The Christmas is now gone and a few days are left from 2019. The atmosphere still feels festive and full of joy. Another year will end soon. And what a year! Lots of challenges at work, lots of sport – my most active year to date and lots of art making. Not to forget the bike accident; I am on my way to full recovery now and soon will be just a memory. I wanted to do something festive, but I ended up doing what I know best. A still life with fruits. More fruits. A setup with four pears, a tangerine and a pumpkin, the same pumpkin I used twice before; I am surprised that is still doing fine. Probably not for long. I used a creased tea towel to put the setup on and I am quite happy with the result, although it is quite rough. I painted it alla prima on a stretched linen canvas, using my usual colours and no medium, just turps. Here it is: “A tangerine, few pears and a pumpkin.” Oil on linen. 28 X 36 cm (11” X 14”)
''Some fruits and a bowl with festive lights''
Before the accident I had this challenge of making one painting a week. After few weeks off, I decided to stop the challenge, because I had a long break from it anyway. And it is not always possible and perhaps sometimes I rushed some paintings, just to get them done. So I will focus on painting, to the best of my abilities, rather than quantity. Christmas is nearly here. Bringing us the joy and happiness of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Hence, I wanted to do something more festive. Initially, I did the setup with the two tangerines, the bowl with Christmas lights and behind them a Christmas ornament, a glass tree, with lights inside and a star at the top. I nearly finished the painting, but I wasn’t happy, so I deleted the background ornament and reworked the background. I still felt that something was missing, so I added the pear. I painted it mostly alla prima, again using a relatively reduced palette. Only used three brushes and the fingers to apply paint. And no medium, just turps. So, this is it: “Some fruits and a bowl with festive lights.”
“A pumpkin and persimmons.”
After second post-accident painting, another break ... Not that I wanted one, but it happened. A combination of work commitments, physical activities and lack of concentration. And another full week back at Sarum Studio in Salisbury. First week at the studio in nearly 5 months. It was hard, but a good week. Managed to complete two standing nudes in charcoal, a portrait study in charcoal and a painted portrait in oils. Quite pleased with the results.
I started this painting about 7, or 8 days ago, then abandoned it for a while. I put myself back together this weekend and managed to finish it, though.
I painted it in a quite dark environment, just a dim light. And the light on the setup. I painted it alla prima, except for the first layers, laying in the shapes and darks, which was done at the beginning. Used a reduced palette, asphaltum, neutral grey, red light, ultramarine blue, two yellows and white. And a touch of quinacridone magenta and yellow lemon for the highlights.
I tried to keep most of the composition in dark with just a ray of light focused on the pumpkin.
Here it is:
“A pumpkin and persimmons.”
Oil on linen board.
30 X 40 cm (12” X 16”).
“Plums, an apple and a pear.”
It is now nearly three months since I had my bicycle accident. And what an accident it was. Both arms affected, right elbow and a bone in left hand broken. After two surgeries and a long recovery I am on my way to become fully functional again. After that, during my first stages of recovery, I managed to do another little still life with pumpkins, for the Halloween. It felt a bit difficult, so I waited longer for the next painting. Another still life with fruits, this time an apple from our garden, a pear and some plums. I did the set up a week ago and started painting, then a lack of concentration combined with work and sport activities, made me stop for the remainder of the week. Then, I managed to finish it in two days, just in time before the fruits started to rot. Except for the laydown of the composition, which was done a week ago, the rest of it was painted alla prima, using a somewhat reduced palette, two yellows, two reds, two blues, black, white and transparent brown oxide.
Painted using mostly the flat synthetic brush, and only worked the details on the fruits and the highlights using the round sable brush.
I used the barn door light to focus the light on one of the plums and have everything else, pretty much in shadow.
So here it is:
“Plums, an apple and a pear.”
Oil on linen.
24 X 30 cm (10” X 12”)
A painting a week. Week 137
“A hydrangea in my garden.”
Being on holiday for three weeks is the reason I haven’t posted anything in a while. So, it is not procrastination. I actually painted a few paintings as well, keeping into one a week paintings, but haven’t been able to write the weekly blogs about them; perhaps some time, when I will have more time to spare, I will come back to them.
