Provence Poppy Meadow WIP

Provence poppy meadow work in progress by Marion Hedger.

Rescuing a failed underpainting Started well over a year ago. Working on this to bring it back to life. Has potential as my teacher used to say.

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Provence Olives - Nearly finished

Provence Olives

Oil on stretched canvas

30x40cm

Work in Progress

Contact me about this or anyother painting

This one is nearly done. In fact I thought it was until I looked at it this morning. Now I think it needs some warmth in the trunks and maybe in the canopies. What are your thoughts?

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Autumn Gold - Vineyard painting and work in progress photos

Autumn Gold

24x30cm 

Oil on MDF canvas panel

AVAILABLE

I shared the start of this painting with you HERE.

I like the way the sunlit tree in the back cam out and gives me the effect that I see when the sunlight hits those leave.

Some more WIP photos

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Golden Light Provence Landscape Painting

Golden Light

Provence landscape painting

18x24cm (approx 7x10)

oil on MDF canvas panel

AVAILABLE

Imaging walking in the evening glow of the sun on this peaceful path in the foothills to the alps.

About this painting
This is an older painting which I reworked to adjust some of the colouring.

I covered the painting with a thick layer of wax mixed with liquin and then liberally applied more paint into the layer. It is a fine balance of how much paint and pressure to use on the palette knife. The wax/liquin mix is quite slippy and the paint has to be thick enough to 'stick' but the mix holds the texture of the applied stroke. It also discourages fiddling with the stroke as that just wipes it off again.

Here is the old version, have I improved it? There is always something lost as well as gained when reworking a painting. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Some close ups of the texture

 

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Day 3 #AbundantArtShow - Show your art in a new way

Wonderful Lavender Provence
In-situ using WallApp

50x40cm oil on stretched canvas

Palette knife painting
AVAILABLE

Day 3's task is "to share something new, unique or different about your work. What way can you show off your work that you haven’t done before? Take a look at some of the examples from yesterday’s challenge."

I have often wondered where artists get the images for their room settings to display their art. I vaguely remember Sea Dean writing something about it on her blog Sea Dean - Paint a Masterpiece Blog 

So I trawled her blog and discovered this post. A great app and one I shall be using again. I agree with her assessment of the app so I will let you read her post to save repeating it. The biggest drawback with the app is the inability to size your app to the correct proportion, it's all a little bit of guesswork.

Here's another setting for Sky Reach (now sold)

 

Impressionist Landscape Painting - Provence Flower Show

Provence Flower Show

30x40cm

Oil palette knife painting

AVAILABLE

Last week we took a drive to see the cherry blossom in the Vaucluse area of Provence. We missed the cherry blossom but did find some gorgeous poppy meadows and of course I had to paint one.

Summer Lavender Impressionist oil painting

Lavender Summer Provence Landscape

18x24cm (approx 7x10inch) 

Oil on 3mm MDF canvas panel

AVAILABLE

This painting nearly slipped through the net. I painted it last year after my yearly trip to the lavender fields. For some reason I missed posting it! A shame because I really like the way it it turned out.

I thought you might like to see my inspiration photo. As you can see I used my artistic license to it's full extent, adding foreground colour and encouraging the far lavender field into bloom.

Tell me how you would have handled this photo.

Some Close-ups of the knife work

 And how it might look displayed

Red Field Provence landscape, palette knife painting

Red Fields

Oil palette knife painting

18x24cm (approx 7x10cm)

Available

One of my favourite scenes that I keep looking for new ways to paint. I used wax mixed into the paint so see if how it reacts and affect the impasto effect. I am always searching for ways to increase the impasto effect and use less paint LOL. I am still experimenting so will reserve my thoughts on the finish. For now I can say it gives a very matte finish and is easy to paint with.

Some close-ups

 

Lavender Farm Provence palette knife painting

Provence Lavender Farm

Oil palette knife painting

Oil on canvas panel

18x24cm (approx 7x10)

Available

Back to painting landscapes after the abstract florals and a few commissions and a week in the UK.
I kept it simple for this one and painted directly onto the canvas panel i.e. no additional gesso and no underpainting. It has a nice 'cleanness to it'.

A couple of close-ups

 

Evening Shadows over the vineyard palette knife painting

Evening Shadows over the Vineyard

Palette knife painting

Oil on 3mm MDF canvas panel

Available

The late afternoon sun was shining from the trees to the left of the vineyard casting long dark shadows.

A sister painting to yesterday's vineyard painting see here


Some close-ups of the knife work

How it looks displayed on a mini-easel

Vineyard painting - Waiting for the Bees

Waiting for the Bees - Provence vineyard painting

Oils, palette knife

18x24cm (approx. 7"x10") on 3 mm MDF canvas panels.
Available

You may have noticed that I like painting vineyards. (As an aside - I also like drinking the end product, always in moderation of course!). They always make for an interesting painting with the lines of the vines taking your eye through the painting. Care has to be taken that you don't created tramlines and very straight lines that don't allow the eye to rest and explore.



