Tuesday 25 June 2013

Artists & Illustrators Summer issue cover!

I'm very excited to announce that three other fellow plein air painters (Roy Connelly, Paul Banning, Antony Bridge) and myself are featured in the new issue of Artists & Illustrators! And we are on the front cover!! I should play it cool and blasé but I'm far too thrilled and excited for that! 




This is a special issue about plein air painting and the magazine followed us during a painting session outdoors. We all had to face pretty bad weather but it was a lot of fun. The magazine is out now so grab a copy if you can (for more info go to www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk). Here is below a small low resolution preview of the feature to give you a tease of what it looks like:





Roy Connelly and Paul Banning painting in Suffolk


Roy Connelly and Paul Banning painting in Suffolk


Antony Bridge and myself painting in Bath


Antony Bridge and myself painting in Bath


The magazine team has been really lovely and the photographer has been kind enough to send me all the great images of the day out painting in Bath where Antony Bridge and myself produced a painting near Putleney Bridge. I have included many pictures below. The photographer's name is Gareth Iwan Jones - do check out his beautiful website (www.garethiwanjones.com)


©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com


©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com


Here is below the painting I produced during the session. The weather was overcast and it even rained at some point but I managed to catch a glimpse of sun between the clouds:

Pulteney Bridge, Bath, in the afternoon  16"x9"  oil on board

Detail

Below you'll see all the steps:

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com


©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com


©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com


The finished painting:


©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

Although we were both sitting on the same bench, Antony painted the Abbey (while I painted the bridge) and he did the lovely painting you can see below:

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com


Here is again my finished painting below. The painting session happened in the afternoon, and I must confess that Antony and I did arrive in the morning at the place to practice before the arrival of the magazine team. I painted exactly the same view, the first time as a practice, and since it was an overcast day, both paintings ended up looking very similar. Scroll below to see the first one!

Pulteney Bridge, Bath, in the afternoon  16"x9"  oil on board


Here is below the painting I did in the morning as a warm up:

Pulteney Bridge, Bath, in the morning  16"x9"  oil on board


The painting during the morning "warm up" session


Detail of the morning painting


After the afternoon painting session with the team, Antony and I decided to reward ourselves with a nice hot beverage in town. Although quite tired, we felt we could find time for a last little painting before calling it a day so we headed back to mine and set up in one of my favourite spots which shows beautiful views of Bath and we caught the sunset. I produced this little painting:



Bath view from Oldfield park, summer evening  10"x8"  oil on board


The painting towards the end


Antony was loving those greens


The sun came out and gave me the chance to add some lovely highlights


Detail


My paintings are available for sale directly from me or through a gallery and can be shipped worldwide. Prices depends on size and subject and generally range from £100 to £500. Please email me to check prices and availability at valpirlot1@hotmail.com



I would like to finish this post by mentioning that I currently have paintings on show at two places for the moment (Bristol and Corsham) so if you are around, please go and have a look:


"Inspired" at the Guidlhall Arts Centre in Bristol
A permanent painting and sculpture exhibition continuously updated throughout the year which precedes the Bristol Prize 2013.
The show currently includes all my recent Cornwall paintings.
Small Street, Bristol BS1 1DW


Mayastudio gallery
9B Station Road
Corsham SN13 9EY
Open Monday to Saturday 10am to 4pm
The gallery currently includes my recent Bath paintings amongst others.

7 comments:

  1. super blog Valerie, love the works too

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  2. Congratulations! I could not be more happy for you, this is super! I will have to get a copy of the magazine. Best of luck at your shows too. How much longer will you be keeping the day job.

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    1. Thank you Douglas! I always appreciate your support. You have been here from the start of this blog! To answer your question about the day job, I must announce that by October I will take a break from the full time job, not for painting, but for maternity leave! Indeed, I'm 5 months pregnant now so that will be a new adventure! After that, who knows what will happen but I hope to keep painting all the the time, I certainly haven't stopped now yet. All the best, I hope your well.

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  3. Valerie, you must be very chuffed with this. A great article, painting and fame all combined in one! I particularly enjoyed your ocmment that you should never feel too guilty about finding a comfortable pitch, took me right back to Lyme Regis :) It was interesting to compare each of the four artists and see the different approaches. Well done indeed!

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    1. Thank you David! Glad you enjoyed the article. Very flattering coming from someone that was alone on the cover of The Artist magazine afterall! I still remember that great cover! You did beat us all on the fame front;) Hope you're well!

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  4. Thanks for this blog ppost

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