A painting a week. Week 97

“Autumn lane in Dorset.”

It is already late in the autumn and the nature starts to look more wintery now. Less and less leaves in the trees, the weather is starting to get cold and dump ... We decided to try another plein air for my weekly challenge. So, we went on the same lane as last week, somewhere between Tarrant Gunville and Stubhampton, but a different place than last time. I painted there before, though, at the end of last spring. It is a view towards a private lane, the entrance of a manor house or something like that. The gate is always locked, but is plenty of space to park the car and set up the easel. It wasn’t raining, so I was able to paint on the easel, although I did a very small painting.

The sky and light were continuously changing, half of hour into the paint and it looked like a different location. I even changed the sky, twice; not sure if it was a good decision, but it was done. I didn’t use any medium, just turps, this becomes more and more like a habit, probably I should start using some medium at some point. I used my usual palette, adding two more warm yellows and another warm red. For brown, I used some Italian Cassel, some transparent brown oxide and some yellow ochre.

I completed the painting, alla prima, on location.

So, here it is:

“Autumn lane in Dorset.”

Oil on linen.

18 X 24cm (7” X 10”).

A painting a week. Week 96

“A country lane in autumn.”

The warm sunny days are gone, a distant memory now. Instead, the lovely, joyful British autumn weather started to kick in. And this means lots of grey in the sky and a fine drizzle. Sometimes, some wind as well. But, plein air means this as well. If I would wait only for good weather, I wouldn’t be able to paint outdoors much. Hence, I decided to brave the weather and went to a lane, somewhere in Dorset, where I painted before. Somewhere between Tarrant Gunville and Stubhampton. The colours where beautiful, unfortunately the light, not so great. Because of the rain, I have chosen not to set up the easel, but stay in the car and paint on the thumb box. The canvas was painted in advance with a pinkish mixture. I used my usual palette, adding couple more yellows, cobalt yellow and cadmium yellow deep. I didn’t use any medium. It was a fun experience, although it can be difficult to paint in the car, trying to balance everything on your lap.

I retouched it a bit at home after lunch.

So, here it is:

“A country lane in autumn.”

Oil on linen.

24 X 30cm (10” X 12”).

A painting a week. week 95

“A wine grape cluster at I Veroni.”

The memories from the Italian painting trip are still fresh. And I believe it was a great workshop and I become a better, more confident painter. I remember one day, around lunch time, we all went to the wine yard and did a sketch of some grape clusters, like a still life from nature. It was incredibly warm, I felt like I was melting under the Tuscan sun. I was sweating and felt a bit dehydrated, but this didn’t stop me. I even covered my head with a towel, but it was a painful experience. In the end I succeeded and managed to bring the painting to a point where I could finish it later, in the studio. And that is exactly what I did.

I chose to complete the little painting as part of my weekly challenge, for the third week in a row. I feel like I need to complete all my Italian paintings, before doing something new.

I had to work a bit at the background, retouching especially the leaves and the stems, then I refreshed the grape cluster and added the highlights.

I used my usual palette and no medium.

So, here it is:

“A wine grape cluster at I Veroni.”

Oil on linen.

20 X 30cm (8” X 12”).

A painting a week. Week 94

“The arched bridge at Pontassieve.”

In Italy, during the painting trip, we stayed at the lovely winery I Veroni, at their villa. A beautiful place situated near the grapevines. Nearby, about 20 minutes walk downhill is the little town of Pontassieve, which literally means “The bridge over Sieve river.” The town is located where the rivers Sieve and Arno meet, east of Florence. The importance of the town was given by the bridge, the main connection of Republic of Florence to Mugello, Casentino and Arezzo. It was an important crossroads and maintained the status after the development of railway. For that it was heavily bombarded during Second World War. Hence it was reconstructed but maintained the medieval look in the centre. One of the most important landmarks, is the arched bridge.

During the workshop, we came down twice to Pontassieve, for painting. First time we did a thumb box sketch, from approximately the same place. Second time, we took the easels, so we can do a bigger painting. But it wasn’t enough time to finish it on location. A great start though. I decided to complete the painting as part of my weekly challenge of a painting a week.

I used my usual palette, adding just yellow ochre and manganese blue.

I finished it in one session, retouching the sky, some of the bridge, the greens, some of the distant buildings and the water.

So, here it is:

“The arched bridge at Pontassieve.”

Oil on linen.