So, I was on holiday for a bit longer than three weeks. Three relaxing weeks; first proper holiday in ages. My first ever long haul flight, actually split in two, first leg To Reykjavik and then from Reykjavik to Seattle. We have had a lovely time in America, spent wonderful time with my brother and his family, including the cats, Patapon & Tesla. We visited few places around, been to the Space Needle and going up the top, a trip to Mount Rainier, the tallest mountain in Washington state, shopping around and even a short trip to Portland Oregon. Everything was lovely, beautiful nature and wildlife (including beautiful hummingbirds), food was great, so I fell in love with America. We also managed to visit Vancouver Canada for three days, lovely experience, a long walk through town, a visit to Gastown, Granville Island and Stanley Park. While there, we also visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge.
And because was holiday, me and my brother built a bike from scratch (with a carbon frame). And we had a few nice rides around Lake Sammamish and surrounding area. And I brought the bike home with me. The return was a bit hectic, with flight cancellation, got to a different route, bike left behind in Seattle, but arrived few days later.
And then, back to work. Which means that I only had time for my weekly painting during the weekend. I wanted to do another plein air, so, for convenience, I have chosen to paint something from my garden. The obvious choice was the hydrangea, which is still in full bloom, but not sure for how long.
I used my usual palette, without Alizarin Crimson, which I am not using at the moment. Didn’t use any medium, just turps.
So, here it is:
“A hydrangea in my garden.”
Oil on linen board (on Gatorfoam).
24 X 30cm (9” X 12”).
A painting a week. Week 132
“A glass vase with roses.”
Nothing lasts forever. So, the poppies didn’t either. The dry, hot weather meant their end. Last week I did my last painting of that gorgeous field, but it was all starting to fade already. Now is all gone and, unfortunately, probably never back again. So, I guess, that was a once in a lifetime opportunity to paint the red fields of poppies.
So, now, I am back to paint still life again; at least for a while, before I find something exciting to paint outdoors.
For this week, I did a small little painting of a glass vase with some roses from the garden. I like painting roses, but it is always challenging, because they tend to move, open, close and die quite quickly, so not much time to paint. I used a simple palette, based on the one I used for the poppies, since I already had the colours laid on the palette. I initially painted it alla prima and then I reworked some areas after it started to dry.
So, here it is:
“A glass vase with roses.”
Oil on linen.
24 X 30cm (10” X 12”)
A painting a week. Week 131
“The last of the poppies.”
Of course, the beauty of the flowers can’t last forever. As the time goes by and the summer progresses, the nature is fading. Dry days, hot temperatures, warm winds, they are all taking their toll. Had a busy week, work and cycling and over the weekend managed to return to the poppies field. For the sixth and probably the last in the series plein air painting. Painting poppies was fun and I was overwhelmed with the energy and the vibration of the field. Strong colours and lovely contrast. Not to mention that red is the complementary colour of green, so, the surrounding green makes a red field pop. Anyway, this time, the field looked rather tired, lots of dried branches and vegetation, even the colour of the poppies didn’t look as bright as it used to. I wanted to do a last painting of the field, though, so I did.
I used the same palette as with the other five paintings and just turps, no medium.
I used my favourite small sable brushes and worked wet on wet with thick paint, trying to capture the movement of the nature and the effect of light.
Here it is:
“The last of the poppies.”
Oil on linen board.
30 X 40cm (12” X 16”).
A painting a week. Week 130
“Late afternoon in the poppies field.”
The heat of the summer is finally here. Long days, lots of sunshine, less wind, dry air and hot temperatures. After nearly half a year is summer. God knows for how long though. In this country summer can last anything from minutes to months. Let’s hope it will be months. I decided to go back to the poppies field, not knowing what to expect. I kept asking myself, whether there will still be some poppies left. I was worried that the dry hot weather might have killed them. But it was alright. Poppies are still there.
The field looks a bit tired, but still going strong. I arrived at the painting spot quite late, so I have had to move as fast as possible.
