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.

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)