Revisiting favourites - le Moriond

I have had a bit of a hiatus in my painting endeavours recently.  In the winter I don't get to paint as much a) because it is too cold to paint outdoors,  and  b) because I like to go skiing.  This time it has been due to my poor husband who has a broken arm and shoulder and is recuperating from an operation to fix them both.  The weather has been glorious for the past 5 weeks, although not so good for the snow, so I managed to get back to my favourite location, looking up the river at Pont du Creuset towards the Moriond.  The snow has melted enough to see the river trickling down - rather than gushing down in the summer version of this painting (earlier in this blog).

I have gone back to my favourite acrylics.  I underpainted the canvas first with a strong red wash, which shows through as tiny specks of colour, and gives a lively feeling. Then I blocked in with more opaque colours.
I did toy with doing the final layer in thicker oils, but chose not to as I wanted to push the colours and I wasn't sure how it would go.  Maybe next time I will gird my loins and go with the oil paint.

I am really pleased with the way it has turned out.  It is still at the stage of hanging on the lounge wall where I can see anything I want to alter - but I think that's it now.

I have plenty more images of this lovely place to work from in the warmth of my attic, maybe a bit more abstract next time.

Le Moriond - snow
30 x 40 x 5 cms stretched canvas
£235 ready to hang

Stretching my wings

I got a new book about painting in a more abstract style, a theme I have always been interested in but never pursued to the extent I would like.
This is my first painting after reading through one of the chapters about 'visualisation'

It is a view of Pralognan from one of my favourite walks up towards the summer village of Cholliere, the path runs alongside the river Doronne de Chaviere, which in the spring and summer has water of the most stunning colours from the glacier melt.  In the winter the snows colours everything with tint of shiver.


I am afraid my graphic tendencies once again overruled my artistic aspirations, it is definitely more representational than I first intended, but I think it is going in the right general direction.
It is painted with a very restricted palette of Prussian Blue, Cobalt Blue, Permanent Magenta and Indian Yellow and I tried to suggest distance with warm v. cool colours.  To me it looks as cold as the day I walked up there.

Dorone de Chaviere
Watercolour
36 x 26 cms approx
£145.00  matted, ready for framing.

Blanche Neige

 

Out of our kitchen window, looking straight up to the mountain called Grand Bec, there are quite a few chalets on the hillside.
On Christmas Eve, during a brief pause in the snowfall, with low cloud and mist you couldn't see the other chalets, only the one nearest to us, called Blanche Neige (White Snow).
It is the one of the oldest holiday chalets in the village, little has changed inside.

I did this little watercolour painting alongside my mum in my attic studio from sketches we did through the kitchen window and photos I took.  It was too cold to paint outside.
Most of my paintings are now on display in the Vallee Blanche Restaurant in Pralognan, so I do need to do some more to put on the walls of the chalet now that the bustle of the Christmas holiday has slipped by. 


Blanche Neige.
22 x 16cms
watercolour 
£80.00  matted and ready to frame

Tuscan Blue Sky Days

Now the weather has bucked up at last, and it is a good day for cloud studies.

 

The day started bright with fluffy clouds, but as it progressed they became more varied and interesting.

I worked on one large board divided up into four sections, each part underpainted with a difference colour, which reflects in the final effect of each study.

They have now been cut into four individual paintings that work really well together as a set.

Cloud studies I, II, III, IV

Each 20 x 14.5cms

Oil on Canvas Board

My paintings are always for sale.  If you are interested please email me.

Tuscan Tree Studies

Trees are something that painters love or hate.  All that green, all those shapes, in watercolour I have devised my own method of approach, but in oils ???  I am more accustomed to painting light clours first, then darks, but to work totally in reverse really gave me brain ache. (Or maybe it was the wine at lunch)
So today was a day of tree studies.  Sessile oaks, Pines of every description, Olive groves. So much to choose from. And it rained. Very hard.
My first choice was a huge Sessile Oak. It was hard enough to get a clear view from ar away enough to fit onto a small piece of paper.

After lunch the sun made a brief appearance and I chose a tree perched precariously on the top of a cliff that I could paint from the cover of a nearby shelter in case the rain came back with a vengeance.

Sessile Oak Study

Wooded Cliff

Oils on paper 20x20cms

My paintings are always for sale.  If you are interested please email me.

A dismal day in Tuscany

The weather wasn't at it's best to start with.  Our task for the day was to paint the same view in the morning light, then again in the afternoon light.  Sadly the light was pretty flat and remained constant for the entire day.  So - only the one painting this day.  I did try to do other late afternoon light versions late in the week but none of them were finished due to pressures of time.

What a revelation to find I can paint in oils on good quality watercolour paper.  It needs further treatment to ensure its archival properties, but any works sold will be suitably mounted and sealed.  Many thanks to Maddine Insalaco of Etruscan Places for the information and research.

Gloomy day across the valley. Armena
Oils on Paper  20x20 cms
My paintings are always for sale.  If you are interested please email me.

Time for an oil change

I spent a week in Tuscany lately, with Maddine Insalaco and Joe Vinson of Etruscan Places.  It was a pretty intensive week of Plein Air oil painting, which is not something I normally do, but I really enjoyed it.  Here are a selection of my paintings, (after I had reviewed them and make some small modifications - mainly adjusting the contrast and intensifying a few darks.  There are some more - but I will post those when I have had chance to finish them off.

This is the first - a view from the terrace of our accommodation (which I can really recommend - more of that later).  The umbrella pines and tall spiky Lombardy pines are so typical of the area.  These line the approach road to the farm and stand proudly silhoutted on the hillside.  The olive groves below provided problems of their own due to their regular patterns and softly stated colourings.
This is still a work in progress.  Seeing it on screen really shows up what I need to alter!! I will re-post when it is adjusted.


Umbrellas and Lombardys - Armena
Oils on paper 20x20cms
My paintings are always for sale.  If you are interested please email me.