Winter dark, and short days...

The month has nearly gone...   I have been busy this month, trying to work on a few new paintings, but I'm not happy with them at the moment.  I have sorted a few pieces out for an upcoming show next week, but I need a few more fresh works as I'm hoping to sell a couple coming up to Christmas.
The weather has turned cold, and the days are short.   It seems the day has half gone by the time the heater warms up my studio.  Even with good artificial lighting I don't like working when the natural light has gone, particularly when working on landscape paintings.  I used to switch to still life work in the winter months to allow for this, but in recent years I haven't wanted to paint any studio sets, apart from my dalliance into fish last year.
At this rate though I may just decide to paint a few more fish before the spring.  With the current temperatures I won't even need to keep them in the 'fridge while I am working... speaking of which, I have a few nice herring in the freezer.  

End of Summer (reprise)

Winter is upon us.  With the evenings drawing in, (It was almost dusk at 4.30pm this evening) I feel that it is going to be a long winter this year.  The weather has been cold for the last week, though thankfully we haven't had the wind and rain the east coast of the US got, and I am thinking it has been ages since I was warming myself in sunshine.  Can it only be a couple of weeks since I was here?

 

I invested in some Ski-wear yesterday, this will keep me warm when I am out and about.  Both fishing and painting.  It must be old age creeping up on me, but I'm feeling the cold these days.  I need to move a heater into the studio again, up until now the spot lights have been keeping it warm enough, but temperatures are dropping.   

At this stage most of the leaves have fallen from the trees, and they are becoming their stark winter skeletons.  They are interesting in a landscape even this way though, and can convey a sense of atmosphere in other works such as this autumn work from 2010.

 

 

 

This particular tree, a willow, which was in a neighbours garden has now gone, falling victim to a chainsaw, due to many dead boughs.  Now all I can see from my studio are sycamore and ash trees.  They don't have the same pictoral impact.  My own mature silver birch sits to the side of my studio and all bar the lower trunk and branches is hidden from my studio window.





BIJENALE EX LIBRIS PANCEVO

The Fourth ExLibris Biennale is opening in Pancevo, Serbia this week.  If you remember my post of March 30th I showed you a preview of my entry, a reduction linocut print.   Sadly I won't get to see it hanging in the exhibition, there are no direct flights to Serbia from Ireland, which makes it almost impossible to take a quick trip. 
This exhibition and competition always reminds me of my friends in Serbia, I know they will be there at the opening.  It would be great to be able to join them for a drink, but sometime soon we may get together again, it seems a long time since we met, but in reality it is only five years since we were together in Monastir, Tunisia at the ABAM art festival. 
I may just raise a glass of wine next Wednesday, and drink a toast, after all, it's only two and a half thousand Kilometers away...

The value of a sketchbook.

Here is one of my five minute studies done in Nice while enjoying some vino at the beach restaurant.  A pencil and watercolour wash over some quick pencil drawings of sailing catamarans.  Underneath is a quick watercolour impression of two pigeons waiting for crumbs on the beach.  It's not quite a work of art, but an ideal reminder/memory while reinforcing the anomaly of the sails catching the wind to drive the boats, yet leaving the deck chairs anchored on the beach.  (even though all the beach umbrellas/sunshades had been removed after one or two decided to take flight.)
Simple sketches can say a lot, a bit like taking shorthand notes as an aid to memory.  The combination of the three elements on this page recall the strong wind, (pigeons reluctant to fly around, the lack of umbrellas, and the heeling catamarans) all are now committed to memory and filed away until the time when I wish to emphasise wind in a painting, upon which I will slip this and other sketches out of my collection to help create an image that will convey the required impression. 
This is where these simple sketches, or other simple plein air studies come into their own.  You may get a more detailed rendering of the subjects from a photograph, but you do not get the same memories or hints about the actual reality of the day, how you felt, whether the day was fresh or just humid or cold or even balmy.  These significant details become apparent in an artist's sketch book, not their photo albums.

