A painting a week. Week 127

“Vincent and the jasmine bloom.”

The lovely jasmine shrub is still in bloom, after few weeks. Beautiful white scented flowers ... I just couldn’t resist. I had to paint it again. This time I cropped the composition to capture more of the shrub and less of anything else. I even decided to do the background loose, more like suggestions that something happens there.

I painted it alla prima, over two sessions, painting on gesso board I used a reduced palette, comparing to my usual one and again no medium, just some turps.

As I was finishing the painting, Vincent the cat came by and sat for a while on the round table in the garden. Hence, I decided to add him into the painting. And this is how the painting become Vincent with the jasmine instead of just the jasmine as my original intention. I painted the cat rather impressionistic, partly because of wet on wet technique and thick paint already on the board.

So, here it is:

“Vincent and the jasmine bloom.”

Oil on board.

30 X 40cm (12” X 16”)

A painting a week. Week 126

“Jasmine bloom in the garden.”

There are around 200 species of Jasmine in the world. All of them with beautiful white flowers, many being lovely scented. Every year, end of May up to beginning of June, the Jasmine bush in our garden is in bloom for couple of weeks. Beautiful. And this year, even more flowers than usual. Hence, I decided to do a painting.

I painted it alla prima, over few hours, I used reduced palette and no medium, just turps. I experimented with the sky, applying more energetic brush strokes trying to depict the rapid changes in the sky. I kept the foreground dark, because it was in shade at the beginning of the paint.

So, here it is:

“Jasmine bloom in the garden.”

Oil on linen.

40 X 50cm (16” X 20”).

A painting a week. Week 125

“Stormy weather over a field.”

Another good week just ended. I finally took a weekend off. Off from work, off from painting and off from cycling. Just relaxing and recharging the batteries. So we went for few days to Rotterdam. Spent few days in and around Rotterdam and one day in the Hague; a beautiful town. We had a great time in the Hague, found a nice little cake shop owned by a Romanian confectioner. Lovely place, great atmosphere and tasty cakes; the place is called Lavinia Cakes’n Buttons.

We also visited a museum, which we liked a lot, The Mesdag Collection (De Mesdag Collectie). The museum was created by the famous Dutch painter Hendrik Willem Mesdag. He was a great plein air painter, his favourite subject being the seascape, with or without ships; mostly he painted aroud Scheveningen, bear the Hague. His wife was also a painter, mainly doing still life and animals. They painted together, with few other helpers a big panorama of Scheveningen, on a circular painting measuring about 120 meters in circumference and 14 meters high – was painted in four months. This is a must place to visit while in Hague. The museum was also great and we learnt a lot about H. W. Mesdag. He was a big art lover and collected plenty of art works. His favourite subject to buy was sketches and unfinished paintings, because he liked more the roughness of unfinished paintings. Towards the end of his life he donated everything to the state.

For the weekly painting I did another plein air, at a field near Cranborne (again).

Because of the stormy weather I had to work quickly, alla prima (wet on wet). I painted it on board. Used fewer colours than usual and no medium. I managed to complete the painting in few hours and than, added some finishing touches at home, to the sky and the yellow rape field.

So, here it is:

“Stormy weather over a field.”

Oil on board.

30 X 40cm (12” X 16”).

A painting a week. Week 124

“A field with Red Campions near Cranborne.”

Every year, in May, this lovely field brightens up becoming red. It is situated on right hand side of B3081, coming from Sixpenny Handley towards Cranborne, right after Bottlebush lane. We first notice it a few years ago, and every year wait for the red campions to bloom. We took lovely photographs here and I painted the place twice before; once, in the studio after one of my own photos and once, plein air, nearly in the spot as today, with a very similar composition, as I realized after coming back home and checking the old paintings.

I painted it on a board, similar to some I have used last year in Italy. Very absorbent surface, but this helps when painting en plein air, because the paint dries faster. I used a mixture of brands of paints, trying to reduce my usual palette, but still using probably more colours than I should. I haven’t used any medium, just turps to thin the paints. Still using the triple rectified turpentine instead of the low odour solvent and I am happier and happier with it. I believe that it genuinely makes a big difference. So I wouldn’t go back to the low odour one.

The only problem I had was with the light, strong light coming more or less from nearly front, which makes it difficult to judge colours and values, but I am quite pleased with the result. Probably, in the future I should go out and paint either earlier in the morning or late afternoons to benefit from a better light.

Anyway, this is my weekly painting:

“A field with Red Campions near Cranborne.”

Oil on board.

30 X 40cm (12” X 16”).

A painting a week. Week 123

“The last blue bells.”

Another strong week for cycling – in my world, cycling has a very special place. The weather is getting better and better. Still fairly dry, there is some rain coming down in the next few weeks. Still fairly windy, hence not very good for painting outdoors. But, for cycling is definitely getting better. Hence, this weekend I had another cycling sportive event to attend, The Eden Classic. I did the short distance, 35 miles, but it was my biggest climb so far, around 1000 m (3300 feet) and one of my longest ride to date.

Back to painting – for this week, I was planning to do another plein air, but the plan didn’t work, so I ended up doing a still life instead. Using the last blue bells of the year, that we managed to pick near Eden Project. I did the set up using the same vase I used lately, even though I genuinely hate. For the first time in a long while I didn’t use the sight size method, using proportions instead. I painted alla prima over few sessions, using a reduced palette, comparing to my usual one and no medium, just turps.

So, here it is:

“The last blue bells.”

Oil on linen.

24 X 30cm (10” X 12”).

A painting a week. Week 122

“In the garden.”

