Painting Light and Colour

This A2 size poster is an amalgamation of four small panels I did of different views of the city. To date, three of the originals have gone to good homes, and the poster is enjoying some good success in the gallery.

It is available for purchase for €10.00, plus post and packing to your part of the world. Still working on the postage prices, but not likely to be more than a few euro. If you decide to purchase both this poster and the Cordes one, then you get a discount, and the total for both is €20.00, plus only one postage charge.

Also, congratulations to the winning bidder on eBay for the ‘Parisot Barn’ panel. Seems like a quite a few people enjoyed it, and it I will be tempted to try it again soon, again with a small painting.

Watch this space!

This view of Cordes is a slightly abstracted one I painted in 2010.

This original has been sold, but I am making large (A2) prints available for €15.00, plus post and packaging to your part of the world. If you would like one, just send me an email with your details. Payment as per usual can be made through PayPal, or any major debit or credit card

‘Eglise at Cordes sur Ciel, France’

Oil on canvas, 30 x 24 cm

Status: For sale: €145

Eglise at Cordes

This little panel was done in one session on site outside the church at Cordes. It was on the weekend, so there was no shortage of   people passing by and going in. So, although it was not my original intention to paint in the people, it became obvious as the picture progressed that the colours just had to be included. That’s one of the things about painting from life, the rythym and harmonies are already there, you just have to be faithfully  selective about what you put in.

‘Cathedral at Albi, France’

Oil on canvas, 38 x 55 cm

Status: For sale: €350

Cathedral at Albi

This is a view of the Cathedral (Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile d’Albi) in Albi. It is a world heritage site and unique in that it is built of small bricks instead of the larger blocks which were used for cathedrals constructed later.

In the city, there is also a museum dedicated to Albi’s most famous son – the painter Toulouse Lautrec.

The river Tarn runs through the city, and I painted this from the south side of the river looking back across towards the old town, and was able to capture some interesting morning light.

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‘The Tarn west of Albi’

Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Status: For sale: €225

Tarn River

The river Tarn is one of the major rivers in the south of France, and the Tarn valley is a significant tourist attraction.  As the river makes its way through the country side,  there are numerous opportunities to paint the landscape.

I kept this one very loose and mostly abstract, but the colour and tone is pretty much what was in front of me. I did the entire thing on site, (just me and the bugs!).

I was going to take it a bit further in the studio, but apart from a few tidy-up brush strokes, decided against it. Nothing worse than an over worked painting, and I think the sponteneity and freshness of the brush and painting knife marks show it.

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‘The Château de Saint-Félix-Lauragais’

Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 cm

Status: €145

The Château de Saint-Félix-Lauragais is a castle in the commune of Saint-Félix-Lauragais in the Haute-Garonne département of France, which is about a 40 minute drive from where we are currently staying.

The castle was originally constructed in the 13th century. In the 14th century, the castle was transformed into a country house by a brother of Pope John XXII. The complex includes buildings from the 13th to the 18th centuries.

It is now privately owned, it has been listed since 1994 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

‘Landscape near Lavour, France’

Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 cm

Status: Panel A: Private collection, France

Panel B: For sale, €180

Landscape painting is really just a box of air with little marks in it telling you how far back in that air things are. (Lennart Anderson)

I painted these two little panels on the same day, one in the morning, and the other one in the afternoon, near where we are staying in France. It was still quite cold when I painted them, and I had to find a vantage spot out of the wind. The cool light and the dry air created a harmony that unified the scene and provided me with the fairly straight forward task of putting the paint in the right places, which I think I managed to do to some extent!

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‘Rembrant’s Bodyguard’

Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Status: €225

Anything painted directly, on the spot, always has a strength, a power, a lively touch that is lost in the studio. Your first impression is the right one. Stick to it and refuse to budge. (Eugene Boudin)

Although we are now resident in France, I just wanted to post this one last Netherland’s windmill, as I particulary like this one. Painted on the spot during the course of one day, this is the same windmill as the one a few posts ago, but painted on the canal side, and in much nicer weather earlier in the year.

Just goes to prove how the conditions dictate the result, even from the same painter!

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Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

Status: €360

Country house

‘Painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one’s sensations.’ (Paul Cezanne)

This is a painting I did of a house in a block of land directly behind where we are currently staying.

I finished it during the course of a complete Sunday, it being relatively easy to take my paints and easel and set up in the bottom paddock here, and every time I wanted a break, I just had to walk up to the ‘gite’ to get a coffee or a sandwhich. As a result, there was no need whatsoever to touch it up in the studio.

I even signed it on the spot. Talk about confidence!

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‘du Château de Loubens-Lauragais’

Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm

Status: €360

Chateau

‘I don’t believe in making pencil sketches and then painting your landscape in your studio. You must be right under the sky’. (William Merritt Chase)

As we are now firmly ensconsed in the south of France pending the opening of our gallery space later this year, it is the perfect opportunity to get some of the local landscape down on canvas. This painting of the Chateau was done on location, from the carpark over two afternoons, much to the amusement of the locals – it was pretty cold, even though the afternoon sun was strong on both occasions. I expect it will go nicely in the new gallery.

We are firming up on an agreement to operate my art practice out of a gallery in Cordes this summer, and I will keep all informed of the progress as we go!