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Plein Air Watercolour Studies
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These watercolours were painted outside 'en plein air' from Le Parc
Panoramique du Chateau de Limeuil, which has a wonderful view from on
high, on top of a hill looking over the majestic river Dordogne. They
are in fact demonstration pieces quickly painted in front of many, many
people watching.
"You are to heed what I say and go on a watercolor debauch ...
it's quantity, not quality, that you are after... not to take this too
literally, but what I mean is to get in front of any old landscape and
spend reams of paper and paint on it - PAINTING 3 OR 4 A DAY - and then
at the end of the season, if you are naturally gifted, you'll have learned
something about watercolor, then naturally you'll come to quality."
John MARIN , American Watercolourist.
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'L'Esperance' - oil on canvas, 20 Paysage ( 73 x 54 cm), 2006. © The
Artist.
Later on, they evolved into a medium sized oil, painted in the studio
from memory & these studies. I wanted emphasise the poetic aspect of this
beautiful view. The Dordogne is a sparkling river. An intense luminosity
veiled by a light mist, even in summer, even in 4O degrees centigrade.
Moonrise over the valley, on a late afternoon in high summer, as it raises
above the valley mist.
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La Dordogne Marchande à Lalinde - © The Artist.
(When the river current was high & fast - 'merchande' - the river traders would sale with their merchandise) |
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'Reed Beds at Lalinde' - Oil on Panel - 72 x 36 cm © the artist |
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'Glover's Island' Oil on board , 1993, © the artist
This is a large studio piece of the
famous view of the Thames at Richmond Hill. Someone made a witty remark
about it being 'before the property developers', meaning that I didn't
paint all the house nor even Heathrow Airport. Edited out. Just the river,
just the light & space, just the essence of the Classical view Do
you have to paint everything? When sketching on the spot, do you have
to include everything? There is the argument that overly poetised paintings
no longer have any contemporary reality, idylls that don't belong in this
imperfect, spoilt, modern world. Or you can say that the poetic landscape tradition of
painting is an expression of our yearning for paradise, out flowings of
the shining river that flows through our lives at the level of our heart's
yearnings...
When I was sailing on the Nile, the Captain of the felucca boat told
me that the arabs say that the Nile flows directly out from Paradise.
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