Two copies during Christmas break

Copy of Claude Monet's "Coucher de soleil sur la Seine, l'hiver" (1880)
(the original is at the Pola Museum of Art in Japan)
27x22cm, oil on linen canvas

During the holidays, I decided to explore the painting techniques of Marquet and Monet by painting two small copies. It's motivating to try out new subject matter; I've never painted sunsets or night scenes. Later I'd like to paint something "in the style of" these masters. I've heard there's a course that teaches art history this way and it seems like such a great idea.

For the Monet (above), I was working from a postcard without having seen the original painting. This means the colors and detail will not be exact yet it's still a good exercise. Not sure I'll ever find a similar icy scene myself but maybe I could paint a sunset over the North Sea some day.

Copy of Marquet's "Le Pont Neuf de nuit" (1937)
(the original is in Paris, France)
27x22cm, oil on linen canvas

Marquet's paintings are often "vues plongeantes" where you look down over a river or bridge that recedes diagonally towards the background. In this case, he tackled a rainy night with street lights reflected on wet ground. Of course, it would make sense to do this in a bigger format since the original is 82.5 x 100.5 cm. Nonetheless, it turned out to be a challenging exercise -- his paintings look deceptively easy.

Inktober 2019

Inktober 2019 gave me a chance to try out a variety of inks and pens from my stock, including some vintage items I recently acquired at a flea market ("brocante"). I found these "Figues de Barbarie" (Prickly Pears) from the supermarket extremely sketchable but when do you eat them? See my entire album here: My Inktober album in Flickr

"Day 31: Ripe"
Pelikan ink, water, and Blanzy dip pen
Sketchbook 40 (14x14cm)

Place(s) à l'Art à Uccle 2019

"Place(s) à l'Art -- septembre 2012"
20x20 cm, oil on canvas
(private collection, Brussels)

Final date:  Sunday, 29 September 2019 on Place Saint Pierre (9h00 to 13h00)

See you there (unless it rains)

The event will follow a new schedule this year:

Every Sunday from 9h00 to 13h00, from 28 April to 29 September 2019 on Place Saint Pierre.*

*except from 28 July to 1 September, when it will take place in Parc Wolvendael from 15h00 to 18h00, during the outdoor concerts.

Read about the changes on the site of the Commune d'Uccle:  2019 "Place à l'Art"

Concerts in the park: musiques-au-parc

See you there on the following dates in 2019:

 28 July, 4 August and 1 September in Parc Wolvendael (15h00 to 18h00)

22, 29 September on Place Saint Pierre (9h00 to 13h00)

My drawings from previous years: Mes dessins de Place(s) à l'art

Le piétonnier de la Rue Xavier de Bue

Music in the Park!

My painting of Park Wolvendael was featured in this year's poster for "Music in the Park". 

The Commune d'Uccle has organised a series of free outdoor concerts to take place on Sundays from 16h00 to 17h00. Find the complete schedule here:  Uccle site

Artists from Place à l'Art will also be present starting at 15h00 and I will join them on three of these events -- on 28 July, 4 August and 1 September. See you there!

"Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe" d'après E. Boudin

After over a year of Urban Sketching whenever I had a spare moment, there is nothing like copying an impressionist work to get back to oil painting. 

Eugène Boudin painted his "Déjeuner" in 1866 with the inscription: "à Mme Eug. Manet" (Edouard Manet's mother). He used a small wooden panel (17.5 x 25cm) and made certain references to both Manet and Monet's "Déjeuners":

(1863) Manet's painting

(1865) Monet's painting

This is based on a reproduction but the book left me wondering about the inscription. I googled all the dates. Boudin was 42 when he painted this, Manet's mother (Eugénie) was 55 and had lost her husband four years earlier. He must have meant her because the other possible Mme Eug. Manet, Berthe Morisot, only married Manet's brother (Eugène) in 1874 and hadn't even met him yet when this was painted.

In any case, copying Boudin's beautiful skies are the perfect exercise before the start of the summer landscape painting season.  

"Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe de Boudin" d'après E. Boudin

18 x 24 cm oil on canvas

Parcours d'artistes Uccle-Linkebeek-Drogenbos 2019 -- Monday 10 June from 14h00 to 19h00

The 12th "Parcours d'artistes" will take place from 14h00 to 19h00 on 1,2, 8,9, and 10 June this year.

The Oxfam Bookshop in Uccle  will participate with an exhibit of paintings, drawings, and jewelry by four artists.

This is also an opportunity to browse their huge selection of good quality second-hand books, including many in English.

See you there!  (nearest tram stop: "Place Vanderkindere")

Download the complete catalogue of the open studios event here: Commune d'Uccle

Artist websites:
Martine Rome's paintings and drawings: www.flickr.com/photos/martinerome
Dominique's ethnic jewelry: https://www.befr.ebay.be/usr/ethnicdominique

Sketches of Uccle

"Eglise Saint Pierre", oil on 15x15cm canvas

I'm working on some small oil studies of Uccle. I found images of Saint Peter's Church in Google Street View but preferred the older links when Le Parvis had a brighter facade:  link

"Eglise Saint-Job", oil on 10x10cm canvas
(private collection, Uccle)

Another iconic Uccle landmark is the church on Place Saint-Job. Here it is in Street View: Link

"Rue Xavier De Bue", oil on 13x18cm canvas panel
(private collection, Drogenbos)

The painting above was started from my stand at "Place(s) à l'Art" in 2013 and recently completed using reference photographs. 

"Le Doyenné", oil on 13x18cm canvas panel

I also found a nice view of the 18th century presbytery behind Saint Peter's Church on Google Street View: link.  The building now serves as a cultural center with space for art exhibits.

Le Louis XV

This small painting was started in 2017 when I called it "Heatwave in May" to reflect the surprisingly early summer weather that hit Belgium that year. But that's no longer unusual since we had 20°C at the end of February in 2019. 

I just added some finishing touches and changed the title to the name of the restaurant that currently occupies the 18th century pavilion in Wolvendael Park.

Once I finetune a system for walking around with a few wet 10x15's, oil paints, and a chair, I could try sketching in oil at an outdoor USK event. 

"Le Louis XV"
18x13cm oil on canvas panel

"Clouds at Isaac Point" (final version)

I worked some more on this beachscape at the start of 2019. Here are the first stages: link. The US Virgin Islands was a great Virtual Paintout destination for practising ocean waves and sandy terrain. I look forward to "visiting" there again.

"Clouds at Isaac Point"
Oil on 8x10 inch canva
(private collection, Anderlecht)