Antique tourist postcards of the Grand'Place often feature the flower market but in black & white. So I thought it would be fun to dream up a color version. Yet I had to push myself to work through all the architecture. I think I'll take a break from painting buildings next time.
"Marché aux Fleurs"
24x30cm oil on canvas
Another in my series of paintings inspired by antique postcards... I enjoy recreating the ambiance from back then. Look at all the well-dressed people hanging out in the middle of the street with their hats on. What would they be wearing today? Chamonix is a winter resort in the French Alps but the umbrellas may indicate they were expecting rain or possibly summer sun so it must be off-season. As I started to paint and examine the details more closely I was surprised to see there was a couple embracing in the center. The women on the left seemed to be wearing the same outfit so I imagined that they were working in the hotel to the right and gave them a blue and white uniform. What are they gossiping about with the woman in a brown coat?
In the background, what appears to be a white river coming down the mountain is a glacier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mer_de_Glace
"La Mer de Glace, circa 1920"
24x30cm oil on canvas
Wishing everyone a happy and creative 2025! We started the year off with some Tetra Pak printing fun. In my postcard above I carefully etched out "Happy New Y" backwards so it would print correctly. Then, of course, typically: I signed in a hurry... backwards! The later version eliminated the mistake:
Tetra Pak print "Happy New Y"
15x10cm postcard paper
Inktober preoccupied many artists last month. The annual challenge suggests 31 prompts to draw in ink every day in October. You can find out more about it at Inktober.com. This time, I thought it would be a great way to try out my Sennelier colored inks. But some days I'd just stick to black in order to keep up. Also I decided to draw on postcard paper for a change. So now I've got a bunch of postcards to put in the mail. I had some positive comments regarding that idea. I wonder if others will make postcards next year. In fact there's an Inktober52 group for anyone who wants to make this a weekly habit.
Find my complete set in this Flickr album: My Inktober Album.
"Ostende à la Belle Epoque"
24x30cm, oil on canvas
Continuing with my postcard theme, I took a stab at recreating a scene from an antique postcard of Ostend (bought at the Jambes Sunday flea market). I wanted to convert the stiff B&W photo into a sketchy oil painting with dabs of colorful paint: a fun challenge.
If, like me, you are wondering about copyrights on these old photos, here is a link that explains it: copyrights & old pc's. So that's good news and it opens up a whole new area for me to explore.
"A Winter's Day"
12x18cm oil on canvas panel
inspired by a photo from the Landscape Art Club
I've been following three Instagram challenges that don't disappoint: @landscapeartclub, @foodpaintchallenge and @roomportraitclub. Unfortunately, last spring's @faceportraitclub seems to have disappeared. It takes a while for my oil paintings to dry so I missed sending out the postcard below:
"Christmas at Windsor Castle"
15x10cm oil on postcard canvas
inspired by the Room Portrait Club
This will be for Christmas 2023.
Roaming the Internet to find subjects I haven't yet had a chance to paint whiles away these cold, dark days of winter. Here's some more snow thanks to the Landscape Art Club:
"Yellow Lilies"
15x10cm oil on postcard canvas
(private collection, Schaerbeek)
The lilies were another popular subject at the Landscape Art Club. I painted some as ACEOs as well. Find those and my Food Paint Challenge work here: Smallest Paintings Gallery.
Looking forward to more of these in 2023!
Happy New Year!
"Arches National Park"
10x15cm, oil on postcard canvas
(private collection, France)
When Yvonne Resol LaMendola posted a photo of Arches National Park in the Landscape Reference Photos for Artists Facebook group, I immediately saved it in my « to paint » folder. Then last week, my first order of blank postcard canvas panels arrived from Le Géant des Beaux Arts so I decided to try them out using her reference photo. The postcard canvas works well with oil paint. I just wonder how this will survive in the mail. B-post claims 5mm is their maximum thickness for a postcard so this just fits. I still need to make sure it's under the weight limit and then it needs to dry first before I can try mailing.
« In Grandma’s Garden »
15x10cm, oil on postcard canvas
(private collection, UK)
My second oil painting on a postcard is based on a photograph by Maggie Michaelowicz. I struggled to get the children’s expressions right on this tiny format. Maybe it’s time to invest in better paint brushes for this type of detail work.
Still in my colored pencil phase at the end of 2020, so I created a series of "confinement chicken" postcards. These two contrasting breeds make great models but are much easier to sketch from photographs.
These are all either Koh-i-noor or Polychromos on "Hahnemühle Nostalgie Sketch Postcards". The paper is 190g/m2 and 10.5x14.8cm. Hahnemühle is the only brand I have found that makes smooth postcard paper for sketching in pencil. I'm grateful but wouldn't mind seeing a slightly heavier version because I drop these in the mail without an envelope. Yet so far, everyone says they received their postcards in good condition.
In February, I donated a postcard to the Twitter Art Exhibit. This year's sales are going to benefit a UK charity: the Leukaemia and Intensive Chemotherapy Fund. Read more here: https://www.twitterartexhibit.org/
The postcards sell for 30£ each. Here’s how I found out that mine was sold:
"Snow Day" was inspired by a photo from Bill Jones in the Free Reference Photos for Artists Facebook group.
Afterwards I received a nice thank you email from the buyer who also tweeted a picture of the card in a frame:
It’s nice to see it framed. Definitely a positive experience: not only did I get some practice painting snow but the buyer is pleased and we’ve both contributed to fighting cancer.
Last year I didn't get a chance to send out any New Year's greeting postcards and the year turned out to be in many ways a complete disaster so in order not to run the risk of jinxing 2021, here goes... Besides, I have several pads of postcard paper I've been meaning to try out and I'm also aiming to take the time to use all the art supplies I've accumulated over the years.
"Snow in the village", watercolor
and colored pencil
on Harris postcard paper, based on photo by Ilona E
Stefan,
from the Free reference photos for artists FB group.
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