more interruptions.....lol

I found time to work yesterday, it progressed well. But with the trout fishing season opening in the morning I am spending today organising my fishing tackle and loading it all back into my van for the trip tomorrow.
Painting fish will have to wait for another day.

Back to grey skies....

We are back from the Cote D'Azur (French Riviera), in France. The weather was beautiful again, February and 20 degrees, sunshine and blue skies (if a little hazy at times). Travelling along between Nice, Antibes, Cagnes-sur-mer and as far along as Cannes....we intend to go further on our next visit to the area....was most enjoyable in bright sunshine and warm breezes. However we are now back in cold grey windy Ireland...and wishing I was still there.

Visiting the Cote D'azur, among other places, allows you to experience the world of the Impressionists and post impressionists. It is much easier to appreciate or critique the work when you have seen the areas painted, the light of the region and it's natural colours. See what they saw when painting plein air landscapes along the coastal regions. But many other artists also spent time working here, among them were Pablo Picasso, Chagall, Dufy, Cocteau, Bonnard, Soutine, Derain, Boudin, as well as Monet, Renoir and others. There is even an organised tour based around the settings and landscapes they painted for those that like to be guided.

I prefer to meander along at my own pace rather than being chivvied or delayed by a herd instinctively trying to keep everyone happy....even those that want the whistle-stop tour!
I am amazed how some groups go into galleries and speed around as fast as possible...I tend to go to one or two rooms at a time and savour what I see....there is always another day to see further. But back to the Riviera...the light there is different.. one of these days I may get to spend enough time there to do some painting....maybe next time, we are certainly going back again, we had a better time this year than last year, mainly because we travelled more widely (last year we spent most of the time in Nice and Monaco) but we still want to see other areas of interest, and we still didn't go to the Renoir Museum (Cagnes) the Chagall Museum (Nice) time just passes and before we know it, it's time to go home again......Well at least until Barcelona next month..........

Work on the Malta series.

The work has gone quite well today. I have photographed four of the pieces (badly, LOL) but there is a reflection on them from the lights, as I had long lost daylight by the time I was thinking about photographing them.

The first is of a castle called the Redtower, and it is actually that pink in colour.

The second is a view of a typical Maltese hill with patchwork fields in the foreground.


The third is based on sketches of a terrace hillside, seen from below.

The last of the four is a view of a bay on the North coast of Gozo. The headland has a distinctly shaped hill which creates a dramatic statement.

All are still works in progress, but I am happy with the way they are progressing.

I am back painting.

I have a total of five works on the go at the moment, and a number of others ready to start. They are all relatively small, (for me) under 35 cm as I am cognizant of needing to ship them abroad, and to keep the purchase price at a level that is affordable in the market they are going to.

I hope to carry on this week at near the level of work I managed last week, but I found it very tiring. I was painting up to 14 hours a day last week, and it takes a lot out of me, so I will probably slow down. The work is progressing well though.

February Snows...

We are almost snowbound at the moment... at least the studio is in walking distance, I was out in the car about an hour ago, but driving in a straight line was impossible, waltzing along was easy, stopping wasn't. England has it worse though.

I have finally finished rejigging my website and replaced sold work with other images, re-organised different galleries and updated my key words and tags....I hope!

Tomorrow I hope to start painting. Assuming I can manage to walk down to the end of the garden tomorrow. I will keep you informed....

February already

The start of another month! January has gone, and I still have no painting done!
I will get stuck in next week though. It is surprising how time passes so quickly. I need to get back to work soon, I have lots of work to do in the early part of the year with two proposed one man exhibitions in late summer and the autumn.

I am ready to paint now though, and because of this I know work will go well. I am rested, so I can approach the work with fresh ideas and impetus. I'll keep you updated.