Life Model - Pregnant woman

A couple of weeks ago I went to a life model painting session organised by the Bath Painting group. The model was a beautiful pregnant woman and it was a wonderful subject to paint:

Nude- pregnant woman   12"x16"  oil on board

I really enjoyed painting this one. I don't often get the chance to paint life models so it was a real treat.  

detail

Here is picture of the model. Although she gave me the permission to photograph her I blurred the picture anyway for privacy reasons but wanted to show the beautiful light effect on her skin:

Below is my setting on the day. I managed to find a good spot close to the model. I used my pochade box as a palette which was really handy so I didn't have to clean it on the day and could keep using my colours back home on an other painting.

Peppers study at the Bath Artists Studios

A few weeks ago I went painting with the Bath Painting Group at the Bath Artists Studio for a still life session. It was fun and relaxed and I did two small paintings on the day:

Red Pepper   10"x8"  oil on board

Here is the group, well focused:

I always choose an easel as close as possible to the set up to get most of the colours and values right, specially when it's a small still life like this.

My palette is always messier when I paint from life as there is that feeling to try to capture things quickly and spontaneously. It does look like the paints had a fight here and it all ended up in a blood bath - don't you think:

After an hour or so working on the first painting I moved on to the next pepper-model who was posing like a star to get some attention. I don't recall ever doing yellow still life before (for some reasons I tend to do mainly white, green and reds) so this was a good exercise and lot of fun too.

Yellow Pepper   7"x10"  oil on board

You can see my ridiculously minimal sketch above the painting - I just wanted to get started with the paint really:

The Bath Artists Studio on a Saturday afternoon

Once a month the Bath Painting group which I belong to meets at the Bath Artists Studio for a still life or a model session. Here is what I painted on last Saturday's session:

The Bath Artists Studio on a Saturday afternoon    oil on board   12"x10"

I'm usually as close as possible to the still life set up but this time I decided to go right to the back of the room and paint people painting. What got my attention was the bright light pouring through the windows (does make you wonder what on earth you are doing inside a dark room on such a beautiful day!) and the bright orange sheet. I must admit this is my very first painting of an inside scene - ever! So far I've only sticked to landscapes, cityscapes, portraits and still life. I'm looking forward to painting more of these.

Here is the view I had from my chair

That's me in the corner looking cold and a bit antisocial!

For those who wonder what is the blue weird looking object at the centre of the table in the middle of my painting, well it is indeed a weird looking thing:

You understand now why I had to take some distance to such a beautiful doll and decided to paint from the other side of the room!

Green apples and a glass of water

Here is a quick post about the still life I did with the Bath Painting group at the Bath Artist Studio last Saturday.

Green apples and a glass of water      oil on board, 12"x10"

Here is the setting on the day:

Whatever I'm painting, I like to be surrounded by pictures of my favourite paintings but since I wasn't in my own studio, I decided to bring along my favourite Cézanne's still life - it's a photograph I took of the original painting last time I went to Orsay Museum in Paris which is probably strictly forbidden but I promise I didn't use a flash! I must admit I shamefully stole a few tricks from it while painting the apples :-)

Here is the group, very focused!

White Flowers

Lately I have been particularly inspired by flowers. And for some reasons, specially white flowers. Maybe because they reflect the light so well and end up shining with plenty of colours. When I paint, I try to create the main work in a few hours maximum to keep the spontaneity and freshness about it.

Small White Renoncules

White Roses

Renoncules in a green vase

Bunch of White Flowers

And this is me painting the "Bunch of White Flowers"
at the Bath Artists Studios with the Painting Group I joined in Bath.