The palette was prepared earlier, before leaving house so the start was faster. I managed to concentrate and painted as fast as I could, despite of the small brushes. I started to develop a style of my own, which involves using relatively small round brushes, bristle to sketch the composition and apply the under paint and then soft sable to apply the thick paint. So, small brushstrokes with thick paint. This is my thing now. I used same colours as with the other poppies painting, the main difference being in the sky, because the sky today was much more calm and blue. I again didn’t use any medium, just turps. And I tried to depict more of the feeling of the place.
So, here it is:
“Late afternoon in the poppies field.”
Oil on linen.
30 X 40cm (12” X 16”).
A painting a week. Week 129
“View from the poppies field at sunset.”
The poppies fields around Southern England are just stunning. And there are lots of them. They seem to be everywhere and I can’t remember any year with so many poppies. Usually they are just at the edges of the fields, but this year is special. And that is not necessary a good thing. The truth is that the weather was so poor for agriculture, that it left many fields with failed crops on them. Hence, the farmers allowed them to go wild for a while, so a mixture of flowers grew on them. Some rape, from the original intended crop, mixed with camomile, thousands of field flowers and most of all poppies. You can see bright red everywhere. So, I couldn’t resist not to paint more. For convenience and because it is a beautiful place I went to the same spot as last week. And I went there twice this week. On Friday, after the life drawing class in Salisbury and again on Sunday after work (yes, I worked another Sunday this month). Actually I didn’t plan it, it just happened. After a stressful week at work, only painting and cycling brought me back to a peaceful state of mind. So, to relief the stress and because I love painting, we went back for yet another poppy painting. I managed to work quicker this time, completely absorbed in the painting and with nearly no breaks and managed to complete the painting in around two hours, about ten minutes after the sunset.
I used a not so reduced palette, with titanium white, a touch of cerulean blue, some ultramarine, cadmium yellow medium and a touch of light, cad golden yellow, lead yellow, cadmium red medium and light, a touch of vermilion and Italian Cassel. I used the triple rectified turpentine – the smelly one, because I like using it more and more. I didn’t use any medium and I tried to use heavy thick paint, applied with a small sable brush – my favourite. I tried to capture the feeling of the place and the continuous movement of the nature, inspired again by my favourite painter, Vincent. Unfortunately, because of the thick layer of clouds, the sunset was barely visible, just a hint of yellow and a touch of faint pink in the sky.
So, here it is:
“View from the poppies field at sunset.”
Oil on linen.
30 X 40cm (12” X 16”)
A painting a week. Week 128
“A poppies field towards Roman Villa”
At the beginning of the week, I went, as per usual to the life drawing class at Sarum studio in Salisbury. I always come back home on the scenic route, from Salisbury to Coombe Bissett and then towards Roman Villa, through Rockbourne and then Cranborne. Nothing unusual, but I have noticed some large patches and stripes of poppies on some fields. I even saw a nice place which was only visible from one single spot on the road – couldn’t stop the car though. So, on Saturday afternoon we went again to Salisbury, on the scenic route and were planning to stop on the way back to take some photos with the poppies fields. On the way back, I was seeing through the hedge some nice red patches, but didn’t know what it was; thought that it was like a stripe of poppies at the edge of a field. We were able to stop the car at a corner, about two miles or so before Rockbourne and we saw the field. It was breath taking. I have never seen a field covered entirely in poppies. So, we walked on the field and took lots of photos. The field was mostly a mixture of grasses, rape and camomile with thousands and thousands of red poppies. I was feeling frustrated that I didn’t have the easel and any paints with me and never thought I would be back to paint it, as I was going to work on Sunday. And, because of that I was already working on a weekly painting, nearly finished – a floral still life with roses from the garden.
But, on Sunday, after work I got home and because the weather was dry, although windy, we decided to go back to that field and paint it.
It was a great and intense experience. Me, painting alla prima, without medium – just turps, thick paint and three small brushes, energetic brushstrokes and a reduced palette. I was trying to catch the movement of the sky, air and field, rather than just the landscape, getting inspiration from my favourite painter, Vincent van Gogh. Great fun.
So, here it is:
“A poppies field towards Roman Villa.”
Oil on linen.
30 X 40cm (12” X 16”)
