Dordogne Painting Days

Vignobles, Dordogne 1

2011-11-21T09:34:00.004+01:00

'Vignobles, Dordogne 1'
watercolour
28 x 38 cm (approx 11 x 15 inches).
© The Artist.

This autumn is particularly sunny. Blues skies, the leaves have stayed on the vines longer than usual. A winey golden glow, a haze hangs over the hills. This painting from a few weeks ago, now the leaves have mostly fallen from the vines.

Vine Paintings from France

2011-11-14T17:22:00.002+01:00

'Côtes de Duras'
Oil on MDF panel
30 x 40cm (approx 12 x 16 inches).
© The Artist.

Golden days in the autumn vines, the leaves singing in the wind. Plein air. Don't forget to smile at the landscape when you leave, not as evident as when you arrive.

More vine paintings from France

Chateaux Painting Holidays Newsletter 2011

2011-11-09T16:38:00.010+01:00

A warm Bonjour to everyone from us at CHATEAUX PAINTING HOLIDAYS :-)

I hope you are not surprised to get this newsletter! Maybe it will give something to smile about once or twice a year. It contains a few tips to help your own personal painting practice as well as news of us. You email will never be shared with a third party so it's spam-free.

NEWS OF CHATEAUX PAINTING HOLIDAYS IN 2011

There was a good spread of different types of painters, from all over the world, a charming mix of people, who got on well & enjoyed holidaying together. A great bunch of returning painters from Ireland made us all laugh & smile with their grace & wit :-)

On a painting holiday, you should expect to have:

- a good holiday (good food, good wine, good company, good accommodation, good welcome, good price).
- a good venue (inspiring, beautiful, calm, unique, interesting, somewhere more than a converted barn where you have to clamber in & out of mini-buses to go painting).
- good painting (your practical needs are seen to see ie equipment, atelier, materials, subject matter, clearly defined learning goals to each learning exercise & more subtly, a tutor who doesn't get in the way of your painting ;-)
- good learning (bring your open 'beginner's mind' as well as choose a good art tutor!)

As you all know, I only give gold stars for learning & not for 'good paintings'. Here's two 2011 gold stars from amongst many. Please don't feel disappointed if I don't mention you here. I can't mention everybody, except to say that there were no memorial failures & that everyone worked surprising hard (this surprise me every year). Everybody got a gold star. Remember yours because is not flippant.

One gold star goes to this absolute beginner for truly embracing the 'foliage challenge'. Remember for an absolute beginner, even holding a brush in one's hand feels strange. We all have felt & will continue to feel the fear & hesitancy which is characteristic of the untrained hand.

``This was our first painting holiday and we did not know how it would turn out. The group were wonderful and there was a very pleasant chemistry among all the participants. The number of persons who had attended previous years and were there for their third or fourth time speaks for itself. Adam, I would also like to thank you for the keen interest you took in our tuition. The Chateau and grounds are wonderful and thank you Sue for looking after us."

And another gold star to this beginner to alla-prima (one session only) landscape painting in oil. This was a hard won battle, risking tears & moving into the humbling 'not-knowing' at the heart of every learning leap. It's colorist, done on the spot but without giving up her notion of what a good painting should look like. We all have ideas of how we would like to paint & this leads us to the delicate & complex problem that copying what you see isn't making art."Art is not what you see but what you make others see" - Degas

Both paintings have a breath of sunlight & joy, which I enjoy very much.

PRACTICE NOTES

"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make the soul grow. So do it. " ~ Kurt Vonnegut

"Do not fail, as you go on, to draw something every day, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worthwhile, and it will do you a world of good." ~ Cennini, circa 1400 ad.

Practice makes perfect…it's obvious that the more you do something, the better you get at doing it. The steps along the way are gradual & incremental. They should add up to make a solid base for your painting. But… there's the common problem of why don't we find the time to paint? How does one find time to paint in a busy life? How can we arrange our lives so there's time for our painting practice?

Part of the answer to this wide-spread problem is enjoyment. I find once I get started again, the enjoyment soon comes. A good practice should be enjoyable, despite of the challenges. I will tell you a secret : the best way to paint is to enjoy it. Make it something you look forward to. You are treating yourself to especial time of creativity & enquiry. Enjoy touching your materials, the feel of paint spreading out into water, the slide of a graphite pencil over the fibres of the page.

"Good work is enjoyed work " - Ruskin

Personally I find that painting 'en plein-air' feeds my soul. There is nothing better than being out there. I enjoy these pleasurable sensations, such as light, colour, being outside, looking at a beautiful corner of the world...

