A painting a week. Week 37

“Donkey barn at Christchurch”

After few weeks of only painting still life, I decided for week 37 to go outdoors again.

Together with some people from the art group I go to in Christchurch, we went to a private garden, called Millhams mews, a huge place, spread over few acres of land, with a river and many features, and some walled enclosures. After visiting the garden, I decided to paint a little building, which used to be a donkey’s barn, cladded in bricks and with orange woodwork.

I enjoyed doing this, although the weather was overcast and a bit chilly.

I didn’t use medium, just paint diluted with turps. I painted it alla prima, over few hours and at the end I did a little sketch of an old gate near the barn.

So this is the

“Donkey barn at Christchurch”

Oil on linen

30X 40cm (12” X 16”).

The sketch:

“Dorothy sketching the gate”

Oil on linen

18 X 24cm (7” X 10”)

A painting a week. Week 36

“A vase, mint and lemon”

Week 36 already. And autumn is coming quickly. The weather is becoming less predictable and stops me more and more from painting outdoors. The great thing about it is that I can focus more on painting still life, which I like more and more.

I even set up in my studio (formerly known as living room) a still life corner. I have a sculpture stand on which I placed a DIY shadow box. Next to it, on one side is a tall adjustable lamp and on the other side is my H frame easel. This way I can do still life painting using the sight size technique.

For this week I intended to do something using a little vase I bought years ago from Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. I filled it up with mint picked from my garden, and in front I placed a lemon; obviously because I think mint goes well with lemon (as in lemonade).

Initially I wanted just to paint the objects, but, as I was playing with the light I came across that gorgeous shadow, so I decided to make the shadow the main subject.

I didn’t use medium, just turpentine, except for the vase, where I used just a touch of diluted de Mayerne.

For the shadow I used a mixture of burnt umber, neutral grey and transparent brown oxide from Michael Harding.

So, here it is:

“A vase, mint and lemon”

Oil on linen.

24 X 30cm (10” X 12”)

A painting a week. Week 35

“Lemon and figs on a wooden box.”

This week I continued with still life painting; the weather was against plein air painting anyway.

I finished a bigger painting with a tea set, and for the weekly painting I have chosen a small still life with fruits. I worked by the sight size system, as I decided recently that for me this is the best system for getting the proportions right.

Still have some problems with the lighting, the lamps I have are to bright and not fully adjustable.

I hope I did a decent job, despite this.

I didn’t use any medium for the background and the box, only some turpentine and applied several layers of paint.

For the fruits, the figs were done with thick paint and for the lemon I used some De Mayerne medium.

So, this is my weekly painting, the quality of the photo is not very good, because the lights let me down.

“Lemon and figs on a wooden box.”

Oil on linen.

24 X 30 cm (10” X 12”).

A painting a week. Week 34

“Apple tree in my garden.”

Another week has gone and we are now two thirds through this year and through the first year of my project.

It has been a busy week at work, usually is, during summer. I continued with my still life experiments, as well as trying to learn watercolour, difficult and unforgiving medium. So, for the weekly project, I have chosen a plein air again. And for convenience I have chosen the back garden, as I did before; it is becoming my most painted plein air subject. The apple tree to the left, is still in hibernation, the other one is full with apples. And there are some lovely flowers in front of them.

For a twist, I used as background colour, the wall to the left, then I rotated the composition 90 degrees, on top of the wall, rendering just the tree and a flower.

I used a mixture of Blue Ridge, Old Holland and M Harding paints, and just turpentine and diluted de Mayerne medium for background. The painting was done alla prima.

“Apple tree in my garden.”

Oil on linen.

30 X 40cm (12''x16'')

A painting a week. Week 33

“View from Swanage towards Old Harry Rocks”

Swanage, is a beautiful coastal town, situated at the eastern end of Isle of Purbeck. It is a popular touristic attraction, during the summer months local population is outnumbered by the tourists. Apart from the beautiful beach, Swanage is surrounded by lovely attractions, such as Durlston Country Park with Durlston bay, Old Harry Rocks and Studland Bay to the north and Corfe Castle about 5 miles away. Also, not far are Kimmeridge bay known for the sheltered beach, good for surfing or windsurfing and Tyneham, the ghost village, open for public when not in use as a firing range by MoD (mostly over the weekends and for longer during summer).

Swanage is also one of my favourite places in the south and I work there quite a lot. Last week I have worked 3 days in Swanage, so on Saturday after work I decided to spend the afternoon painting. I set up my easel somewhere above the Swanage Pier, at the edge of the car park.

It was a difficult choice, being surrounded by such beautiful views, but in the end I painted the view towards Studland and Old Harry Rocks.

