Deux Tournesols

 

Another small painting inspired by the Facebook group, “Free Reference photos for artists”. The photograph was by Ilona E. Stefan”. I also submitted this to Carol Marine’s challenge here: dailypaintworks. She advises to paint sunflowers over and over again and they'll just keep getting better.

“Deux Tournesols”
12.5x18cm, Cobra oil on canvas panel

Blue

Another one based on a photo by Ilona E. Stefan (Free Reference Photos for Artists FB group). Her flower arrangements just “paint themselves.”

 "Pansies in a blue vase"
13x18cm, Cobra oil on canvas
(Private collection, Brussels)

Winter Sunset

Time for snow scenes — this one from the Free References Photos for Artists group (thanks to photographer Hanneke Koonstra).

Wishing everyone a nice holiday season; stay safe at home!

“Winter Sunset”
13x18cm, Cobra oil on canvas panel

Friday's flower studies

 

"Vivre en rose"

13x18cm, Cobra oil on cotton panel
(Private collection, Brussels)

I'm trying to practice painting roses, and bring some color into this bleek period of clouds, corona, covid-19, confinement, ... Always liked Dufy's painting "30 ans, ou La vie en rose” — painted in 1931, 16 years before Edith Piaf released, “La vie en rose”.

“Roses on a doily”

13x18cm, Cobra oil on canvas

For my second recent rose study I used a water-soluble painting medium by Talens that goes with their paints. It makes a difference, especially in the later stages.

Coastal Sunset

 

Sunsets are difficult to paint from life but the Facebook group, Artists free Reference photos has some good ones. The photograph by Wendy Parkyn inspired my small painting.

“Coastal Sunset”

18x13cm, Cobral oil on canvas

La falaise à Dieppe, d’après Monet

Monet's cliffs are so extraordinary — you just want to go to the Normandy coast and apply paint the way he did back in 1882. The original Monet is 65x82cm while mine is much smaller.

“La falaise a Dieppe” d'après Claude Monet
22x27cm, Cobra oil on canvas

Happy Thanksgiving!

This one is based on a photo by Gaynor Lewis in the EARL Facebook Group (Every Artists Reference Library).

“Pardon me?”
15x15cm, Cobra oil on canvas panel

Tonalism

“Setting the tone”
14x24cm, Cobra oil on linen canvas

 

A Photogenic Chicken

I never knew there were so many different varieties of chicken. This one is from a photograph on the Artists Free Reference Photos group on Facebook. The photographer, Pam Fretwell, noted that it is a Black Rhode, a cross between a Rhode Island Red and a Plymouth Rock. In any case, the breed is very paintable. 

"A Photogenic Chicken" 

10x15cm, Cobra oil on gessoed cardboard

(private collection, Woluwe Saint Lambert) 

Quatre Vaches

 

The Internet has become a huge reservoir of reference material for artists. On Facebook there are now several groups where photographers post their photographs for artists to use as inspiration for their work.  This is handy during the pandemic when you don't want to spend too much time on the street. The above oil sketch is based on a photograph by Carol Shockett. I read in the group's rules that it's not obligatory to mention the photographer unless you are posting to the group but I like to credit the source. 

I'm trying out Cobra paints, a water-based oil paint by Talens. You dont need to use turpentine so that makes them ideal for indoor work.

"Quatre vaches"
10x15 cm, Cobra oil on canvas panel

Three pears

Now that a new "partial lockdown" has started in Belgium, I'm working from Internet images again and using water-soluble oil paints. I've discovered several Facebook groups offering free reference photos for artists. Rachel Marks took the photograph that inspired my small painting above.

"Three pears"
13x18cm, Cobra oil on canvas
(private collection, Gooik)

Autumn challenge

 

Inktober is finished (see my Flickr album), so it's time to paint in color again now. There's a "Tonalism" group on Facebook that I just discovered. Their "autumn challenge" looks like a great way to get started. Here's my first take on this (trying out water-soluble oil paints). The reference photo is by Autonu Hanjang.

"Sketchy Sunset"
10x15cm, Cobra oil on gessoed cardboard

Inktober 2020

 

Inktober was useful this year to keep us all busy during the pandemic. I decided to try out the sumi ink I had in my closet. I'd found it second hand in Les Petits Riens in Bruxelles.

There are many good u-tube explanations of the technique. Here's one I consulted by Henri-Li: how to paint goldfish

I also found some internet sites that translated english to chinese later in the month so that my characters were less like complete jibberish. 

 More resources:  https://www.comuseum.com/

The result is in my Flickr album.

"Hydrangea or Hortensia"

 

I always knew them as "les hortensias" -- the shrubs full of flowers by the steps leading up to my grandfather's house -- but maybe they are more often referred to as "hydrangeas" in English. In any case, these pink flowers that veer towards brown as they age are fun to paint.

  

"Hydrangea or Hortensia"

27x22cm, oil on canvas

En los tiempos del Corona

"A garden in Antwerp"
70x60cm, oil on canvas

Working on gessoed cardboard

 "Oleander oil sketch"

10x15cm, oil on gessoed cardboard

(Private collection, Brussels)

After using up all my spare small canvases, I started with  gessoed cardboard like back in art school days. It is a pleasant change to work on a smooth hard surface. There's something to be said for the way you can make more textured marks when the surface doesn't give. Perhaps it's more apparent in these small formats. In any case, this will be easy to send in the mail: lightweight and flat.

