Series of paintings for a beautiful house in Holt...

I just finished a series of paintings for a commission for a lovely house in Holt near Bath. 

There were several views the owners and myself had in mind so I ended up doing four separate paintings...  Here is the first one I did:

The entrance to the house - Summer evening   10"x8"  oil on board

I did this one on an evening after work. The light hit beautifully the front of the facade so I tried to catch it before I disappeared. The house is made of that beautiful golden stone which makes Bath and most surrounding villages so attractive.

I did a quick 5 minutes sketch before starting
to make sure I had  the composition right

The painting towards the end of the session 

I set up where the view was the best - which was almost on the road... Fortunately Holt is a very small and peaceful village so apart from children playing football and neighbours having a sneaky look, it was rather quiet.

That's me on the pavement (I should have put my hat on the floor to collect coins)

So focused I didn't realise I was being papped...

The second painting was the house from the garden. I figured out the best time for light was around 3pm so I came back on a sunday afternoon to tackle this one.

The house from the garden in the afternoon    14"x10"   oil on board

I liked the way the house was illuminated from behind the trees

Here again, a quick preliminary sketch to decide on the composition.

I set up in the shade to avoid unwanted shining effect on my canvas

Back in the studio, after having finished the two views of the house, I decided to paint the conservatory from a photograph I took during my visit there. I loved the vertical and horizontal lines and the sunny garden framed by the window which reminded me of a "Ken Howard" type of subject. 

The conservatory - Evening light     12"x10"   oil on board

The drawing was particularly tricky on this one
because of all the different points of perspective

One of the photograph I used a reference

Finally, I did a quick study from a photograph of the lovely garden. As you might have noticed by now I just love greens and I couldn't help having fun with the different shades and the highlights of the flowers.

Evening sunshine in the garden    6"x8"  oil on board 

The reference photograph

I got the chance to present my work a week ago or so and was so happy (and relieved!) that the couple loved them all and decided to adopt 3 of them! 

The framed paintings before I had to say goodbye to them ...

Alongside the Avon, Bath on a summer evening

As I didn't have any plans yesterday (I know, I bit sad on a Friday), I decided to head down to the river Avon, just 2 minutes walk from my flat and try to catch the sunset for a quick study. After hesitating about which spot to pick I finally settled on the side of the path just after the bridge.

Alongside the Avon, Bath on a summer evening    6"x8"   oil on canvas

I worked quickly and used thick brushstrokes to keep it spontaneous. Below is my setting on the path. I took this photograph at the end of the session and could feel the first drops of rain. I rushed home trying to protect the canvas from the rain - to be honest I was more annoyed with the thought of my fresh laundry still hanging in the garden;)

I realise as the time goes by I tend to work on smaller and smaller canvases. Only a year ago I would work mainly on 14"x18" and now I'm on 6"x8"! At this rate I will be soon working on post stamps! I will be working again at some point on big scale studio work but for the moment I'm just enjoying those small studies.

Goult in the midday sunshine

Following my previous post, here is an other painting I just made a couple of days ago since the return from my holiday in France. This was done from a photograph taken on the first day in a beautiful little village called Goult.

Goult in the midday sunshine   10"x7" oil on board

What caught my eye was the sunny landscape framed by the arch and the patches of sky showing through the top window. For the little story, it wasn't the first time I came to this village. I was actually there when I was 14 years old for a family holiday and had my first holiday romance with a local guy called Pierre... You bet I was looking around last week expecting to bump into him! (but I didn't...)

One of the reference photographs

Below is my painting in progress in what is my usual set up for studio work - I never get around to print my photographs so I tend to paint with my picture on the computer as a reference. Not ideal but good enough for small studies.

Do you think I'm a little bit running out of wallspace maybe??

Cedars at the Haute Eglise, Bonnieux

I just came back yesterday from a week's holiday in beautiful Lubéron in France. It wasn't a painting holiday but I managed to take a few photographs and couldn't resist doing a small painting today trying to recapture one of these inspiring landscapes as it's still fresh in my memory...

Cedars at the Haute Eglise, Bonnieux, France     10"x8"   oil on board

This is a view from a beautiful village called Bonnieux. We walked right up to the top of a rocky promontory where stands a very old church surrounded by cedars, offering far reaching views across the Lubéron. I tried to keep it spontaneous, as if I painted it on the spot.

Above is one of the picture I used as a reference. What caught my eye was the luminous greens and blues contrasting with the dark trees. On the right you can see my friends resting in the shade after climbing the steps in the heat. It was pretty hot indeed...

I have a few other photographs I can't wait to paint from so we'll see how it goes...

Cheddar with the Plein Air Society

Yesterday I went painting in the Cheddar Gorge with the Plein Air Society group. Well, I say "group" but since Andrew and I couldn't find anybody, it was actually just the two of us (so a group of two then). The heat didn't stop us from walking right to the top of the Cliff - I was putting on a brave face (a bright red face that is) but wasn't that far from fainting!

