Le Souffleur

I went back again and worked some more on the final painting, trying to put some light into it.

I went back to the Souffleur view point yesterday and after studying it again, finished an old painting:

These were the steps.  I have been working in this spot over the last 3 years doing lots of different studies and paintings.  I always work en pleine air, meaning outdoors on the spot.  I love being outdoors and only feel inspired when actually at the place.  I follow my intuition and paint what interests me on the day. Sometimes I don't know what I will paint but when I get there I always find something that inspires me. It is such a pleasure working, drawing, walking, painting outdoors this is why I do it, for the pure pleasure.  I always feel very satisfied when I've been out painting and go every day.  Sticking to a routine is good too, just get in the car and go! At the moment I go first thing every morning with my gardener (always easier to go with somebody rather than on your own) and come back around 1pm. That way I have time to do my errands in the afternoon, or carry on painting as I'm in the mood. What comes out at the end of the day is of no importance.  As you can see it has taken 3 years to get this painting out by building up slowly and surely and by going back and back. Patience and determination in hand!

Photograph of the spot.

quick sketch

Notan, studying the shapes

6 value study

4 value study

122 x 90cm painting done onsite

122x90cm corrected sky, sea, clouds, 2 years later! Clouds still need some work!

I worked some more on a picture from the 7 Cascades that I started in 2011, I think it's finally finished now.  You can read the progress from start to finish in the Finale blog of the 7 Cascades. This is the how the picture started and changed, each of these pictures is underneath the final, amazing eh!

42x35" first stage

42x35" 2nd stage

42x35" 3rd Stage

42x35" 4th Stage

42x35" 5th Stage

42x35" 6th Stage

42x35" 7th Stage (FINAL)

Can you see the woman in yellow in the picture? She can be seen in two position: either lying on her back with her breast, knee, head looking up, or lying on her side with her face, elbow and legs turning to the right bottom corner.  There are women in all the paintings, this is me reflected in the landscape. I don't do this consciously it just appears. It's coming from the subconscious. This is ART.

I went back to the Souffleur and set up under a lovely Veloutier tree for some shade.  I did 4 colour plays.  I like to work like this making colour studies, colour maps and trying to simplify the seascape.
The first 4 were done on Thursday 5th of March the day before the cyclone.  The waves were huge.

6x4" oil in sketchbook

 These 4 were done on Tuesday the 17th of March, the tide was low, the seascape was quite different. The first 4 are colour studies and the last one is done on board.

6x4" oil in sketchbook

6x4" oil in sketchbook

oil in sketchbook 6x4"

6x4" oil in sketchbook

longer study, oil on board 8x10"

Painting by the sea.

I  have been painting  the sea over the last two weeks. The light on the sea is a very difficult subject. We had a cyclone pass near us and the waves were very big, it's always a pleasure spending the day by the sea.

Morning Light Ile aux Vacoas 26 cm x 18

Le Souffleur 28 x 23cm

Le Souffleur 25.5 x 20.3cm 

Souffleur 9 Jan 2014

6 x 8" oil on board

I went back again and found I'd forgotten my tripod for my pochade box.  When I took out my French Easel I found that the carpenter who had changed some copper pieces on my easel had screwed them into the legs so I couldn't extend the legs. Plus it was raining and foggy.  Feeling very low,  I contemplated giving up and heading home but decided to do one small study first, knowing that when I'm cross and fed up I often produce my best work. My art teacher once told me that it is because all our frustrations are being expressed into the painting, this is, after all,  how artists, (we),  express ourselves.  It turned out quite abstract as the paint was slipping on the board, I couldn't put much detail down and had to work very fast. I quite like it!  Painting is full of surprises which is why it is so much fun!

Souffleur, Big Swell

I went back to one of my favourite spots yesterday to work some more studies, this is what I did:

8 x 10" oil on board

The waves were crashing, the tide was high the sea was very rough.  We have just had a Cyclone last week which passed to the West of Mauritius, luckily it missed us, but we still got a lot of rain and wind.  The sea is lovely during and just after a cyclone - wild.  I'm going to try to enlarge it in the studio this morning.

Mother and Child painting Dec 2010-2013

Mother and Child Picture 100x120cm Oil on canvas

I thought it would interesting to show you how I got to the final product of this picture. Firstly I spent more than 9 months in the 7 Cascades, doing small oil sketches, charcoal sketches and generally just being there to absorb the spirit of the place.  Here are the pictures in sequel that build up to the final picture:

Graphite sketch on paper 60x 30cm. done on-site Dec 10.

I took the right hand side of this sketch and made a few colour plays on small plywood 5x7", below:

colour sketch 1. 5x7" oil on plywood

 

colour sketch 2.  5x7" oil on plywood.

colour sketch 3. 5x7" oil on plywood

colour sketch 4. 5x7" oil on plywood.

I then took the one I liked the best, number 1 and made a big picture, 100 x 120cm. It stayed like this for a long time, I didn't know how to finish it.

 About a year later, I started playing with the colours, I made the water pink and one mountain side red.

                                                   I carried on playing with the colours.

                                     I did a few on the computer to try and get the colours to sing

                             When I was happy with the sketch I transferred it onto the canvas

                  This is a small one 30 x 40cm which I did some time ago. I decided to enlargen it.

It turned out like this: 36" x 48" oil on canvas.

After doing the red one above, I was inspired to do a similar one with my purple/yellow one and the painting came together at last.  This must have taken 3years all in all from the beginning to the end.  Paintings take a long time to 'mature' and for the inspiration to come, this is what takes the time, not the actual painting.  They often come together as a group or with the help of another painting, which is why it is important to keep the collection together whilst working on them.  The painting is all about woman hood and maternity.  It reflects my inner self. I see myself reflected in the landscape.  The pools and the mountains look like parts of the female/male body.  This is what  painting is about -  abstract art.  Taking the landscape and expressing oneself  through the sub-conscious mind. I never know what is going to come out, it just comes. December 2013. Happy Christmas!

Art course, Tuscany with Barry Raybould. Sept 2013

I did another Art Course with Barry at his home in Licciana Nardi, North Tuscany.  We worked on how to do a project from beginning to end. There was a horse show going on over the weekend in the village so we went with our sketch books and camera and spent the day and evening there making notes. This is the picture I did, using my sketch and a photo.

I also played around with the picture above, looking at the negative spaces, I liked the squares in the negative spaces, and the right angles made by the riders and the horses necks.  In Bernard Dunstan's Composition book 'Composing your Painting'  which I am reading he mentions these right angles which add to a very interesting
composition.