Gare d'Antibes - new painting in progress

This is the view from the third floor apartment in Antibes, where we have stayed a few times with relatives. This is looking to the left, north. at the maritime alps at sunset over Gare d'Antibes. The view right is gorgeous too, looking south the harbour is only a 5-10 minute walk away with the scultpure, Le Nomade looking out over the Mediterranean. This picture was taken last August.

 If I had turned the camera left at the time, the picture would have been of yachts and a floodlit Le Nomade. 

But I digress. I did a quick sketch last August of the parts of the view that intrigued me: the line of the mountains and the large tree in front of the station. The sketchbook I was using at the time is one of my own, pocket sized using recycled materials.

A few months ago my husband was assisting me in putting up some kraft paper so that I could start a new painting of the sunset over Gare d'Antibes.

I first did a preliminary chalk drawing. Immediate changes are apparent once I started to add paint. 

And so the process of painting begins with some blocks of colour...

Anticipation!

It took a bit of figuring out - I re-sewed the hanging loops to make them a bit shorter and gave a bit of direction to my personal slave (I mean husband) - Fractured City was taken down from the studio wall to make some space for some new work that I want to start. Of course, putting this painting up (above my husband's workspace in the bedroom) meant that at least 6 other paintings had to be manoeuvred about the house!

So yesterday morning once again I required some assistance to get the kraft paper onto the wall in my studio.

I have planned another triptych and now it is ready for me to start!

Maritime Alps - finished!

By the end of last week I had finished "Maritime Alps" the triptych I have been working on. I think it is the last painting of the "Moments" series for now, as I have had some other work percolating in my head for at least a year, which is a definite departure from this series.

Maritime Alps, mixed media on kraft paper, approx 220 cm x 267 cm triptych, 2014.

Here are some details which show the drawing I did on top of the painting. The drawing is done with a black china marker. 

The signature is towards the bottom of the right panel. This is the first completed work of 2014.

To give a better idea of scale, here I am with the completed painting.

Maritime Alps - still in progress

Still working on my triptych, Maritime Alps. It is coming along nicely - here are some more details which show the progress. This is a detail of the figure on the left panel.

Below is a detail of the figure on the right panel'

This is a detail of the rocks on the right panel. I like Oscar Wilde showing up from the newsprint under the yellow paint (in the top third of this detail).

Maritime Alps - details

I am enjoying being back to work on the triptych I started before breaking for Christmas. I thought I would post a few in progress details. This is a closeup of an area of foreground rock with sea behind.

The background mountains and the top of the mother figure's head.

A detail of the mother figure reaching for her young son on the rocks.

And a detail of the other two climbing figures, where the view of the landscape is still apparent.

Of course, it has all changed (though not "utterly") as these are pictures from yesterday and I was up in the studio painting this morning! Happy days!

Doing and Making!

My colleague at the office is teaching a number of us how to crochet during lunches. For Christmas she most generously made and gave each of her students a beautiful bookmark (mine is centre, light green and pink). I have started on the next project, a small tote bag -- the rich green circles are my work. The items are laid out on the beautiful purple shawl one of my sisters made for me a number of years ago, and the sparkly purple earring was also made for me by the same sister. When making a Christmas stocking for my daughter I utilised the fine crochet work of my grandmother; originally this was trim for a set of pillow cases (which have long since disintegrated being made close to a hundred years ago!)

I made a list of all the people I wanted to make books for this year and started to work. I would not call this a production line, but while I was preparing paper for one book, I just did the tearing for the rest! I am making both leather and "eco" books (ready-made covers from recycled packaging cardboard!). I have two leather books completed.

And hurray! I have been back up in the studio painting my triptych friend "Maritime Alps" which has been so patient over the Christmas holiday period. This was the progress as of last week.

New Triptych - Maritime Alps

 I have been working on a new triptych, again taking up a large part of the north wall in my attic studio. I worked out the composition in white chalk on kraft paper and then started gluing newsprint on the rock and mountain areas to create some texture before I started painting. This is a detail of two of the climbing figures.