Sometimes however one's practice might be in a slump or a down-turn. Maybe then is the time for an inspirational boost! Input from an other source. A short but intense period of practice. Maybe a change of scene? A change of habit? Try something new? Go to another landscape? Or return to that special place where you were once happy? Expose yourself to another teacher? Or go back to a teacher with whom one had good contact? Deepen the learning which was touched on? Consolidate those discoveries which were not fully integrated into one's natural way of painting?

Sometimes… in a beautiful place, in the sunshine, on holiday, with no distractions, no worries, with good company & good teaching, it all just seems to flow. Then the practice becomes easy. It is our aim to provide this for you at Beduer.

NEWS OF CHATEAU DE BEDUER

The chefs are cooking up more delights & winning even more medals for their charcuterie!

Le Château de Beduer is everything you would expect from 'la france douce', a certain 'douceur de vivre' , a generousity & an 'insouciance'. Calm, quiet & beautiful, with the patina & confidence of age old history.

2011 was an exceptionally sunny year. Month after month of blue skies. Incredible amount of sun soaked sunlight… one the many things that makes the South West of France a painter's paradise.

One of my personal favourite times of the day at Beduer are the early mornings, between 7,30 and 9,30, when the light casts long,low shadows and enters the lime grove with a gold-green splendour. The hills shimmering in the early morning mists … "blue horse of morning".... "Tous les matins du monde" ... with freshness of the new day, hope for what the day will bring.

NEWS OF ADAM'S PAINTING PRACTICE

'Lime Orchard at Beduer, Early Morning'
watercolour 28 x 38 cm (approx 15 x 11 inches)

Plein-air, colour, light, deep nature, local distinctiveness, south west france in oils & watercolor. A love of gesture drawing, especially of children, musicians & market places…. Read on Adam's blog or more frequenting posting on Face Book (Adam Cope).

I still aspire to learning more about painting…. Tip: Letting go of being an expert enables you to keep learning. Also, be ready to learn from others. I recently met one of the world's greatest watercolorists, Jean-Louis Morelle, at an opening night of his wonderful paintings. In the space of ten minutes of listening to him, & looking at his paintings, I learnt more than several years of looking at art on the internet…

I exhibited during July in the somewhat surreal, strange but authentic medieval town of Marcilhac-sur-Célé. I'm a member of an association of artists who have a gallery in the abbey, run by the incredible, somewhat unbelievable Peter Reusellemann. Peter loves print-making & has a print-making studio. In 1996, I was invited to be an artist in residence involving stone lithography. The exchange of ideas, mutual support & feedback was great. The conversations good; the inspiration great. Friendship & comrade are a precious & enriching part of being an artist. Every artist needs these, even professionals. Ii's good to work alone in a solitary manner but it's also good to receive feedback & clarification from others. To practice together. A good painting workshops should provide you with this.

If you wish to see some other artists of this association :
- Gillian Golding , a print-maker, regular of the UK Royal Academy's summer show, truly unique humorist and cats & dogs lover.

Darwin's Garden (archival ink printed on archival matt paper) Size 73cm x 57cm

- Beatrice Mollaret , a photographer whose very beautiful images of South West France are used by National Geographic, etc.

I also exhibited in Sarlat, Bergerac and yet another UNESCO site, the abbey of St Avit de Séniuer, where we run an artist-association Gallery.

NEWS OF SUE

Sue says bonjour to everyone. She will be there for 2012. She overcame her reticence to be photographed & mentioned on the web site About us
Without Sue, it would be impossible… A painting holiday requires attention to detail as well as a smile & a laugh.

" A painting holiday which glides effortlessly forward like a swan always means that somebody is doing masses of work out of sight to help things run smoothly!" - Katherine Tyrrell.

NEWS OF MARIE-LINE, VALENTIN & ELEANOR

Life's a beach… and it's all beach holidays for us :-) Happy days. Val is quickly developing a real passion for drawing as well. It's a great honor to observe the unfolding of a creative pursuit in its very early phase.

NEW : POSSIBILITY OF RENTING ALYKDS, OIL PAINTS & ACRYLICS AT COST PRICE.

TROUBLE-FREE TRAVEL FOR ALKYDS, OIL PAINTS & ACRYLICS : We offer the possibility of renting at cost-price a complete set of student quality paints : alkyds or oils or acrylics. So you can simply fly with no luggage worries! Just bring your own brushes & canvas boards or canvas paper. We supply everything else. We teach you to paint in a way so that your paintings are dry enough easily travel home with you. We pack them professionally for you.

