Dorset trip - Part 1

I've just come back from a painting trip in Dorset with 3 talented fellow painters (David Pilgrim, Tim King and David Bachmann). We had such a wonderful time. It was pretty intense too... I did 12 paintings in 4 days! Here is the post about my first 4 paintings. (Thanks Tim and David for the action pictures!)

DAY 1 - Friday afternoon - Just off from the train. After quickly dropping our bags at the accommodation we headed for "The Old Harry rocks". I loved the chalkiness of the rocks and the colourful water:

Old Harry Rocks, Handfast Point, Dorset, afternoon1   12"x9"  oil on board

Detail

Old Harry Rocks

It was a lovely sunny afternoon. To avoid the sun shining on my board, I used my umbrella so my painting would be in the shade. It was very windy so I came up with a little trick to keep it in place: instead of fixing it on my easel, I decided to fix it to the most stable/heaviest thing possible - and that's myself. I tied it in a strap (originally for my luggage) which I wrapped around myself and also stretched it to my chair and easel with a couple of elastic bands to keep it in the right position: 

In every plein air painter, there is an "inspector gadget"!

my painting towards the end

Here is David with his umbrella too doing a great little study of the place:

My painting finished, and after a little nap in the sun and a couple of chocolate bars, I started a second little painting, a close-up of the previous format. The sun had just disappeared and the tide was going down but I found interest in the puddles of water which had great reflections and colours in it: 

Old Harry Rocks, Handfast Point, Dorset, afternoon2   7"x5"  oil on board

My board was so small that I had to use my rag to secure it on the easel. And if you look closely, you'll see that my rag is actually an old pair of (clean) underwear from my partner (isn't that romantic!)

That's Tim, well inspired and producing a masterpiece:

DAY 2 - Saturday

We're off to the beautiful Lulworth Cove where there is plenty of choice of scenes for painting. Tim, David and I had a try at the beach from the top of the cliff. Here is my painting:

Lulworth Cove, Dorset, morning  12"10"  oil on board

Detail

All ready to paint

Pretty close to the edge!

Tim in the foreground, David a bit further, and my easel in the distance.

Applying the finishing touches

After a pretty steep walk back to the car, we gathered the energy left to do a second painting, this time, of the views over the distant hills. The lazy me would have been more than happy to paint it from the car park, but David dragged us to the top of the hill to get better views. It nearly killed me but I had to admit he was right! What a view!

Foggy hills in the afternoon at Lulworth Cove, Dorset   16"x9"   oil on board

Detail

I must admit I almost gave up in the middle of that one as I was tired and unhappy with the result. But I got encouraged to carry on so I did, and I managed to turn the painting around and produce something I'm pretty pleased with.

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To be continued...

Save the date!

A quick post about a couple of events I will be a part of:

"Three Wessex Sktechers"

Valérie Pirlot - Andrew Taylor (click here for website) - Bob Child (click here for website)

The West Barn, Barton Farm, Bradford on Avon, BA15 1LF (click here for map)

Friday 29th June - Sunday 1st July 2012 - 10am-6pm - free entry

Three artists including myself are running a show the last week-end of June in Bradford on Avon with a collection of oil and watercolour landscapes of the South West of England and beyond. We all have a spontaneous style and mostly work in plein air and are inspired by light, nature and architecture. All work will be on sale and also a great range of affordable prints, postcards and catalogues. Do come along if you are in the area, the three of us will be there to welcome you. There will be a special opening night on Friday the 29th of June with music and nibbles. More info to follow... 

Newbridge Arts Trail

Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th of May 2012

Studios open from 10am to 4pm

www.newbridgeartstrail.com

This event is my local Arts Trail in Newbridge, Bath. It is an event where artists and craftspeople open their homes and studios to the public. There will be a wide variety of things to buy and look at from jewellery, to sculptures, paintings or prints. I won't be in my own studio as it is far too small to have more than one person in there, so I will be at the Minerva Centre (see map here). The map of the trail will be available in all local shops. Would be great to see you there.

Sydney gardens' bridge in the spring

A few weeks ago, we had here in the UK our first properly beautiful spring weather week-end so I made the most of it and went painting at Sydney gardens looking for an inspiring bridge. I found it and here is what I painted:

Sydney gardens' bridge in the spring   12"x10"   oil on board

What a lovely atmosphere there was with couples and family having a walk and boats boarding and offloading happy crews. 

