My Paintings website

December 29, 2009

Hotel in the Luberon

Delightful hotel - "La Cure Bourse" - in the Luberon ( South of France) in full summer with the cool shade in the front drive.

Oil on canvas - 70 x 50 cm


December 24, 2009

Two worlds

A painting I started 2 months ago and finished recently. A place I try to go to at least once a year (missed this year) in the South of France.

Oil on canvas 50 x 65 cm - 2009


December 22, 2009

A Portrait - Thoughtful

Still in the catching up of my paintings. A portrait of a friend caught in a thoughtful mood. This one if from September.

Oil on canvas 40 x 50 cm - 2009


December 17, 2009

Making sauce (still catching up)

This small painting was my first "serious" effort at oils. I wanted to see how powerful the colors could be.  We were preparing sauce for pasta when I took the photograph that I based this painting on.

 Oil on canvas 30cm x 25cm - July 2009











December 15, 2009

Step by Step of Self Portrait

Self Portrait  step by step.

It's always interesting to see how a painting evolves from start to finish. You can see five stages of the painting from the previous post. In the first one you can see the distortion of the face after a quick placement of the features that were corrected as the painting progressed.

I often like to put down a background base which is complementary to what I imagine is the final overall color.

I try not to have too much of detailed plan to allow the direction of the painting to progress as a sort of dialog between me and the painting. (click on the image to see a larger version)

Step by step of Self Portrait - oil on canvas 40 x 50 cm




December 10, 2009

Paintings - filling in - 2

The next painting in my filling in series.

This is a self portrait from photograph. I wanted to get a strong light/dark contrast going, witt strong brush strokes rather than a smooth blended effect. I am happy with the result. This was done in august/september of this year. ( a bit of a glare at top of photo will have to redo)

Self portrait - oil on canvas 40cm x 50 cm



December 8, 2009

Paintings - filling in - 1

To also catch up on my paintings since June, here and in coming posts I will present them in more or less chronological order. Some will have step by step illustrations.

This first one is from July.

 To get accustomed to oil painting I did a quick one on canvas panel trying to stay very spontaneous. I enjoyed it and was fairly satisfied for a first go at oils.

Working on the Roundabaout - Oil on canvas panel - 40 x 30 cm.


December 7, 2009

Catching up - 2

Since my exhibition described in the previous post, I have been painting regurarly.

I have started using Oils seriously. Until then the grat majority of my paintings were done in acrylics.

Oils are also a lot of fun. Quite different in the their physical behaviour, how they feel and behave. Less different than certain people had said concerning their color rendering.

The first series of paintings were portraits, an area where I felt I could use more practice. I will be posting examples later.

All in all, since then, I have done or almost finished about 15 paintings.

December 6, 2009

Catching Up

The primary reason I stopped posting in June 2009 was the organization and holding of my first (solo) exhibition of my paintings. It was held from 3rd to the 13th of June in a local gallery owned by the town council. All the organization is up to the exhibitor, the space and most necessary accessories are provided (hanging, easels, lights, etc...).

The exhibition was a good success for a first exhibition. Approximately 200 people attended the opening and a number of paintings were sold. You can see a few pictures and information on the exhibition.


December 4, 2009

Reviving my Blog

Ok. I decided to revive my blog.

I have seriously slacked off (blogside) for a while now, almost 6 months. Those months were filled with other things, some more of that later.

I promise ( to myself in particular) that I will post more regularly.

First new (painting) post by tomorrow evening.

All the posts below (before) this one are my previous uneven efforts. I am keeping them in the interest of historical completeness.