Springtime, and the painting is Plein air...

 Four Plein air knife paintings on 10 by 8 inch panels.

 

Glenasmole and the Dublin City Golf Club, from Bohernabreena

 

Howth head and Dublin City from Bohernabreena

 

 

The Upper Liffey Valley Manor Kilbride

 

 

The Upper Liffey Valley Manor Kilbride

Springtime has arrived...  at least for now, we have had a couple of warm sunny days.  The 17th of the month was almost balmy, and I put the warmth to good use by doing some plein air studies down the road, and in Wicklow.   It was great to be able to go out and work after the winter, and I am considering setting off back to the Liffey Valley in the morning if the weather holds for tomorrow.  There is a view I want to work on in a larger format.  It will need a lot more detail than these four did, and will probably take a couple of plein air trips before I come back to the studio to finish it.  The latter two images will help me recall the co,lours and conditions when working on the proposed larger work.
The light had softened by the time I got to Kilbride, the fields looking greener and the trees turned more grey than brown on the shaded side of the mountain.  But looking east from Bohernabreena the sunshine  had the trees looking much brighter and brown, yet the golf club in the first painting also showed signs of a cool light in the shaded greens and fairways of the course.  The fresh greens of new growth in the grass fields has a deep green and silver look at this time of the year.  Later on in the year the greens will become much warmer, even in the shade.  The fresh shoots of the grass give an almost magical light in the early spring sunshine, much more silvery than the early growth of the leaves in the trees and hedges later on in the spring which seem to just warm the browns and greys of the twigs before really turning green. 

Back from Monet's world, and into my own...

 Here are some of the promised Photographs from Giverny.  The gardens are beautiful, if a little crowded for any real atmosphere.
I did a couple of watercolour sketches while I was there, just for the sake of doing it as much as anything else.
We wandered through the house (surprisingly spacious) and studio (not as big as I expected) also and explored Monet's collection of Japanese prints which are on display on the walls where hed left them.

We visited the Orangerie the following day to see the Waterlilly paintings in situ (as well as the other art on view downstairs) .A pleasing experience enhanced by the visit to the gardens. 

the watergarden

 

the main avenue

the river Ru

the sketching artist

view to the Japanese bridge

 the lily pond from beside the bridge

 

I'm busy fishing for the next two weeks, but I'm going to try to get started on some work.   Monet's waterlillies have encouraged me to go large again.  looking around at the expansive canvases reminded me why I love to paint big canvases.  I think the recent smaller work may have stifled my creativity somewhat, but it's OK.  I'm cured.

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..........