Friday 18 January 2013

Landscape in Belgium

A friend of mine recently posted a picture on Facebook of a sunny path in the Belgium countryside and I automatically wanted to paint it. So, after her permission, here is below the quick study I did. I kept it lose and spontaneous and tried to capture the essence of the scene:

Landscape in Belgium  10"x8"  oil on board

Below is the original photograph which I cropped to adjust the composition:

copyright Delphine Simon


Detail


On an other note, I went to London this week with other painting pals to see the amazing show of one of the best plein air painter alive to my opinion, Ken Howard. It was a show of 80 paintings at Richard Green Gallery to celebrate his 80th birthday and the work was simply stunning. (click here for the catalogue

It was also the launch of his latest book "Howard's Switzerland" which is a painting journey retracing the footsteps of Turner.  (click here for more info)

We had the chance to meet Ken and his lovely wife Dora (thanks Adebanji Alade for the picture!):

Left to right: Roy Connelly, Ken Howard OBE RA, Tim King, Dora Bertolutti Howard,
unknown, Haidee-Jo Summers, David Pilgrim ROI, and myself

This really inspired me to go back at the easel and become the best painter I can... Let 2013 be the best painting year so far!

9 comments:

  1. Beautiful placement of paint and brush strokes plus great colour selection make this piece.

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  2. This is lovely Valérie! And another lucky person able to see Ken Howard`s work in the flesh and the man himself! I`m jealous... Judith

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    1. Thanks Judith! I know I'm lucky I got to see Ken but it was the first time after many years of waiting! Your time will come too! :-)

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  3. I hear so many artists say that greens are difficult to paint but you are a master.
    Doug

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    1. Waw, such a great comment Doug. I do like my greens indeed! I have read somewhere that the human can only see a small restricted amount of blues (compared to the infinity of shades in nature) but is able to see an enormous amount of different greens just like in nature. That must be why I like greens!

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  4. Hi Valerie.
    A brilliant first class painting. Just my cup of tea. Also Thanks for sharing your photos. All the best Valerie.
    Vic.

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    1. Thank you Vic! Glad you like it! Hope all is well for you.

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  5. Each of them look stunning in their own way, the top one is more complex in nature, love the

    way your technique is being absorbed around in a great way!
    painters edmonton
    painting contractor edmonton

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