Autumn Beauty Commission

You may remember this painting from last year's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. The original (see post here) was 24x30cm and sold almost immediately. Today I received a commission to paint this in a larger version, 50x60cm (20"x24") so I have been happy dancing all day.

It's a double bonus because I was wanting to paint a a large autumn scene and wondering which of my photos to paint from. This will get me back into the swing of painting larger pieces and who knows, I may be tempted to paint my 32"x 30" canvas I have been staring at for over a year.

It takes me away from this months challenge, put I will pick up the challenge afterwards to add more paintings for the Save the Rhino Trust fundraising.

Autumn Beauty by Marion Hedger - Day 22, 30 day challenge

Autumn Beauty

Palette knife painting

oil on MDF canvas

24x30 cm (approx 10x12inches)

Contact me about this or any other painting at artbymarion at orange.fr

This painting is a combination of me flicking through some autumn photographs and the composition from a  previous autumn painting from last year, but with a more yellow combination of colours this time.

Autumn Reflections

I still have to decide if I have finished today's painting or if the reflections need to be pumped up a bit. As I am looking at the photo, I can see that the water needs more work, so I shall call this one a work-in-progress.
The blue is too pronounced in the photo but I could not seem to correct for this in Photoshop.

Some close-ups

Autumn flavours - Day 17, 30 day challenge

Autumn Flavours

Palette knife painting

oil on loose canvas

24x30cm (approx 10x12inch)

140€/$200 (int. shipping included)

Contact me about this or any other painting here

Of course I couldn't do this challenge without painting some autumn scenes. The fall here in Provence is not very colourful, mainly consisting of the vines changing colour, plus it is a little early yet for the changing colours. So I have to rely on photos that others have taken and use my artistic licence! Some sites I use are PMP (paint my photo), Artists Reference Photos on Facebook, wetcanvas.com reference library and morgue file. The standard is variable, but with a little help from Photoshop and my licence I can usually get a workable idea for a painting.

About this painting
I had difficulty with the rocks. I used to be able to paint rocks very well (especially when I used pastels), but since taken some web lesson on how to paint rocks and incorporate them into a painting I have not had a lot of success lately. I certainly need to put in some hours practicing to make it second nature again. Should I have left the rocks out of this painting? Let me know what you think.

Some close-ups

And how it would look in a frame

Light in the Woods, palette knife oil painting

Light in the Woods

Palette knife oil painting on MDF canvas panel

18x24cm (approx 7"x10")
Available in my Etsy store

I love painting silver birch trees. This one was painted from a photo taken in Spring as the fresh growth was bursting out, but with the winter brown undergrowth being slow on the uptake! The shaft of sunshine brought the scene to life for me.

Colourful Birches

This painting shows a different treatment of the trees, I have used goauche in a thick loose impressionist way. 

Colourful Birches

Gouache painting on canvas board

17.5x12.5cm (7"x5")

Varnished so can be framed without glass

Available in my Etsy shop

SOLD - Autumn Explosion Silver Birch landscape painting

Autumn Explosion Landscape

Silver birches in autumn

Palette knife painting

18x24cm on canvas panel

In this painting I wanted to give the illusion of the confusion of colours that can occur in a woodland during Autumn. I went a bit wild with the palette knife putting in juicy dabs of colour.

This painting is now SOLD and on its way to the UK.

A companion piece to this painting is  Autumn Silver Birches

Contact me about commissioning a similar painting HERE

Sweet Chestnut walk and Coastal Pines sold

Sweet Chestnut Walk

Coastal pines

Both these paintings are now sold. Thank you Liz and Ruth from New Hampshire and Indiana, respectively.

The third painting of this trilogy is still avaialable

Cork Sentinels Palette Knife Painting

18x24cm (approx 7"x10")

Impasto oil on MDF canvas panel

Available on Daily Paintworks

Cork sentinels, Day 10, 30 days hath September challenge

Cork Sentinels, Provence treescape landscape painting

18x24cm oil on canvas panel

Palette knife painting

Day 10, 30 days hath September challenge

 Cork Trees,
Painted from a photo I took in the same forest as the chestnut trees painted on day 8 (see post here). The forest is in the Var just to the north of St. Tropez. As you cross from the Alpes Maritime into the var, the flora changes and the oak trees change from the Provence green oaks to these cork oaks. They are very distinctive and have a very dark bark. Where they have been harvested the red wounds really stand out and they eventually achieve a gnarled look where the new bark grows over the wound. I have lots of photos so expect more paintings of the cork trees

Difficult Greens
The greens are difficult because although it is coming into autumn there is a lot of fresh green growth that sprout after the first rain at the end of summer, as well as the older green leaves. I've also used a few blue greens to add to the sense of distance.

Sky colours
Although the sky is not a huge part of the painting I took trouble with this using more colours than I normally do (pinks, blues and greens) trying to represent the transitional feel of the sky which was overcast one minute and sunny the next.

Sweet Chestnut Walk - Day 8, 30 days hath September Challenge

Sweet Chestnut Walk treescape WIP

Day 8, 30 days hath September Challenge

Oil on canvas panel

Palette knife painting
Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Last Friday we took a drive around the vineyards in the Var region so I could gather some photos of the vineyards before the grapes were harvested. As part of the drive we went through the Les Maures hills national forest. Sweet chestnut trees grow wild amongst the cork oaks. Generally the day was overcast but every now and then the sun shone through and I managed to capture the sunlight in this view. This is not quite finished, I still have to work on the edges of the shadows.

Sherwood Forest Walk - Day 7, 30 days hath September challenge

Sherwood Forest Walk treescape oil painting

Day 7, 30 days hath September challenge

18x24cm (approx 7"x10") oil on canvas panel

Palette knife painting

Sherwood Pines
At the end of May this year, we went to Sherwood Pines park in Nottingham my home town. While my brother and the kids did the bicycle circuit, I went for a walk and took photos.

Sherwood Pines is a managed pine plantation right in the heart of Sherwood Forest (quel domage) where they used to grow the pines for pit props in the coal mines. That industry has now died and they are gradually replacing the trees with native species.
My Walk
Naturally it was the regenerated part of the forest where I went for my walk. The sun was shining through the fresh green growth of trees and all was OK in my world.
Does it need people?
I am uncertain whether or not to put a couple in at the end of the path to:

• add a focal point and scale
• To add a touch of red (a shirt maybe) as a foil for all the green

Please let me know what you think.