I thought this would be a good idea, as most painting holidays don't do much to provide for the alkyds, acrylics & oils…. the opaque mediums which are heavy to travel with (slipped discs) & are not easy to bring onto an airplane (see my materials list for helpful info on this).

PRIX DE FIDELITÉ : 50 EUROS REDUCTION FOR RETURNING STUDENTS

PRICEs FOR 2012 : 900 euros per painter - 50 euros prix de fidelity = 850 euros, making us one of the cheapest painting holidays in france, especially as we are 8 days, 7 nights and not the usual 7 days, 6 nights. We haven't put our prices up since 2009.
Click here for prices 2012.

NEW : GROUP BOOKINGS , why not bring all your art group?!
For four or more painters, a 50 euro reduction per painter.
For a group of six, seventh painter at half price.

NEW : FLIGHTS FROM LONDON CITY AIRPORT TO BRIVE DORDOGNE VALLEY

This airport is about one hour from Beduer. We pick up & drop off on the fridays at 60 euros per per journey, which is divisible amo,gst the number of passengers.
The times of the friday flights friendly with our course start time of sat 16 hr.
Times on our travel page

FLIGHTS FROM DUBLIN & STANSTED TO RODEZ
We pick up & drop off on the friday flights.
Times on our travel page

MANY INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS TO TOULOUSE

TVG RIDE FROM PARIS

AN IDEA FOR 2013

I've been toying with the idea of organizing a 'winter-sun' painting holiday, some time around march at the end of winter, somewhere sunny like Morocco. I've been recommended a old Rihiad near the desert with great painting possibilities… ruins, red sand, oasis, swimming pools… Please help me by indicating whether you might be interested int this as an idea, whether I should go ahead & organize it? I would appreciate any feedback, even negative . Thanks :-)

Wishing you a happy, healthy and creative 2012 from all of us at Chateaux Painting Holidays
Paint well.
Best Wishes from Adam, Marie-Line & Sue

No posts + no comments= no blog?

2011-11-09T13:21:00.000+01:00

Exhibtions in Sarlat & St.Avit - dordogne

2011-09-06T10:46:00.000+02:00

* 25 August - 24 September. Galerie de la Presbytere, ST.AVIT DE SENIEUR

* 12 September - 26 September. Galerie André Malraux, SARLAT

Exhibition in Bergerac

2011-08-15T17:19:00.003+02:00

'Le Fôret de Biron'
Oil on Canvas
65 x 54 cm (approx 26 x 22 inches).
© Adam Cope

Exhibition of paintings by Adam Cope

La Maison des Vins de Bergerac, (CiVRB) la Cloitre des Recollets, quai salvetat, Bergerac

17 - 24 August

Over sixty watercolours & oils on show in this beautiful space by the river :-) I'll be there every day so pop by, if you can.

Poplar Trees in Spring time

2011-08-13T15:40:00.006+02:00

'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!

This large oil from 2010 and spring 2011, finished off in the studio & now framed.

pssttt! - don't be scared of green!

2011-07-30T22:00:00.004+02:00

'Lime Grove, Chateau de Beduer' - watercolour 15" x 11"

and this 'Grove of Poplars' watercolour, 15" x11"

into the sunlight (contrajour) vs. sunlit from behind in watercolor

2011-07-16T13:30:00.002+02:00

'Gateway, Chateau de Beduer - contrajour'
watercolor
30 x 40cm (approx 11 x 15 inches).
© The Artist.

'Gateway, Chateau de Beduer - sunlit from behind'
watercolor
30 x 40cm (approx 11 x 15 inches).
© The Artist.

These two watercolours were demonstrations from Chateaux Painting Holidays, France 2010 & 2011.

Bookings for 2012

2011-07-15T14:06:00.008+02:00

pilgrim on the St.Jaques de Compostella - our chateau is on the Via Podiensis

CHATEAUX PAINTING HOLIDAYS, FRANCE - 2012

WEB PAGE UPDATE

We are now taking bookings for 2012 & happy to remote they are already good :-)

Painting Holidays au Chateau de Beduer 2011 - part one

2011-07-09T22:51:00.008+02:00

Great two weeks of painting holidays at Chateau de Beduer, sw France

great venue

"Many, many thanks to you and to Sue and Marie-Line for setting up and running such an enjoyable holiday. We both had a great time. Both groups were fun if not a little different. With your help and enthusiasm I felt the painting was a great success and I am sure that we made some progress. Beduer really is a magical place." Chris, UK. June 2009.

great painting

great learning

"I had such a good time on your course , I wasn't sure how I would feel about doing art again, since I had decided to abandon it for the most part. Still, I had not anticipated the power of persuasion that the location, good people(the back-up team), but most of all your very intuitive methods of tuition had on me. I do really appreciate too all the tremendous hard work and enthusiasm you and the mighty Sue(what a mum!),must have put into this project to make it run so smoothly." Nerina, Ireland. June 2009

great enquiring & listening

finally Sue our faithful assistant (hospitality, help with food & wine & informal teaching) accepted to be photographed!