12” X 16” (30 X 40cm)

A painting a week. Week 93

“The church San Martino a Quona.”

Since I returned from the Italian painting trip, I didn’t have many occasions to paint. I had a bush weekend, going up to midlands for a conference, then I fell ill with a terrible cold, still not fully recovered. And worked further away from home than usual, for the second part of the week. And, on top of that, I started cycling, mostly indoors, on the trainer, because of the beautiful weather.

But I pulled myself together and started painting again, after nearly a week off. Because I still have plenty paintings to finish, from Italy, I decided to complete all the paintings started during the trip, before doing anything new; probably I will start new work sooner than that.

For this week, I decided to finish the painting I started in location at Chiesa (church) San Martino a Quona.

It is a lovely old church, closed to the public at the moment. It belongs now to the I Veroni winery, the place we stayed during the workshop. It is situated about 15 minutes’ walk, uphill from the villa. It was built on the site of the Quona castle, which was destroyed in 1143, by Florentines. It was first attested in 1274.

Amongst other works, in 1745, the sculptor Domenico Ciottoli, had redone the altar and built the two lateral confessionals.

After the 19th century, few alterations were done to the facade, but the 15th century wooden door was kept. Last major restoration took place in 1902.

For the moment, the church doesn’t function as a church and it is closed to the public, awaiting some much-needed restoration works. We were fortunate enough to get access in to the church, being allowed by the winery management to visit it. What a gem! Lovely and cosy little church. There was a story about a ghost, and some of the photos taken by us had a bizarre light in them, but probably just a light effect.

Anyway, back to the painting, I painted it using the same palette with cools and warms, adding some yellow ochre and cadmium yellow deep. No medium, just turps.

To finish it up, I had to check and correct the proportions and the angle of the wall. I then reworked the sky, the distant greens, then the foreground and the wall and finished it with the highlights.

So, here it is:

“The church San Martino a Quona.”

Oil on linen board (Gatorfoam board)

12” X 16” (30 X 40cm).

A painting a week. Week 92

“Wall of a garden at Costa San Giorgio, Florence.”

One day, during the second week of the Tuscan plein air painting workshop, few of us went to Florence for another outdoor city painting.

We had a long walk, around and in the end, we stopped and set up the easels on a narrow, traditional street, going steeply up a hill. We spent few hours doing a street scape, and then, we packed up and continued up the street. On the way, we passed by Galileo Galilei house, which we didn’t know was there. Anyway, the name of the street is Costa San Giorgio and is a beautiful traditional Tuscan street.

Further up, we found this walled garden with a gate. I liked the effect of light on the wall, so I decided to paint it. Because I had a spare canvas with me, I set up the easel and started the painting, while the rest of the group continued the walk. They picked me up on their way back after an hour or so.

I finished the painting after returning home, in two sessions, over couple of hours.

I used my recent palette, the one I started to use in Tuscany, adding extra some yellow ochre deep and Naples yellow. The fixed palette is made of three yellows (one cool and two warms), two reds (cool and warm), two blues (cool and warm), white and transparent brown oxide. And I am becoming more and more familiar with it and more confident.

I didn’t use any medium, just turps to thin the paints. In terms of colours, I decided to go more for the colours I feel, rather than the colour I see, hence the somewhat brighter and more saturated colours. But I am happy, and it becomes part of my style.

So here it is:

“Wall of a garden at Costa San Giorgio, Florence.”

Oil on linen.

12” X 16” (20 X 30cm)

A painting a week. Week 91

“A Tuscan villa.”

It was an amazing week in Tuscany at the plein air workshop. It went very quickly, but it was filled with joy, Italian life, great landscapes and lots of learning. I feel like I have achieved a lot and stepped up to a higher level of my art.

For the duration of the workshop we stayed in a proper Tuscan villa, at a winery, called I Veroni. A small family business making a lovely wine and the best olive oil I have ever tasted. And they even make a craft beer. So we indulged in wine, beer and all of the local food, fresh and filled with Tuscany.

A great experience for all the senses.

And on top of this, lots of learning and lots of practice in plein air painting under tuition of Stefan Baumann, my painting coach.

At the end of the week, I painted this view of the villa  from down the bottom of the parking lot. I painted it over two sessions, morning sessions, two consecutive days.

