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)