Arles

"Arles"

24x30cm, oil on canvas

(private collection, Brussels)

Virtual Paintout - Arles - November 2011 (first stages)

This month's Virtual Paintout takes us to Arles - Van Gogh country!

I combined my Google Street View travels with a review of VG's paintings, thinking I might be inspired to paint the same scene he had painted or work in his style.

At first I sketched a road in Arles (below) and added a figure I'd seen in Van Gogh's "The Painter on His Way to Work". Link to Van Gogh Gallery

But I wasn't too happy with this scene so I headed out of town instead. Van Gogh's landscapes usually feature fields of golden wheat or corn, workers busy plowing, planting or seeding, etc., but these just didn’t match the barren fields of late autumn I was running across in Street View.

Finally I found a green vineyard with some low mountains in the distance that brought to mind the "Alpilles" which were the backdrop to some of Van Gogh's landscapes during his time in Arles.

Here's the Street View Link.

I decided to base my colour scheme the Van Gogh painting "Cypresses" (shown here):

Well, I'm not sure I succeeded in doing that but at least it was good discipline to narrow down my choice of colours.
Here are the preliminary steps:
 

I liked the sketch -- sort of looked a little like a Van Gogh to me.

 
This was a lot of fun but easy to make a mess in the end so I decided to quit while I was ahead.

"Arles"

24x30cm, oil on canvas

(private collection, Brussels)

Virtual Paintout - Sardinia II - October 2011

This is my second contribution to the Virtual Paintout for October. I have not moved very far from my initial spot on this road in Sardinia overlooking Lago di Cucchinadorza but I think I managed to get a better reproduction of my drawing this time by taking a picture rather than scanning, following the suggestion of a fellow VP artist. I have since realised that most of the images I submitted were photographs and not scans (since they were usually oil paintings). I am also experimenting with various papers for my Faber-Castell Polychromos. This was my first drawing in a giant "Peacock Heavy Weight Wire Bound Sketchbook" (from the back-to-art-school sales in September). Although it was fun to work on a BIG drawing for a change (12" x 16.5" or 29.7 x 42 cm), I found the paper a bit too smooth for these colored pencils. Getting the right combination of pencil and paper is mindboggling. Back to the drawing board!

Here is the link to the scene that inspired this drawing: Google Street View Link

"Sardinia Landscape"
29.7 x 42 cm, colored pencil

Virtual Paintout - Sardinia - October 2011

This is a quick message to provide anyone interested with the URL address of the Google Street View photo that I used in creating the above drawing. I worked on this over the weekend (it's raining here in Brussels now) and just submitted it to the Virtual Paintout

Google Street View Link

8.5" x 11", colored pencil (Polychromos) in Canson Sketchbook

Château de Wolvendael - 2 Octobre 2011

I had to take advantage of the fantastic weather this weekend to start a painting in the park.  I was sitting right in the sun and it was so hot - I really must try to find a big hat so I can see something next time I do this!





"Chateau de Wolvendael - automne"
20x25cm, oil on canvas

Virtual Paintout - New Orleans - September 2011

Google Street View

I've never been to New Orleans but have been visiting the city using Google Street View because it is the subject of this month's Virtual Paintout. At first I tried looking up addresses I'd heard about but nothing came of that since places had either changed or were obscured by passing cars and so forth. Meanwhile I began to notice these amazing trees whose branches reach clear across the street (see the link above). 

Graphite and colored pencil
8x11inch Canon One sketchbook

Virtual Paintout - Fairbanks AK (II) - August 2011

This afternoon I took out my pastel pencils, which I (also) haven't used in a long time, and tried them out on another Alaskan scene where these caracteristic rows of trees are reflected in a lake. See the Google Street View here .
Google says the address is approximately "Interstate a-4 / Jeannette Way, Fairbanks, Alaska, United States".



"Jeannette Way"
11.5 x 12.5 inches, pastel pencils on paper

Virtual Paintout - Fairbanks, Alaska and Points North - August 2011

I think Bill Guffey chose a cold spot on purpose for our summer paintout this August. However, the weather here in Brussels has been worse than what I'm seeing on Street View Alaska! It rains nearly every day and people have been wearing winter boots and trench coats recently. Hopefully August 15th marks the start of our real summer.

Meanwhile, I decided to take out my pastels and see if they hadn't dried out (they seem to still be usable). I was also eager to try out the colored paper which was part of my birthday present from my daughter. I don't think I've ever used pastels on colored paper before. I was planning to do a few quick sketches of this road that I found between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay (Dalton Highway)and then decide which view to paint in oils but I'm not sure I'll get any further than this.

"Points North"
12.5 x 8.5 inch, pastel on orange paper

First impressions of Bristol

Before I try to "finish" these and risk ruining them in the process, I'm posting my oil sketches of Bristol in the UK where I just spent a week:


That's the University of Bristol at the top of the hill.


Cabot Tower.


View of the harbour near the Watershed.


Castle park.

Bristol, UK

The Mshed museum and harbour (oil pastel).