Spring Vines in Provence oil pastel painting

Spring Vines in Provence

Oil Pastel landscape painting

20x15cm (approx 8x6")

On black card coated with pastel ground

Purchase information

It's always a nice drive through the vineyards and one of my favourite things to do. In the spring time the bright greens give a lively impression bursting with life full of promise for the next harvest.

About this painting
I coated the card with colorfix primer which gives the surface a tooth that the oil pastel can grip onto. It allows layering with the oil pastels without mixing.

I used harder pastels, mostly galleria to begin and finished off using Sennelier oil pastels. The Senneliers are soft and buttery and 'sit' on top of the harder pastel.

How it would look framed

Provence Pines, next in series of colourful trees

Provence pines

oil palette knife painting

30x30cm (approx 12"x12") on 1.5" deep gallery wrapped canvas.

Available on Daily Paintworks

The third of my impressionist/expressionist treescapes this time painted in oil with a palette knife. I'm finding it hard not to over blend those strokes but the colour is definitely more vibrant.

Kaleidoscope Trees Oil Strudy

Kaleidoscope Trees Oil Study

18x24cm oil on canvas panel

Purchase Details

 
 The second sketch of my stand of Provence pines trying to stay loose and suggestive. Inspired by my previous gouache sketch (see here) I mainly used a brush on this one, keeping the strokes 'clean' and not mixing the paint too much. I love the texture the brush gave - see these close ups

I really like the effect I am achieving here, I'm calling it modern imprresionism or should I call it 'almost expressionism'?.

My next version will be larger and painted with a palette knife. So stay tuned for the next post. (I promise not to leave it for so long before my next post).

How it may look framed or on a mini easel

Kaleidoscope Trees, a gouache study

Kaleidoscope trees

4"x6" Gouache* on 300g watercolour paper.

Unvarnished.
Overall paper size is approx. 4.5"x6.5" to allow for framing. 

Available for purchase on Daily Paintworks

I have noticed I am tending to blend my paint more and more, resulting in a tighter result than what I am aiming for. With this in mind, and after studying some curren impressionist painters I am working towards think twice, lay down paint once. This is much harder than it sounds. You should hear the voices in my head telling me to NOT MESS WITH IT! I am aiming to have a purer, brighter colour in the painting.

About this painting
 
This is a gouache study of a group of trees. I have an idea for a larger painting in oil using pure colour and not mixing the paint on the canvas. I laid down a thin wash and then using thick gouache straight out of the tube I placed the paint on the paper. I also mixed paint on the palette before using it on the paper for some of the colour. I love the matte finish of the gouache.

How it might look framed

 

Purple Sea oil palette knife painting

Purple Sea

Oil palette knife painting

18x24cm on 3mm canvas MDF panel

Available for purchase

Back to my beloved lavender scenes. I was getting purple withdrawal symptoms!

Painted from photos of the Valensol plateau which is awash with purple in the summer.

About this painting
This painting includes a version of the trees I was sketching previously see here. My husband commented the other day that my lavender paintings always look like you are looking down on them. Well that's right! The best vantage point to take the photos from is the verge which is usually higher than the road and gives more of a view and raises the horizon line.

I used a pink ground here and allowed it to poke through in places. The finishing touch was splattering paint over the foreground.

Some close-ups

Return from Namibia, wildlife photos

Arrived back from Namibia over the week-end and have just about recovered from the journey.

We had a great time and should certainly be on everyone's bucket list.

Allow me to bore you with a few photos

Back to painting tomorrow.

Namibia bound

I'm off to Namibia tomorrow for 2 weeks.
 If I was smart I would have painted a desert elephant to post, but I have only just thought of that!. Instead here are some of my miniature treasure floral paintings I painted last week. Planning for the trip (rather a last minute decision) has taken a lot of time.

The yellow ones were inspired by a yellow daisy bush flowering in the garden, the only thing adding any colour at this time of year. The white ones followed the theme.

All oil on mini box canvas, painted with a palette knife. The petals have very thick paint.

Available in my Etsy shop