This week I had a very good week for cycling. Last year I caught the bug for cycling and it becomes more and more addictive. And, after a winter and most of the spring spent indoors on the trainer, I already have a month of cycling outdoors; I managed to ride over 400 miles already. So, this week, I trained everyday for the Sunday event, the Isle of Wight Randonnee. Because I am only cycling for about 7 months, I have done the mini Randonnee, about 35 miles, with steep climbs, unpaved cycle paths, road traffic and thousands of cyclists. And the weather wasn’t very warm either; last few weeks the temperature stays around 12-14 Celsius at lunch and much colder in the morning and evenings. Anyway, I am proud of my achievement and I also did my biggest climb so far, about 1900 feet.

Anyway, back to the painting – I wanted to do another plein air with a corner of my garden. Very similar to another painting I did a while ago, last spring.

Things have changed in the garden since then, hence I wanted to try another one. So I braved the weather, cold temperature and wind and managed to do a little painting. I used a reduced version of my palette and no medium, just turps. I painted it alla prima over a couple sessions.

So, here it is:

“In the garden.”

Oil on linen.

24 X 30cm (10” X 12”)

A painting a week. Week 121

“Apple blossom and azalea in a vase.”

Time is relentlessly passing by and without knowing is already Easter. The weather is still improving, although the temperatures are falling now to more normal values for spring. The nature is awaking from the winter, all shades of greens from new leaves and flowers everywhere. The apple tree in the garden is still in full bloom, alongside many other flowers.  Last week, I managed to do a plein air, but this week was a bit windy, so I decided to do another floral still life. I did a set up using a little branch from the apple tree and some beautiful pink azalea flowers, also from the garden. I used a smaller canvas, for a better composition, while still using the sight size method.

I painted it alla prima, over two sessions, again without using any medium, just the triple rectified turpentine; I managed to switch to the proper staff, from various odour less products and I have to admit, I enjoy more the quality and the properties of the proper turpentine – probably never going back to other products. For the pigments, I still used a reduced palette, two blues, two yellows, three reds, three browns and white. In the future I intend to reduce further the palette, ideally should end up with just red, yellow and blue, black and white, with either just one earthy version of the primary colours, or a version with a cool and a warm of each, similar to my current palette – I need to experiment more, before deciding on the pigments I should keep. In terms of dark -light, I tend to associate dark with warm and light with cool colours, but still not getting enough dark / warm colours. I sometimes use to much white to lighten the values and as a result they get cooler and chalky, instead of a lighter but still warm value. So, I need more practice on using other light pigments instead of white.

Anyway, happy with the result, so here it is:

“Apple blossom and azalea in a vase.”

Oil on linen.

24 X 30cm (10” X 12”).

A painting a week. Week 120

“Apple tree in bloom.”

Time goes quick and before we know it the spring has arrived. Being busy at work and cycling a lot, recently, didn’t have much chances to enjoy the beauty of the garden. So, one day I was surprized to see the old little apple tree in full bloom. I thought it would be a nice subject for a quick plein air painting. Hence, I set up the easel in the garden and did this little plein air painting. I was using a reduced palette, just some browns (ochre brown, transparent brown oxide, burnt umber and Italian Cassel), cadmium yellow, medium and light, cadmium red light, Alizarin Crimson and two blues, ultramarine and Ceruleum. Not to forget the titanium white. No medium, just turps. And did everything alla prima, over two sessions.

Here it is:

“Apple tree in bloom.”

Oil on linen.

18 X 24cm (7” X 10”).

A painting a week. Week 119

“Blue bells in a vase.”

And, when I thought, the spring was here, the weather says: Not yet!

So, coldish weather is back, I even had to deice the car on two mornings. It also means that the nature has to take a break from coming alive. And this happens nearly every year. Lots of leaf buds died, but, probably most of the plants in the garden will survive. And, on top of that, I started cycling out on the road, instead of the indoors trainer. And is not exactly pleasant to ride on a cold windy weather. So, hopefully, it won’t last long and the spring / summer / autumn season will finally arrive. Anyway, it was a very good week for cycling, which concluded with a short ride (30 miles) at Freewheel New Forest Spring Sportive 2019, which took place nearby, starting at Somerley House.

For the painting of the week, I have chosen to do a floral still life, using some Spanish Blue Bells from the garden with a nice vase that we found at a charity shop.

I used a reduced version of my palette, with added brown and yellow ochre. I didn’t use medium, just turps to thin the paints and painted it alla prima.

So, here it is:

“Blue bells in a vase.”

Oil on linen.

24 X 30cm (10” X 12”).

A painting a week. Week 118

“Strawberries and flowers.”

Strawberries are nice things to paint, because of the texture and colour, but on the same time are difficult to paint, for the same reason. And this is why I haven’t painted them before, although I was thinking about it. Flowers and glass vases, yes I did before, hence I thought it would be a nice addition to the strawberries. And it makes the composition more interesting and varied, rather than just a low and small group of objects.

The week was a good one, although the weather wasn’t very friendly. I managed to do some cycling and on Tuesday, because of a day off, we went on the Isle of Wight. The weather was changing constantly from sunny to rain and windy. We managed though to visit a few places, including the West Wight Alpacas & Llamas farm. We even walked an alpaca, around the farm and enjoyed a nice handmade pizza. Then, it was just time for a 11 miles ride on the bike, before the next rain.

Anyway, back to the weekly painting. I used a reduced version of my palette, again, to which I added some brown and yellow ochre. I used some de Mayerne medium, diluted with turpentine, especially for glazing and triple rectified turpentine to thin the paints. I painted it alla prima.

So, here it is:

“Strawberries and flowers.”

Oil on linen.

30 X 40cm (12” X 16”).