28 June 2015

River Stones palette knife painting, 6x6inch

River Stones 1 oil palette knife painting
6x6" on 1.5cm gallery wrapped canvas

Apologies for my absence from blogging. Summer is a hiatus for me where painting is concerned as we have lots of visitors and my granddaughter comes to stay. Add to that, builders at the beginning of summer and maybe you will forgive me.

About this painting
A small stream near home that turns into a raging river after storms and when the ice in the mountains melt. The level can rise by about 4 metres. It is so hard to photograph the blues and turquoises to give the true colours of the painting, but it looks better in real life.

How it looks displayed on a mini easel

I will try to post my long awaited report about the plein air workshop I attended in the French Alps with Richard Robinsn over the next couple of days.

26 June 2015

Japanese Secret Garden palette knife painting

Japanese Secret Garden palette knife painting
Oil on 3mm thich MDF canvas panel
18x24cm

Followers of this blog will know that I went to Japan last year to see the cherry blossom. This is painted from one of the photos. It takes me a while, but I get there in the end. The bamboo gates caught my eye, and azaleas were everywhere adding the colour. I shall never know what was behind the gates as the gates were actually closed. Using my 'artistic licence to invite you in.

About this painting

It was an overcast day (early spring in Japan). I wanted to capture the feel of the day and include how, when the sun came out the sunlight lit up the scene.

Some close-ups





and how it might look framed

25 June 2015

The Old Roman Fort, Modern Impressionist palette knife painting

The Old Roman Fort
Palette knife oil painting
30x40cm on stretched canvas

The stones featured in the painting are the remnants of a Roman Fort. This area of France was ruled by the Romans who built forts and Colosseums all over the place e.g. Arles, Nimes and Frejus. These remains are up the side of one of the mountains and can be reached after an arduous trek up hill (for me anyway!). The site is overgrown now and is quite shady, but when the light hits the trees the place lights up.

About this painting
I worked at keeping the colour clean and used an orange/yellow to counteract the greens and add a bit of 'zing'. I hope you agree that it worked quite well.

Some close-ups




and how it might look framed
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15 June 2015

Spring Vineyard in Provence, oil palette knife painting

Spring Vineyard in Provence
Palette knife painting
18x24cm (approx 7"x10")
SOLD

Apologies for the silence, I am not AWOL but I have been occupied on 4 painting commissions and family. We celebrated my Dad's 90th birthday at the end of May so I took a trip over to England, and my son who lives in Australia, has been over to visit everyone. He's returned back home and now I am back to painting.

This painting is of a vineyard close to St Tropez. I worked from a photo taken early this year. The fresh green leaves of the new vines turned a lovely bright yellow in the morning sunshine.

The Var is full of vineyards, some which are along the side of the coast road up to the mountains in the distance. Around the coast it is all flat with a faint view of the hills in the background.