Painting Holidays in Chateaux in South West France & Provence 2021Watercolour of Spring in the Dordogne
Posted on February 2, 2014
‘Spring Time in the the Dordogne’ Watercolour. 38 x38 cm © Adam Cope
This Candlemas morning (“festa candelarum”, the festival of candles), there was the first ray of sunlight after weeks of heavy rain. The light is again high & strong. I’m yearning for spring & fresh air & sunlight.
This watercolour from March last year. Hope that February won’t be rude or glacial! It can be freezing & extreme in February here in the Dordogne. Half way through winter now!
In pre-Christian times, this day was known as the ‘Feast of Lights’ and celebrated the increase strength of the life-giving sun as winter gave way to spring. – http://projectbritain.com/year/candlemas.html
Poplar Trees in Spring time
Posted on August 13, 2011
‘Peupliers, Bronzage, Printemps’
Oil on Canvas
30 x 40cm (approx 12 x 16 inches).
© Adam Cope
this painting’s lay-in first stage WIP
I’m getting ready for a big exhibition at the La Maison des Vins de Bergerac. It’s a hige & beautiful space – up to sixty paintings!
Lime Grove, Chateau de Beduer
Posted on July 30, 2011
watercolour 15″ x 11″ Early moring, brightearly summer sunshine, see the leaves glowing green-gold.
pssttt! – don’t be scared of green!
Posted on July 30, 2011
‘Lime Grove, Chateau de Beduer’ – watercolour 15″ x 11″
‘Grove of Poplars’ watercolour, 15″ x11″
Homage to green – the green fuse , the living green, the vernal green , the green that oxygenates us & lets us breathe fresh, clean air. When I painted these green watercolours the air was so beautiful with fragent green sappy smells. 🙂
WIP : Le Cingle de Limeuil, Dordogne
Posted on May 17, 2011
‘Le Cingle de Limeuil, Dordogne’
ETAPE …. En Progres …
Oil on Canvas
65 x 54cm (approx 25,5 x 21,5 inches).
© The Artist.
Le cingle = the meander of the dordogne at Limeuil
FINISHED STATE
ETAPE FINALE
HOMAGE À CÉZANNE
Too much like Cézanne? Ahh maitre Cézanne, you who have given me so much? It sometimes seems to me that even the farmers plough their fields as if by your hand,. Your vision has helped shape the vision of many artists, including myself, who followed on behind you. It was by looking at some your many ‘half-finished’ paintings – works in progress – that I partly leant to oil paint.
Work in progress by Cézanne
Spring Greens – WIP : Large Plein-Air Oil
Posted on May 4, 2011
This is a commission 🙂
It’s great to be doing a large plein-air oil again 🙂 It will take several more sessions on site & several more back in the studio. Way bigger than usual, so good to be working ‘out of the habitual box’. Tables & studio easel outside, on the edge of a step slope. lol, the buzzards were just waiting for this… beware whilst stepping back 😉
Here it is at the lay-in phase. Because there was just so much more drawing than in a normal size, I did something that I don’t usually do. That is I didn’t lay-in the sky right from the beginning & key everything to it right from the outstart. I do however know what lighting conditions will be more or less in the final painting.
130 x 80 cm ( approx 51 ” x 32″)
oil on canvas
© adam cope
And here is a zoom-in on the bright spring greens, so bright here in the south of France. Again at the lay-in stage:
I find myself remembering a bright spring green painting from May 2007 ( a few weeks on from now), a small scale plein-air alla prima :
bright spring yellows – Matisse on shock
Posted on April 12, 2011
12 paysage format francais
© The Artist.
Here’s another painting of the same scene a few weeks earlier, just before the leaves opened, dating from 2007:
‘Berges du Dropt’
Oil on MDF Panel
30 x 40cm (approx 12 x 16 inches).
© The Artist.
“The essential thing is to spring forth, to express the bolt of lightning one senses upon contact with a thing. The function of the artist is not to translate an observation but to express the shock of the object on his nature; the shock, with the original reaction.” – Matisse
Poplar Grove, Dusk
Posted on March 24, 2011
Oil on MDF panel
These groves of trees are planted not far from the river Dropt. All straight & square, they are grown for cardboard boxes. I like openness & airiness of the groves. Not quiet field, not quiet wood. An ‘in-between space’. BTW, they have a bright orange fungus on their trunks , just like walnut trees in winter.
Brambles
Posted on February 27, 2011
Ronces
Oil on MDF panel
41 x 33 cm (approx 12,5 x 17 inches)
© Adam Cope
Oil on MDF panel
41 x 33 cm (approx 12,5 x 17 inches)
© Adam Cope
A session in the studio repainting this plein-air piece. Red & blue, no?
I like brambles a lot for their vigour & pioneering life-force. This was an over-grown patch by an abandoned house, rich & melodious in bird song.
Path at the End of Winter
Posted on February 24, 2011
‘Chemin, Cornus – Fin de Hiver’
Medium Size Oil on Canvas
61 x 45 cm (approx 24 x 18 inches).
© The Artist
cornus = dogwood
