop for lunch or a warming vin-chaud, adjacent to one of the high lifts at around 2000 metres.

On this day there was a clear blue sky to the east and a huge bank of cloud to the west as the sun was sinking,  it peeped out from a gap in the cloud, just brushing odd spots on the snow, before it finally sank below the mountains. It was really cold.

The sun goes off the mountains quite early in the winter months.  You can see there aren't many skiers outside the lodge, and only a few skis lined up, that means most people have set off down for to warmth and security of their cosy chalets.

There is a bit of glare in the sky in the photo which doesn't show on the painting.  I used medium to allow me to get a smooth finish on the sky, it is a bit more reflective and I don't have my camera with the polaroid filter here with me.  I will have to re-photograph it when I get my posh camera back from the mend.  (It had an accident on the high seas!)



Refuge Les Barmettes en hiver
40 x 30 x 5 cms
Acrylic on stretched canvas
£235 ready to hang

Les Prioux - a summer hamlet

Les Prioux

This hamlet is only accessible in the summer, it is a favourite spot for taking a leisurely lunch in one of the delightful restaurants or a gentle stroll up the mountain tracks.  There are loads of quite taxing hiking routes around, but also a good selection of easier options, and it is easily accessible by car.

The old stone chalets have mainly been refurbished and are used for holidays.  The brown building at the front left is a mazot, a traditional french shed or barn.  The wood is that deep brown colour because it has been burnt by the sun and has no other protection,  the ones in this village are in remarkably good condition.

My first attempt at this painting, yesterday in the sunshine, was a bit of a disaster. I made some amendments to it when I got home, which is never a good plan as it often destroys the freshness of the original.  Watercolour painting is a real 'one shot' affair.

So in good time honoured tradition I gave it a second shot today.  

The weather was a bit murky so I climbed up into my eerie, armed with the original painting done on location, a photographic reference and a well thumbed copy of a book of watercolour paintings of the mountains round here by an artist who's work I really admire  http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/images/284206271X/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=301061&s=books

I don't think my job looks anything like his (I suspect 'robust' is an adjective I would apply to mine, whereas 'subtle and sensitive' would be more appropriate for Mantis' work),  but I love the way he uses colour and I did find it helpful having something to refer to that I liked rather than my original, which I thoroughly disliked.

I am pleased to say I am happier with the result than I was yesterday.

watercolour on hot pressed paper

35 x 25 cms

Tumbling waters

Doronne de Chaviere

The mountains around Pralognan are crowned by three enormous glaciers, which control a micro-climate in the valley below.  In the summer the melt water gallops downhill in glorious shades of cobalt turquoise and green over the soft yellows and purples of the underlying rocks.  

These rivers have an undeniable attraction for me, yet I approach them with dread as the bubbling waters are notoriously difficult to capture in paint.  Once again I am beguiled.

This is another sketchpad entry, but I think it would look good framed and hanging on a wall, so I will cut a mount for it and add it to my 'exhibition' stock.

22 x 30 cms

watercolour on paper

Back up the Hill

Hameau de Fontanettes

I like this spot.  I can get there in the car so I can take all my equipment and make myself comfortable.  This is my first watercolour of the summer here in the Vanoise National Park despite having been here two weeks already.  Up to now the summer has been more like an English one, so I have been working inside.  It is nice to get out though now the weather seems to have broken.  

This is on a popular route up the mountain and there is a pleasant lunch stop at the top of the hamlet. The grass is a ski slope in the winter and I would be mowed down by skiers if I were to set up there in the snow.

I think there are some other versions of this scene further back, but as a familiar spot it is a good one for a warm up painting.  

It is watercolour in a sketchbook and has a grubby mark in the sky where I was impatient and rubbed the paper before it was dry, so it will stay in the sketchbook and I will do another version at a later date.

I was here last summer on foot, and walking down admiring the view I tumbled carrying all my kit, broke my right thumb and made a real mess of my elbow, which put my out of contact with paintbrushes for six weeks until it all healed.  Moral = watch your footings, never mind the view!

30 x 20 cms

watercolour on rough paper