I used a reduced palette, the same I have used with small variations throughout the entire workshop. A warm red – cadmium red light, a cool red – alizarin crimson, a cool yellow – yellow lemon, two warm yellows – cadmium yellow medium and light, a warm blue – ultramarine blue, a cool blue – cerulean blue, Italian Cassel earth, transparent brown oxide and white.

I experimented with painting by masses, rather than drawing with lines. I still use saturated colours, but this is how I feel about Tuscany.

I am quite pleased with the result, so here it is:

“A Tuscan villa.”

Oil on linen.

30 X 40cm (12” X 16”).

A painting a week. Week 90

“View towards Mont Blanc”

Finally, the time for the Florence trip has come. After a week at work and some preparations for the trip, I was ready to go. Not before cleaning the fish tanks and taking the cats to the cattery. And they were not happy about it. I think they have a sixth sense and they new long before. Anyway, we managed to catch them; first Darcy and, after her, Vincent, who was so terrified that he was motion less, completely paralysed.

So, we got on the road around lunch time, thinking that the trip to the tunnel will be quick and we’ll be there long before the train. Far from the reality. In fact, the traffic around London was so bad, we only arrived there 2 minutes before first call for the train. Then, everything went OK, stopped in France two hours after Calais and next day, drove all the way up to Chamonix. We checked in to a wonderful hotel, Rocky pop hotel. Lovely place, friendly atmosphere, helpful staff, great experience. We even had life music in the lobby and the food was really good.

So I set up to paint in the car park, at the back of the hotel, using the thumbox I bought for Italy trip.

Because I was tired from the trip I only did a sketch of the mountain above the hotel, with the glaciers.

I completed the sketch, using a reduced palette and no medium. I just managed to finish it before sunset, packed everything and got ready for dinner. Than all of the sudden, magic happened: the most beautiful ray of yellow light hit the mountain, like a  stripe of gold. It was to late for my painting, as I painted the wrong area of the mountain anyway.

So, here it is:

“View towards Mont Blanc.”

Oil on panel (Ampersand gesso board)

8” X 10”

A painting a week. Week 89

“View at Holt Heath.”

I am on the final count down to the Italy paint trip now. I am really excited about it. 10 days of plein air painting, under the direct tuition of my painting coach, Stefan Baumann. Hope that I will be able to get to a whole new level.  Knowing it was the last chance to experiment with plein air before the trip, I have chosen another one for my weekly painting.

We went to Holt Heath National Nature Reserve, which is only few miles from home. It is a beautiful natural park spanning over 1048 acres (424 ha). There is a walk around part of it, with lots of hidden places and wildlife, which is used by dog walkers and as a bridleway. It is also used by bikers on MTBs. Sometimes, during the day, cattle and horses are brought on the heath and allowed to graze. Stunning views. I was thinking about painting there for a long time; my commute goes through the heath nearly every day.

I set up my easel near the car park (if you could call a little layby which can only accommodate few cars a car park), where the circular walk starts, looking towards the edge of the heath.

I painted in one sessions (few brakes from time to time), working alla prima. I haven’t used any medium, just some turps. The palette was reduced, two blues, three yellows, a red, two browns and white.

I painted on a linen board, first time I am using it. Because the board is not very hard (being very thin), I had to place a hard board behind it. The easel (Italian field easel) was quite stable in spite of the strong wind. I had to attach the back pack with the supplies to it, to make it heavier, hence more stable after nearly fell over pushed by a gust of wind. But, after that was fine, although I didn’t use the umbrella, so it is not fully tested for wind.

So, here it is:

“View at Holt Heath.”

Oil on linen board.

12” X 16”.

A painting a week. Week 88

 “In the garden.”

In less than two weeks, I will be in Italy and I feel excited about it. It will be a painting holiday in Tuscany, under the tuition of Stefan Baumann, who happens to be my painting coach as well. So, I am looking forward to it and I have decided to do another plein air painting for my weekly challenge.

I didn’t plan anything, not knowing how the weather will be, hence I decided to paint another corner of my garden, with the green house in the centre of the composition.

I worked alla prima, over few hours, on a small linen canvas, 20 X 30 cm, a panoramic format, this being my only second painting on this size.

Again, I used a small palette, two blues, three yellows, a red, couple of browns and white. And again, no medium, just some turps. And I only used small brushes, some artificial ones, but mostly sable.

I had the sun behind me, so I used an umbrella to shade the palette and the canvas.

So, here it is:

“In the garden.”

20 X 30 cm (8” X 12”).