Garden work

"Zonnebloemen"

15x21cm, oil on gessoed cardboard

"Jardinage"
15x21cm, oil on gessoed cardboard

"Fuchsia eruption"
21x21cm, oil on gessoed cardboard

"Fuchsia II"

15x21cm, oil on gessoed cardboard

"Blooming"
20x24cm, Oil on canvas

More Internet activities for May

Three more ways to keep painting during this period of isolation and social distancing. I've used them to practice with acrylic paints:

Free Reference Photos for Artists

This is another attempt at acrylics. The painting is based on the photographs of UK castles published by Tong Wong in the "Free reference photos for Artists" Facebook group.

"Scotney Castle"
acrylic on 21x29cm gessoed cardboard


EDiM

The "Every Day In May" event has just started with daily indoor prompts that take into account the current lockdown situation.

"Day 1: a mug"

Acrylic in sketchbook

Find the rest on Flicker: EDiM Sketchbook

#VirtualSketch

USK sketchers are eager to get out and sketch on location but in the meantime, some of them started a new group where sketchers "meet virtually" using street view photographs from Google.

"Shopping in Kansas"
Acrylic in sketchbook

"The White House"
Acrylic in sketchbook

Again, I've got a Flickr album for this: Virtual Album

Time is Monet

I had the opportunity to participate in the Tour Elentrik Street Art project in Antwerp last week, where we relooked some of the electricity cabinets. The format was a big change from the ACEO 2.5x3.5inch cards I'd been painting recently. And working with acrylics on a street outdoors took some getting used to, given the wind, the virus (facemask, social distancing, etc), the cars driving by, and also the fact that I'd never used acrylics before. Hats off to street artists! Yet this was definitely a fun challenge that I wouldn't hesitate to repeat.

Here's the lily pond on the back:

And more flowers inspired by Monet on the sides, along with various frogs to add to the fun.

A final touch:

Find them all here: https://streetartantwerp.com/

Internet painting ideas

Carol Marine publishes a new challenge every month on her marketplace for artist's, Daily Paintworks. You can still do the old ones as there is no deadline. So here's my interpretation of the "people inside challenge" of November 2019:

"Three people inside"

10x15cm, oil on gessoed cardboard

Also posted at: DWP-people-inside-challenge

During this period of Corona confinement, I also found a Facebook group ("Free Reference Photos for Artists") where photographers post reference photos that artists can use. Here is my painting inspired by Roxenne Cheeney's photograph of Yellowstone National Park:

 

"Yellowstone"
21x15cm, oil on gessoed cardboard

And another one from out west, based on a photo by Sue Miller:

 

"Red rocks"
10.5x11.5cm, oil on gessoed cardboard

D'après Eugène Boudin

More practice painting skies with a beautiful sunset on the beach by Boudin. I bought a canvas nearly the same size as the original for this one but found out that Boudin used wooden panels so my copy is probably a bit more grainy than the original. Yet I am happy with the result and learned more about Boudin in the process. He painted many of these beach scenes with women in long dresses because they were popular among his clients. I can see that he really enjoyed painting skies. He probably had extremely fine brushes to get so much detail in the people. At first I found the faces mediocre but then read that the women were wearing veils to protect them from the elements so it makes sense that they are not clear.

Copy of Boudin's "Personages sur la plage, effect de soleil couchant" (1869)
27 x 45cm, oil on canvas (original is 29x47cm), varnished
(private collection, Madrid)

D'après Claude Monet

Copy of Monet's "Garden Path at Giverny" (1902)
30x30cm, oil on canvas
(private collection, Uccle)

Three ACEOs

Three red onions
Trois Champignons de Paris
Una manzana
2.5x3.5 inches, oil on canvas panel

Small "Artist Cards Editions & Originals", or ACEOs, are the same size as ATCs but not part of that art card trading project. I bought these small canvas panels from a website a few years ago to use for minature oil paintings. (www.sharksartcanvas.com) 


Find the rest of my ACEO's here: CH tiny paintings

Monet, Van Gogh and Cézanne

Copy of Monet's "The House from the Garden" (1922)
30x30cm, oil on linen canvas panel

A splash of color to help get through the grey period we're experiencing in Belgium these days. I decided to finish this copy I had started back in 2014. It's part of a series of paintings by Monet. He depicts the path through the garden towards his house in Giverny but, during this late period, his approach has become less representational and increasingly abstract.

 

Copy of Van Gogh's "Vue de la mer aux Saintes-Maries de la mer" (1888)

8x10 inches, oil on canvas

I used a reproduction in a book as reference for this copy. Later, I was surprised to read that Van Gogh used a palette knife for this painting. But, in fact, I think he only used it to flatten out the top of the waves to make them shine, and maybe also to scrape two small areas on the middle wave so that the white grain of the canvas shows through producing a glittery effect. These are the details you miss when you haven't seen the original. Analyses have shown the painting is full of sand so it was definitely painted on location during a trip he made to the coast, which was just a half day's journey from Arles.

Copy of Cezanne's "La mer à l'Estaque" (1878-79)
30x30cm, oil on canvas
(private collection, Schaerbeek, Brussels)

And finally, ten years earlier, Cézanne painted this view of the sea. His simplified, nearly geometric elements are nonetheless challenging to reproduce given all the subtle variations in tone and color. The original is 73x92cm so I widened the foreground to make it fit on my square canvas.