Here is the first painting I did:

Views from the Cliff Top, Cheddar    10"x8"  oil on board

This spot was slightly off the path and offering a wonderful view across Cheddar and beyond. For some reason, I couldn't get the Jurassic park tune out of my head while painting this (probably because of the real sense of drama in the place). I actually had to stop myself from painting dinosaurs in there.

Andrew feeling inspired

I was so glad I took my umbrella  - I would have burnt like a toast otherwise

That's me working hard as always

The second painting was a small one I made on the way down in a lovely place we spotted on the way up but saved it for the end. I had a great time painting it apart from the fact that my umbrella fixing broke so I was holding it in one hand and painting with the other (no spare hand to get rid of the mosquitos unfortunately)

On the way down from the Cliff Top, Cheddar   6"x8" oil on board

What caught my eye was the lovely curvy path with patches of light disappearing into the dark woods. A theme and composition I have done many times now and always gives me great satisfaction.

Pulteney Bridge, sunshine between the clouds

I've just finished a little painting of Pulteney Bridge in Bath for a commission. I gave it to the lady a couple of days ago and she was very happy with it which is always a relief;)

Pulteney Bridge, sunshine between the clouds    oil on board  10"x8" 

I got the frame from the Meltone Gallery in Bath which is for me the best place for frames.

Still in the Bath topic, I'm very glad to announce that I got a painting selected for the Bath Society of Artists 106th Annual Exhibition at the Victoria Art Gallery.  As a non member you never know if you will get in or not so it was a nice surprise to see my application form with the so exciting "selected" stamp on it. Also, it kind of makes up for the parking ticket I got as I was queuing to drop my painting!

The painting that got accepted is the one below which was painted on location just a short walk from where I live alongside the river Avon. (see my post on the 4th of April)

Reflections on the river, Bath    oil on board   12"x10"

They have some great work there so I would recommend it for anybody visiting Bath.

The show on the preview night on Friday - it was packed!

Me below my painting (middle top) -
it was hard to get both on the same shot as it is placed pretty high!
- not complaining though;)

Cornwall trip - Part 3

Here are my last three paintings from the Cornwall trip. The one below is a nice spot we discovered near Botallack. What caught our attention was the arch in the rock, the type of scene many impressionists like Monet and Sisley painted before.

Natural Arch near Botallack Head    10"x8"  oil on board

That's me setting up and putting some suncream on - you can never be too careful

My painting at the end of the session

David Pilgrim was painting the same scene just above me
(surely it has to be so he can steal a trick or two from my painting;) )

The one below was my very first painting of the trip. I just arrived from the train station and did that little painting on Sennen beach close to our accommodation. The reflection of the light on the sand was really blinding and I was struggling to see anything (the thought of putting my sunglasses on even crossed my mind but then I knew that you be the most outrageous thing a painter could do - so I refrained myself)

Sennen Beach, early aftertoon   10"x14"  oil on board

A lady that walked pass me told me that from the distance, she thought I was setting up a barbecue! - I was sorry to tell her that I didn't have any burgers for her;)

My stool gradually went deeper and deeper in the sand!

The last painting below was done close to the accommodation on the way down to Sennen beach. It was a beautiful sunset and was a real race against time to catch it before it disappeared. What caught my eye was the swirling road leading to the shiny beautiful water.

On the way down to Sennen beach, sunset   10"x8"  oil on board

Cornwall trip - Part 2

Here are 3 more beach paintings from the Cornwall trip (see last week's post for the 3 first paintings). The first one below was done at St Michael's mount on Marazion beach in the morning. Funnily enough I saw (and painted) the Mont St Michel in France a few months ago so it was interesting to see the english version of it.

St Micheals Mount, Marazion beach    6"x8" oil on board

I decided to go for a small board to be able to work quickly and keep it spontaneous

I love my pochade box (guerilla) as it allows you to work on all sizes of boards

Tim King did a lovely painting of the same view next to me

Tim and I then joined the rest of the group which was doing a painting of the beach so we decided to join in and tackle the same scene.

Marazion beach   7"x10"  oil on board

The light kept changing but I tried to capture a bit of the sunlight when it came out

from left to right: Tim King, me, David Bachmann and Michael Richardson 

Everybody working hard (apart from Tim having a snack)

The painting below is the dunes at Carbis Bay. As we arrived we were walking towards the beach and the stroke of light between the dunes caught my eyes. David and Tim carried on walking to get to the beach but I decided to stop there and paint this. I had a really good time painting it (well, apart from the rain and my palette falling in the sand) but wasn't really happy with the result so I decided to start it again on the studio today based on my painting but trying to avoid making the same mistakes. Here it is:

Dunes at Carbis Bay   10"x8"  oil on board

The original painting at the beginning of the session (just before my palette fell in the sand!)

David Pilgrim and Tim were doing a scene on the beach a few meters away

I really felt inspired by that place and would have loved to stay there all day to paint those dunes but I suddenly felt really tired after it and went back to the car to have a quick nap instead. I really hope I can go back there again one day to do more paintings.

To be continued...