"Thank you both so much, Adam & Suzanne, for a wonderful week. Your energy & commitment to ensuring we all had a superb time was tremendous. I have joined a little art group here & was asked what I learnet from France - & I think it was to look & to see - thank you Adam for that & also for the experience of seeing the prehistoric cave of Pech Merle. How wonderful. " Joan, Australia. June 2009.

great food & wine

great fun & great people !

"We had a truly five star holiday; thank you all for making it so. I loved both weeks worth of other guests and they were so different." Joy, UK. June 2009

more to come in part two

Happy to report that bookings are already good for next year :-) Check out the dates for 2012

The green Dordogne in sunny spring time

2011-06-10T12:38:00.006+02:00

Detail

Commissioned painting

Oil on CANVAS
130 x 84cm (approx 52 x 33 inches).
© ADAM COPE
SOLD

Finished this large oil, which was a commission. I really enjoyed doing this commission.

Partly because the place is just so amazing:

....the view looking behind the other way

Partly because it was great to do a large oil 'en plein-air':

...don't fall off the cliff edge! large canvas blow over in the wind....

& partly because the person was a real pleasure to work with.

The painting itself presented some challenges that I don't usually undertake in my personal selection of what /how to paint. But flexibility is good for me, I feel. All in all , highly enjoyable.

see the initial compositional sketch

..... to give you an idea of the size (note that the roof is now back on the studio but I haven't wired up the spot lights yet).

Grand Roc, Les Eyzies, Dordogne

2011-06-03T09:08:00.009+02:00

'Grand Roc - Les Eyzies, Dordogne' - Finished state
Oil on Canvas
86,5 x 76 cm (approx 34 x 30 inches).
© Adam Cope

THis is a large oil painting & not a small oil painting. ie one dimension is larger than 81 cm or
32 inches. Have you noticed how large oil paintings look kind of far away or difficult to see in small sized jpg's on the internet ? Wilst small paintings tend to look close up & gain in imapct on the internet @ 500 pixels largest dimension... so here is a detail which isn't life-size but it gives you a better feel...

In the upcoming solo show at Galerie Ap'Art in Marcilhac sur Célé , Lot, (4 July - 31 July. Vernissage - lundi soir 4 Juilliet ), I will be showing some of my cliffs & rock paintings.

Read about painting & rocks:

Dates Exhibitions Summer 2011

2011-05-30T16:56:00.002+02:00

Dates Exhibitions Summer 2011

* 4 July - 31 July. solo - Galerie Ap'Art, Marcilhac sur Cele, LOT

vernissage - lundi soir 4 Juilliet

* 17 - 24 August . solo - La Maison des Vins de BERGERAC

* 25 August - 24 September. ASSA group show - Galerie de la Presbytere, ST.AVIT DE SENIEUR

vernissage - dimanche apres-midi 28 Aout

* 12 September - 26 September. Solo - Galerie Andre Malraux, SARLAT

first drive your car into the river

2011-05-25T22:16:00.003+02:00

First drive your car into the river

tea time... note the thermos on car-roof

then just dive right in... it's a hot day!

i'm painting by the river here

Le Cingle de Limeuil, Dordogne

2011-05-23T11:43:00.004+02:00

'Le Cingle de Limeuil'
Oil on canvas
65 x 54cm (approx 26 x 22 inches).
© The Artist.

Cingle = meander in the river Dordogne at Limeuil.

Limeuil is the name of the town build on the hill at the confluence of the Dordogne & Vezérè.

I was 'artist in residence' in the beautiful parc panoramorique during summer 2005. Here's few of the images of that lovely long hot blue summer :-)

Plein-Air watercolour studies - La Dordogne à Limeuil

Peinture : Tableaux de la Dordogne par Adam Cope

WIP : Le Cingle de Limeuil, Dordogne

2011-05-17T09:50:00.005+02:00

WORK IN PROGRESS - WIP
'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

WIP : compositional sketch & tonal 'notan'

2011-05-16T11:02:00.005+02:00

WIP ....WORK IN PROGRESS - watercolour - a tonal 'notan'......WIP

I've been working on a large oil painting these last three weeks. A commission. It's 130 x 81 cm - approx 51 x 32 inches. Bigger than my usual size. Good to be doing something different. A lot of work, which I'll post as WIPs (work in progress) here. Thank you for all your comments.