It was a bit windy and the skies and light in continuous change, but a pleasant experience though.

I painted with Blue Ridge oils, using just turpentine to thin the paints and no medium, because I wanted the brush strokes heavier.

So, this is my week 33 painting:

“View from Swanage towards Old Harry Rocks.”

Oil on linen.

30 X 40cm (12” X 16”)

A painting a week. Week 32

“A hydrangea bush”.

I have this beautiful hydrangea bush in my garden; it occupies a large corner of my garden. It is full of flowers all summer long. Some are pink, some blue, some with a blueish hue. I wanted to paint it for a long time now, but I never did, until this week.

I painted it alla prima, en plein air, setting up my easel in  the garden. It took me around 3 hours to paint, under strict supervision of my cats, Darcy and Vincent.

I painted it using blue ridge colours and De Mayerne medium and I tried to leave it as impressionistic as possible. For the first time in a while I used a Windsor & Newton canvas. The surface was OK and less absorbent than my usual canvases, which is a good thing for plein air painting.

Here it is, my week 32 painting:

“A hydrangea bush”

Oil on linen.

30 X 40cm (12” X 16”).

A painting a week. Week 31

“Bell heathers at Matcham view.”

During the last few weeks I have experimented more with still life and I intend to do more of, but I ignored my favourite subject matter, the landscape. And, because of weather and long days at work, I wasn’t able to do much plein air either. So, this is why I decided to do a bit of both for this week.

The countryside around us is beautiful, situated at the edge of New Forest national park. This time of the year, all the fields around are covered in wonderful pale purple - pink flowers, the bell heathers.

Around six or seven miles from our village is a little picnic area with a great view point to the valley below.

We went there, but instead of painting the valley, I ended up painting the flowers under the trees.

I have enjoyed the experience.

I painted using blue ridge colors and de Mayerne medium, possibly using more medium than in my usual alla prima paintings.

Here it is, my week 31 weekly painting:

“Bell heathers at Matcham view.”

Oil on linen.

30 X 40cm (12''x16'')

A painting a week. Week 30

“A tomato with runner beans”

Another week has come to an end and here I am, 30 weeks after I started this “A painting a week project”. It has been a lovely experience so far, but I managed to overcome all obstacles and complete each of the weekly paintings.

I still try to experiment more with still life, so the runner beans from my garden came in handy. I have the plants from my friends Roger and Penny and besides being very productive, have lovely white and orange flowers. The tomato is from the supermarket, mine, although in the green house are all green (still).

I painted it during 3 sessions, couple hours each and again using liberally De Mayerne medium.

Colours used: burnt umber, warm white, two greens from Old Holland, cadmium yellow gold and two reds (Pyrol red and a cadmium red light).

Here it is:

“A tomato with runner beans”

Oil on linen.

30 X 40cm (12''x16'')

A painting a week. Week 29

“After the rain, near Cranborne”

For this week I went to the same place in north Dorset, near Cranborne. Lovely fields. Unfortunately rain, and rain and more rain. Sometimes fine drizzle, sometimes heavy. I managed to almost completed the painting en plein air, adding the finishing touches back in the studio.

I have used my Blue Ridge paints, with little of the De Mayerne medium.

Despite of the weather it was an enjoyable experience, but probably next time I will check the forecast before committing to an outdoor project.

“After the rain, near Cranborne”

Oil on linen.

30 X 40cm (12” X 16”)

A painting a week. Week 28

“Before the storm, on a field near Cramborne, Dorset”

After experimenting lately a lot with still life, I have decided to do some landscape as well. Painting en plein air is always a good exercise. Someone I know, said once that one should try to do a plein air painting as often as possible, ideally every day and it should be anything, small or big, simple or complicated. I don’t do even near as much, but I am trying to do more.

For this week weekly painting, I went on a lane, not very far from where I live, around 5 miles or so. That lane is one of my favourite spots for plein air, I painted around six or seven paintings in the area.

The weather was cloudy and I thought it would rain, but it didn’t in the end. I painted The sky quickly with rough and energetic brush strokes and I intended to leave it rough, to emphasize the approaching storm.

I have used Blue Ridge paints, they become more and more my favourite oils for plein air or alla prima. I used turpentine to thin the paints as needed and only little of the medium , which is De Mayerne.

Towards the end of the painting I noticed lots of swallows flying around and a pair of buzzards, so I added the birds at the end.

I hope I captured the mood and feeling of the place waiting for the storm.

“Before the storm, on a field near Cramborne, Dorset.”

Oil on linen.

30 X 40cm (12” X 16”)