The painting towards the end

Only little problem: as I was setting up, I realised I forgot the hooks to hold my pochade box open. In a moment of intense ingenuity I decided to use one of my shoe lace to hold it together and it worked pretty well:

Here below is me painting, stuck against the wall trying to take as little space as possible. If you look closely, you'll see:

- my stylish high vis yellow bike jacket that I placed behind me, just in case, to avoid being ran over by some crazy bikers

- my left trainer without its lace

As I was half way through the painting, a little girl silently watched me paint for a good 5 minutes, and then suddenly told to her mum with a lot of excitement "Oh mum, I know, I know!! She is painting the bridge isn't she??" A bit worrying it took her 5 minutes to realise! :-)

I loved the variety of greens in this scenery

detail

detail

Ready to go back home - I discovered my bike basket is pretty handy to transport wet paintings...

Latest update: I've just come back from a painting trip in Dorset so I'll be posting all my paintings very soon.... Watch this space!

Life model: Nude2 & Nude3

Here are my two latest life models studies done at the Bath Artist Studio. I really enjoy those  Saturday sessions and we are always blessed with great models.

Nude3   12"x16"    oil on board

detail

Rob and I, lost in the middle of the action (thanks Kev for the picture) 

With beautiful curves, gracious hands and great skin tone, this model was such a treat to paint (nb: models gave their approval to be shown on the blog in a blurry way): 

Here are the four quick poses - 5 minutes sketches I did at the start of the session as a warm up:

Below is the painting I did during the previous session with a different model. A very interesting angle to paint, I found.

Nude2   10"x14"   oil on board

My set up on the day

 I loved the effect of the light on the legs of the model:

detail

Reflections on the water, Cleeve Wood

Here is a painting I did a few weeks ago. It was made just after a Sunday walk alongside the river near Bath. There is a part of me that like this painting with the reflections on the water and shades of green receding in the distance, then there is a part of me that find this work rather gloomy and spooky... Can't make my mind up!

Reflections on the water, Cleeve Wood       10"x12"   oil on board 

detail

One of the reference photographs

An other nice scenery nearby

On the way up Lansdown Lane, Bath, February afternoon

Last month, on a sunny afternoon I took my bike and cycled on the way up to Lansdown searching for an inspiring place to paint. I stopped before reaching the top as I saw a beautiful view accross the city (nothing to do with the fact that I was out of breath of course). So I set up on the side of the road and got started.

On the way up Lansdown Lane, February afternoon  14"x10"    oil on board

detail

I took a few snapshots to show the progress of the painting. Below is the quick drawing I did with a small brush and paint diluted with turpentine so it would dry in 2 minutes. My board had already been given a first wash of colour at home (I usually give a background coat on my boards in the studio from left over paint on my palette.)

Below is the painting after 10 minutes. I always start blocking the colours on the canvas to define the main shapes of the painting: 

20 minutes later:

Towards the end:

Here is my set up below. I was quite close to the road and I found the cars a bit disturbing and noisy. Unfortunately I forgot my earplugs at home, so in a moment of despair I decided to create my very own earplugs with some tissue that I put in my ears. You can laugh but it worked! It was very cold and windy too so I wrapped my head and neck with a spare jumper I had and put a spare scarf on my lap. I really felt like the most stylish painter in town!

Just behind me was a beautiful house, and as I was painting, the owner came to have a look at my painting. I was already imagining her falling madly in love with the painting and begging me to give it away for thousands of pounds, but as she looked at it, all she said was a flat "ah". She then asked me if I was a student in Art or was just doing it as a hobby. Of course I could have been a bit offended she didn't even consider the fact I can actually earn money from it, but decided to be flattered she thought I looked young enough to be a student! (but it was probably due to my sense of fashion on the day). But then again, I had tissue in my ears so maybe I completely heard it wrong! :-)

As I was packing up, I saw behind me a beautiful sunset and couldn't resist making a 15 minutes small study of it before it disappeared. Here it is:

On the way up Lansdown Lane - Sunset, February evening   6"x9"  oil on board

I enjoyed using big brushstrokes and plenty of paint:

detail