View from my Balcony

This painting could be finished...
I am putting it aside for a while before deciding.
Below are the different stages of the painting process.

The last session ...

Oil on canvas 73 x 54 cm 

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 ... and a detail

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the 1st three sessions:

session 3

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 Session 2

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 Session 1

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and the study - oil on paper

Industrial Zone with Cement Factory - Second session

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Industrial zone

Oil sketch on canvas 70 x 50 cm

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Study for painting "View from my Balcony"

oil on paper

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Study for seascape

Oil on paper

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Self Portrait

"Theres that Gap again!"

Oil on paper

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The continuing study of "Summertime II"

Another study for "Summertime II"

 Previous study
Just the shirt on the back of the chair this time...

Study for a painting "Summertime II"

Study for a painting "Sentinels"

Oil on flipchart

(approx 50 x 30 cm)

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The final painting is on my website

Little vineyard sunset.

My latest painting. I'm painting a bit less often recently. I'm not really sure why... maybe I need a new approach - a feeling of discovery again. There seems to be a resistance or reluctance to paint sometimes.

As for this painting I am at a possible finish. I found a quote about finishing the other day which  I find delightful:

"A painting is never finished - it simply stops in interesting places" - Paul Gardner

oil on canvas - 73 x 54 cm  

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Previous stages :

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Bluesky Cinema

 50 x 60 cm - oil on canvas

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detail

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Fruit Stall - Pushing myself to paint

I pretty much forced my self to start this painting, as I was getting a bit depressed at not finding a subject which motivated me to paint. I know it's not a good idea to let that kind of situation last, so I selected from among my "possibles" and just pushed myself to start.

Somewhat  contrary to expectations it is turning out quite well and the motivation rises as I go on.

Just another illustration that you have to keep on turning up and do your stuff even if you have resistance through lack of motivation. The beginning can be a bit of a grind, but with luck, the impulses will wake up as you go.

Trust the process.

This is after my third session (day) in a row and is even advancing quite fast.

50x40 cm oil on canvas

session 3 -click image to see larger

 session 2 -click image to see larger

  

session 1 -click image to see larger

Lush sunset - my current painting

After my first two sessions on this painting, I am enjoying my self , it is a very tactile feeling painting to paint. It lends itself to letting go. Do check the the larger images by clicking, it's always worth it.

oil on canvas 50 x 40 cm

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a detail

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Meditation - the whole painting process

Two more sessions on "Meditation" painting

Two more sessions, going a bit thicker and dryer on the paint in the last (leftmost) one. I would like to finish off quite thick if I can manage it, it always feels a bit daunting on portraits.

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Self portrait "Meditation"

Two short sessions on a self portrait I started painting last friday :

40 x 50 cm Oil on canvas

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My painting today

Another session on my Provencal copse with a couple of details. Mostly worked on the trees which need a little more work especially trunks and branches need to be more graceful.

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Painting over an old acrylic base

Oils are luscious with higher pigment load... plus the experience gained since then...

50 x 40 cm

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Trust the process - dusk painting

The painting is beginning to get somewhere. I am lingering on building up the colors little by little. Building up the light and building up the dark. I want it to to be a subdued explosion of color.
Not quite yet at that point but... trust the process.

80 x 60 cm

oil on canvas

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a detail

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Painting myself into a corner

I have been painting myself into a corner, so to speak, with my "Tourist Posing" painting. My tension has been building over a few days. I have been feeling frustrated and confined by the subject.

I needed to to take some action to ease the stress.

Having recently sold a painting, that was missed by the household, an evening view out our back window -  "Mermillod Sunset", I thought I might  paint a similar painting.

So I jumbed on the idea and what a relief it is. It feels fine, I feel connected to the painting, and my stress has magically eased.

No doubt, the discipline of painting out of my comfort zone will be a plus somewhere down the road, but creating should also sometimes be jubilation, don't you think?

This time the canvas is larger than "Mermillod Sunset" , 80 x 60 cm, and if all goes well it will be hung possibly in our bedroom facing the bed.

This is the first time I start a painting with the intention of keeping it.

Here is the result so far after one session.

Mermillod Evening

oil on canvas 80 x 60 cm

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acrylic under-painting

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"Tourist Posing" Painting in progress

Another painting in the tourist series, still in progress, also from Venice.
Here are four stages in the the progression.

People in a crowd - "Tourist trap" - painting in progress

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I have always been intrigued by people I do not know. I wonder who they are, how do they experience things? Probably there are similarities with my own experience, but what differences are there?

In an anonymous crowd, they tend to take on a distant disposition, and yet feeling anonymous, they are curiously open to our scrutiny.

My Curiosity is not agressive or invasive but rather tender and compassionate. Each one has their own story, their own cares and joys.

 On a more technical note, I always try to depict them in the least detailed way possible and still evoke how I perceive their state of mind.


What is their relation to the where they are and what is their interaction with people nearby or sometimes simply their spacial connection to the whole scene.

In this particular scene, the light picks out one person and gives her focus giving a more interesting or dynamic feeling to the painting.