Holiday Paintings in Provence 2011

These are some of my sketch book paintings from my holiday in Southern France.

 This was the first painting day of the holiday and you can see from the sky it wasn't very sunny, in fact soon after arriving it poured down with rain and we had to abandon the field and work from references. Pity. 

In every village somewhere there is at least one very old  2 CV .They seem to be preserved like national treasures!! This is a scene from a hamlet called Les Barbiers.

The French are very thrifty, this door was on a block being saved until someone can find a use for it.

The house of the most important person in any town or village is the mayor. This is the Maire in the village of Murs. It has an unusual turret feature - no bell,  just a round structure.

July - August 2011 Challenges

Studio Atelier  - Breakfast Time

(ink sketch)

A Day Not Wasted - Passing Through

(oils)

Paint and Draw Together - Pitcher, Peaches and Apricots

(oils)

  Rookie Painter - Peonies

(oils)

A Day not wasted - October Challenge

October challenge - a Paris street scene - in acrylics

September challenge - a Parisienne waitress.Painted in oils

.

I called this one man and his dog.It was a reference of a ramshackled house near to where Lee lives.Can you see him and his dog Zoe? This i did in watercolour.

This is the chapel where Lee's son will be getting married in June

April challenge was of Lee's dog Zoe.  She certainly looks full of fun. Painted in acrylic

This month, March,  I did two entries for the challenge , first with the dog looking on, and the second more as a portrait.

A scene in Venice - I added the boatman and dog to reflect the need for a siesta.

February .

This month we are back in Venice.It is a lazy lunch time.

January 2011

Yet another building , all completely  different . All the buildings this month have a completely different feel and atmosphere . From the very old to the comparatively new.

The Houses and Pier at Santa Monica U.S.A.

This is a pen and wash challenge of someone walking through central park - I have added a few dogs.This was the December challenge

Calypso Moon Artist May

This is the challenge for Calypso Moon Artists -May. The Royal Wedding
I have painted a vignette of scenes from the day in water-colour

I have just be told of two other challenge sites . That makes four sites I can be involved with, it is great to have so much stimulation . The first of the two new sites is A Day Not Wasted .The challenge was a Venitian backwater scene - lovely - but I had to put in some people - otherwise it would have been rather sterile .


For the February Calypso challenge the subject was "Landscape"
I painted a triptych of "Milly on the Chart" a lovely area we walk the dog.

The other site is Calypso Moon Artist Movement- their site suggests a subject and you make your mind up as to what you will do with it . This month the subject was a moment in time with figures . I chose a scene of some cyclists arriving in a small Italian village all dying to cool off with an ice-cream , we had been there as tourists, but the ice-cream was just as appealing.

At the moment I am enjoying the challenges of two art sites - Studio Atelier and now  - Paint and Draw Together . It is really nice to feel involved with other artists, and not out there by ones-self .

Paint and Draw Together Challenge - October

 

October challenge - painted in oils

This is the second May challenge (it's every three weeks).I don't usually like squirrels as we have some grey ones at home and they strip the wahlnut tree of all the nuts every year,so i have made this one a little bit browner.

May challenge - Red winged blackbird.Worked in pastel.May-be a little more work on the background without taking the focus off the main subjects.

April challenge - the two cherries.These i did in pastel,and felt much better about this attempt.

March challenge -the red rose. I did this as a water colour, but not very satisfied with it.There was a lot of black in the original reference ,that i found daunting, and the rose became very heavy.Oh well press on to the next challenge !

February challenge.

This was a challenge I really enjoyed , and only stopped because I ran out of paper . If I had not I would have ended up with the whole kitchen!!!

  January 2011. This challenge was the only one I attempted that was not a building , and I worked in watercolour - no pen this time .
It is a Monach Butterfly.

December challenge 2 - Pearls

 

 December - Orange/Red Rose

 

November -  Pomegranate

October - Lemons and Flower

Studio Atelier Submissions

 

October Challenge

June - majestic Irises -painted in acrylics

May challenge -a sunflower-worked in oil

April challenge - Norwegian carved birds - painted in water-colour

March challenge - Strawberry cream tea. I worked this in acrylics for a change.

  February -no special challenge-choose from a past reference .I did a pen and wash picture of a fountain,not sure where it was.

F

January 2011.This challenge was certainly an exercise in perspective!I decided to attempt this one in oils , and feel reasonably happy with it.
The Courthouse Tucson U.S.A.