Close-up of the palette knife work

How it would look displayed on a mini-easel

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.

Wildflowers again - Provence Meadow palette knife painting

Provence Meadow palette knife painting

15x15cm (6x6inch) oil on box canvas 1.5cm deep

Purchase information

Can you guess I love painting this meadow. This is my third painting, and probably not my last. I cheated (sorry, I mean used my artistic license)  a little with this one by replacing the distant vineyard with an olive grove.

 For comparison I am showing the previous two

Field of flowers

Palette knife painting

Oil on box canvas/6"x6"

15x15cm
SOLD

Willdflower Confetti

Palette knife painting

15x20cm (6x8inch) on 1.5cm deep box canvas

The edges have been painted black so a frame is unnecessary.

Purchase information

I've been asked to show the original reference for these paintings, and here it is

Guarding the Lavender palette knife painting

Guarding the Lavender

Oil, Palette knife painting

18x24cm on Italian canvas panel

Available for Purchase

About this painting
This is another of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge paintings that needed a few more touches to finish it off.

Some close-ups of the knife work

And how it would look framed

Haut Alpes Plains SOLD - Day 28, 30 day challenge

Haut Alpes Plains

Oil on Canvas Panel

18x24cm (approx 7x10inch)

SOLD commissions welcomed

artbymarion (at) orange.fr

This painting is on its way to Virginia in the US. Thank you Leslie.

For years I was puzzled why many lavender fields in the Alpes-de-Haut-Provence seem to be left to go 'wild', It's such a contrast to the normally neat rows of lavenders that seem to carry on for miles. This year I found out. It is not that they are abandoned, but because they are grown ecologically with no herbicides. This makes for a much more interesting subject to paint, with the wild flowers popping up through the lavender and adding variety.

Commission Landscape, Day 24 - 30 day challenge

Commission Landscape, Summer in Provence

Palette knife painting

30cmx80cm (approx 12x32inch)

On box canvas (1.5cm deep)

This was a commission for friends who wanted 'something bright' to fill a particular space in a dark kitchen, hence the size. That was my total brief! Luckily they loved it when they saw it. It's still drying and I am waiting to put on a coat of finishing varnish before they return to their holiday home mid October.

Though not strictly part of the 30 day challenge, I have spent most of today kicking my computer because some ******* had bundled some malware with a download I did this morning. So no time to paint today. Luckily, I have managed to sort it, so it will be all systems go tomorrow.

Threatening Sky in Provence, sky study - Day 5 of the 30 day challenge

Threatening Sky in Provence - Sky study

Palette knife painting in oils

20x30 cm (approx 8"x12") on gesso board
See yesterday's painting here
Available on Daily Paint works

The skies were threatening when I took this photo near Caussols, about a ¾ of an hours drive from home. Yes it's true, the skies are not always blue in Provence! If you  know my paintings, you will know that the sky is mostly blue as I love to paint the feeling of sunshine. So my challenge today was to get out of my comfort zone and paint more of a skyscape.

About this painting

This is the first time I have painted on gesso board. I purchased several of these boards well over a year ago but never used them. They are a laminated panel covered in very smooth gesso. They looked so pristine it seemed a same to use them! The smoothness also seemed daunting as I normally work on a very textured surface. After umming and ahhing for a while I covered them in thick liquitex gesso using a palette knife. This gesso takes a day to dry so it wasn't until this morning I could work on them. However, the surface was still smooth to the touch although it was still somewhat textured - I hope that makes sense. I assume that the gesso had been partly absorbed into the original layer.

Using underpainting white
I used underpainting white for mixing the sky colours for it's quick drying property, but it dried so quickly and was unworkable after a very short period - faster than normal. I also assume it was because of the absorption of the original gesso. I have quite  a few of these boards so I have plenty of time to get used to them. Perhaps working with a brush and paint mixed with medium would work better? If anyone has experience of using these boards, any tips would be appreciated.

Foreground
As this is mainly about the sky, I kept the foreground very understated.

Some close ups

Guardian of the view - tree painting in oil using a palette knife

Guardian of the view

Palette knife painting

18x24cm (approx 7"x10")

Oil on MDF canvas panel

Available on Daily Paintworks

This painting is in response to this week's challenge on Daily Paintworks to paint 'Sky Holes'.
The model for this painting is the same one that appears in 'Sunset over the vineyard'. I love the way it twists and turns and stands guard. It was a sunny day but the clouds were starting to build up.

About this painting
This was painted on my usual pink ground after treating the canvas panel with liquitex thick gesso to give additional texture. I painted the tree very loose suggesting the different shades of the leaves in blocks. Some of the sky holes were painted back in to add breathing spaces, or to put it another way, leaving space for the birds to fly through.
Some close-ups of the knife work.