Painting Holidays in Chateaux in South West France & Provence 2020‘Mains dans les Poches’ – Marché d’Issigeac
Posted on December 30, 2007
A5
© The Artist.
Here’s another old boy in a berry, one of my neighbours & his dog. Observe that he is wearing no socks inside his plastic clogs. I took this photo when the temperatures were COLD, the evening I painted that last blogged oil, when it went sub zero. COLD. I admire this generation of old boys. He told me that during Feb 1956, it rarely went above zero all month. Bad news for a plein-air painter.
NOTAN – Winter Sun – Marché d’Issigeac
Posted on December 30, 2007
one half times A5
ink
© The Artist.
150 € / 100 £ UK / 200 US dollars.
NOTAN – Jour du Marché
Posted on October 20, 2007
A5 sketchbook, Double Spread (well almost)
© The Artist.
Notan
Half-tone is a real mental discipline. My felt tip pens have dried out. Short life product, the alcohol evapourates. Not very ecological. So back to the brush & watercolour. All good practice.
Electric Guitar Busker – ‘L’Assurance Vie’ – life insurance?
Posted on September 30, 2007
A5 scribble in ink
Talking about music is like dancing about architecture. – Steve Martin
NOTAN – Market Day Crowds
Posted on September 13, 2007
© The Artist.
TONALITY : ’14 Juilliet – Fête de la Republique’
Posted on July 16, 2007
Toutes Droits Reservés© The Artist.
Click on image to enlarge (& see without the blur).
Quatorze Juilliet in Beaumont town. Tressel tables, vin, grillade & frites. Everybody in town, including all the farming families. Disco, dancing, people watching, laughter & neighbours.
Painting in monochrome, using Winsor & Newton Neutral tint on Arches quarter sheet. Night time painting. ‘Sur la vif’, very much on the hoof as people moving very quickly, milling about in visual confusion, difficult to pick out a target, but I enjoyed the fun of the fair. Something about crowds & music that appeals to my painter-self.
Then later on,when the crowd had thinned out, white plastic cups & on-loookers & a few adolescents still eager to play the flirting mating game. The white tressle tables & black sillohouttes making a good tonal subject.
Toutes Droits Reservés© The Artist.
What I particularly like was the sweetie- candy floss stall. If I knew how, I would have painted this but then at half one in the morning, it was not long till the stall & tables would be packed away. The fifth repubique was saved & we all had a good time.
NOTAN : ‘Vendeuses des Conserves au Marché’
Posted on July 7, 2007
© The Artist.
notan = design in black & white, tonality
NOTAN : ‘Poisson Frais du Marché’
Posted on July 5, 2007
Tous droits reservés. Copyright – The Artist.
French Market Places
The fish-monger’s wife was a cubist delight, a three tone design with a flip of a fin.
Market day is wonderfully animated with lots of commotion & visual complexity. Learning to concentrate under such lively conditions can be of great use to a plein-airist. Working ‘sur la vif’, sketching in public, on location, with people looking at you, these elements require a kind of opening oneself up to moving world of passers by, which can ,actually & surprisingly, be very inspiring. Rather than being a distraction, people’s curiousity can actually be a spur for inspiration. Here in France, most people reallly want you to succeed & paint a master piece!
Here’s a night-time ink drawing from Sarlat, where there was literally THOUSANDS of people milling about, watching the spectacles. All the fun of the fair, the world & his wife. Artist stay inside your bubble of concentration and gently sway with the commotion, remember you do not own the scene in front of you but like everyone else, are merely moving through – ‘du passage.’
Encre chine, papier Moulin de la Rouzique.
Tous droits reservés. Copyright – the artist.