And here is a detail of the child figure at the far right of the triptych.

This is a detail of the reaching mother figure.

I started off painting with some blue, the water around the rocks and behind the figures leading to the mountains in the distance. The mountains in the distance are the Maritime Alps, the painting inspired by our visits to Antibes. While I was painting I was thinking of the work of Betty Goodwin, specifically her figures in water which I admired greatly in the 1980s and of Jean Charles Blais, whose work I first came across this summer at the Picasso Museum in Antibes.

I keep referring to the painting as Maritime Alps, so I am sure this name will stick. I like it - not just for the mountains in the background, but for the figures climbing the mountain of rocks. With the xmas season soon to be in full swing, I am not expecting to get a lot of work done on this in the coming weeks, but the painting will look at me every time I go up to the attic, so it will stay in my thoughts.

Tree Kids - painting finished!

I finished the triptych sometime before Hallowe'en. I had been thinking it would be difficult to take down, but hadn't a bother last night. Today I will roll it up and who knows when it will see the light of day again! I really enjoyed the time spent doing this painting, and have stayed with my initial title "Tree Kids". It is mixed media on paper, approx 220 cm x 267 cm triptych, 2013.

Here is a detail of a wellie on the tree.

And a detail of the face of the adult "kid".

A detail of limbs and leaves!

Tree and sky detail.

My signature on the bottom right corner of the triptych.

And just to give a sense of scale, me with the finished painting.

Tree Kids - in progress

I am happily working away on my triptych painting, which I have started referring to as "Tree Kids" though I don't know if this title will remain when finished.

I have lightened up the blue sky, added some more Chinese paper leaves and changed the horizon to a higher slope (the scene is based on a place in Prague -- a lovely park with freaky trees on Petrin Hill. Of course, I have reddened my tree as I saw it in my mind's eye.

Working away...

Before my husband, James, went to West Cork for a few days to give some bronze casting demonstrations, he helped me put up some of that paper that I got during the summer. Three pieces make a nice size triptych. I was very happy and looking forward to doing some work while he was gone!

So this is in progress! Planning to do some more work on it today.

Moments - more paintings!

I recently finished two more paintings in the "Moments" series. This is "Climbing", acrylic on raw canvas, approx 92 cm x 51 cm.

And this is "Snowman", acrylic on raw canvas, approx 58 cm x 72 cm.

That finishes the works on canvas in this series for me, now I am looking forward to doing some big drawings/paintings on that roll of kraft paper I got given to me in the summer. Before starting that, however, I needed to clear space in the studio and reconfigure the plastic drop sheets -- ready, steady, go!

Work or conserve?

Since I have been painting the Moments series on raw canvas, I thought I had better do the recommended conservation procedure of applying gel coats to the finished paintings. I hadn't been doing this as I finished the paintings, so had some catching up to do.  I am now on the sixth painting out of 9 finished works, and it is taking awhile as I need to apply 3 coats to each painting. I can only do one painting at a time, as most of them are large. Currently I am applying the gel coat to Chicago Thumb Wars. The gel is diluted with water and dries a clear matte, so the horizontal streaks which are visible in the closeup below will become invisible. I know this is true because I first did some tests, as recommended by Golden paints, and I already have 5 paintings with the gel coat completed before tackling this one!

I am chomping at the bit to finish the gel coats on these paintings so I can finish two more which are also on raw canvas and get their gel coats done. I want to start some large drawings, still in the Moments series but on kraft paper, throwing conservation to the wind! Last week I was asked by the building manager, at the office where I work part time, if I could use a big roll of brown paper. Yes thanks! My husband James was picking me up at work that day with the car and the roll of paper was waiting for me at the exit as I was leaving. The paper roll was very heavy, so James carried it up to the attic studio for me where it looks at me questioningly every time I am working on gel coats...