 Yes, I'm back from my travels again.  Nice was as beautiful as ever, with it's warmth and changing light throughout the day.
The temperatures were up into the 20's (centigrade) and even the wind was warm, if a little strong.  The sail boats were enjoying the breeze though.

The beachfront along the Promenade des Anglais was much quieter, reflecting the end of the tourist season.  The vacuum was filled by the fishermen, now fishing where sunbathers and swimmers were to be seen earlier in the year.

 It was nice to see the mounted police officers dismount and clean up the manure from their mounts, with a shovel they carry for that purpose. 

I spent a pleasant afternoon watching the catamarans racing in the bay of angels, often looking like star-trek warbirds as they heeled over running across the wind.  A definition of pure indulgence must be sitting in  a seafront restaurant eating beautiful food in the sunshine while graceful catamarans speed over the sun-dappled sea in front of you.
Alas, now it's back to work and the grey dark of an irish winter....
...at least until March.

Packing for the trip...

I'm in the middle of packing my little haversack for our trip to the Cote D'Azur.  It has reached the stage where I seem to have more than enough room to add lots of stuff I don't need for the trip.  Economy packing is a habit once developed is automatic.  I hear others complaining about Ryanair's baggage limits, yet I find I don't need to carry half the volume of baggage that would fit into the 'box'.
As it is I'm about to add my watercolour painting gear into a half empty bag that already contains more clothes than I need for the week. 
I'm glad to see the temperatures are forecast to be in the low 20's (centigrade), so no winter woolies needed. 

I'll leave you with a taste of Nice from our trip in March, and I'll post some more when I get back. 

Another blue period...

I have been painting some works based on my plien air paintings from Derrynane in Kerry.  I will post them here before my trip to Nice next week.  It seems so long since I was there in March, and our Paris/Giverny trip last month!  Back to the paintings though, rather than my gallivanting, they have turned out rather blue.  It's not surprising as they are three seascapes, with mostly sea on the canvas.

 

 

 

The three images are a little bright, but the photography was done under less than ideal conditions.  However if I didn't take them this morning, I wouldn't have any images to upload to this post, and it's unlikely I'll get time before I go.

 

I think the three of them need a little more work, particularly the foreground on the third image, though where the green in the photo came from, I don't know!  If it photographs that green, it definitely needs another look on the canvas, although it doesn't look too bad in the first image.  I must take the next photos with my fuji camera rather than the Nikon, it may be that the polarising lens is altering the colours, and the bright sunlight wasn't helping.

 

As for the blue, looking back at my images from my Plein air trip... the Kerry ocean was very blue in the sunshine. 

 

 

Time to start painting.

Well, the fishing is over, the important competitions anyway.  Now I can get back to work as such.
I have somewhat cleaned the studio, which was rather cluttered with bits and pieces from working on small bits and pieces.  Now I feel I can get stuck in to some proper painting, for the next two weeks at least, before we slip across to the Cote D'Azur in mid October.
I am hopeful that it may be a bit brighter tomorrow, the last two days have been dark and grey with constant rain.  Weather not condusive to painting bright cheerful canvases, but I was away on the road anyway.  I have been in Limerick, Waterford, Wexford, back to Dublin and then off to Galway, Navan and Drogheda in the last two days.  A round trip of about 1,000 km. over the two days, most of it in rain and heavy traffic.

Tomorrow I am going to paint, sit, ponder and paint some more..  hopefully a productive and restful day.

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.

Where has the month gone???

It is the end of the month already.
I haven't had a moment to myself this month, and I've done little art-wise.  Next week I'm off  to Paris, and on to Giverney and Monet's Garden.  I'm looking forward to it.  Later in the month I've a couple of big angling competitions which will mean weekends away (three consecutive weekends).  Then we are off to the Cote D'Azur in October for another break and a visit to Bonnards museum in Le Cannet (hopefully!).  Either way I'll have some good food and sunshine along with fresh sea air...
We didn't make Le Cannet on our last trip, but we like to leave an excuse for going back to the Cote D'Azur. 

I'll post photos when I return from Giverny.