Large plein-air paintings require extra attention at the planning & conception stages, especially if they are a commission ie take into account of the customer's wishes of what is to be included in the painting.

Here is the composition sketch:

I always do one of these for every painting. Knowing what goes where is a big big relief. Which takes the stress off somewhat so one can just concentrate on the painting, and panic less about the composition. Doing one of thee is visual thinking & can't be replaced by assuming an intellectual idea of what goes where is enough. Note how it's a 'plastic' process. The framing grows or shrinks to fit. Look & see how the frame lines go on last of all. I even had to fit on an extra page so as to make the size of the sky fit. Actually I went for a longer panorama in the end & not the more rectangular format of the above compositional sketch. The point is that my mind was now more orientated towards the painting & possibilities of how it might unfold.

The next stage is the tonal sketch. A 'notan'. I say notan cautiously because a pure notan is in fact, a sketch for Japanese wood cut engravings aka Hokusai & not all the lovely subtle graduations of one tone washing into the other that you can get in watercolour. The point is to work out:

where are the major blocks of light & dark?
where is the centre of interest ie where do you want the eye to go to?
where is the light source?
what quality of light?
what is the incline of the sunlight?

You can click on the notan & tonality categories on the side of this page to read more.

see the finished painting

Life's a Beach

2011-04-22T11:27:00.003+02:00

bright spring yellows -Matisse on shock

2011-04-12T18:20:00.007+02:00

'Printemps, Dropt'

Medium Size Oil on Canvas
12 paysage format francais
© The Artist.

Incredible rebirth of the leaves, yellow gold in the bright white sunlight.

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

Recent paintings 2010 webpage

2011-04-04T10:51:00.007+02:00

A Selection of Recent Paintings 2010 by Adam Cope

Webpage update ... always a good exercise to chose a dozen images. " If the studio was on fire, which 12 paintings would you save?" (actually some of them are sold).

Thank you for all your feedback & comments.

La Dordogne à Lalinde 2 - L'Eau et les Rêves, Gaston Bachelard.

2011-03-30T14:48:00.005+02:00

'Ilots, La Dordogne à Lalinde'
Medium Size Oil on canvas
x 40cm (approx 30 x 14 inches).
© The Artist

" I was born in a country of brooks and rivers, in a corner of Champagne, called le Vallage for the great number of its valleys. The most beautiful of its places for me was the hollow of a valley by the side of fresh water, in the shade of willows…

My pleasure still is to follow the stream, to walk along its banks in the right direction, in the direction of the flowing water, the water that leads life towards the next village…

But our native country is less an expanse of territory than a substance; it's a rock or a soil or an aridity or a water or a light. It's the place where our dreams materialize; it's through that place that our dreams take on their proper form….Dreaming beside the river, I gave my imagination to the water, the green, clear water, the water that makes the meadows green. I can't sit beside a brook without falling into a deep reverie, without seeing once again my happiness….The stream doesn't have to be ours; the water doesn't have to be ours. The anonymous water knows all my secrets. And the same memory issues from every spring."

L'Eau et les Rêves. Essai sur l'imagination de la matière. Gaston Bachelard.

Poplar Grove, Dusk

2011-03-24T14:24:00.000+01:00

'Poplar Grove, Dusk '
Oil on MDF panel

33 x 41cm (approx 13 x 16 inches) - 6 figure format francais

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.

WIP : Lay-in, Large Oil, Plein Air

2011-03-22T16:59:00.003+01:00

WORK IN PROGRESS - WIP

81 x 65 cm (approx 32 x 26 ")

This large work in progress from last year... again now is the time the poplars are in bloom... 'bronzage', with their bronze crimson yellow catkins on white-grey-violet trunks with yellow fungus...

Why so big? Why o why why? Humanly impossible to do it one plein-air session! Left it to stew under a building site when the roof came off the house last year. Have some doubts about it...

La Dordogne à Lalinde 1

2011-03-21T16:33:00.003+01:00

'La Dordogne à Lalinde 1'
Medium Size Oil on canvas
65 x 54 cm
© adam cope

The same little islands - 'îlots' en francais - as in these paintings down from the opposite bank.

' Îlots, Pontours 1'
Medium size oil on canvas
46 x 38 cm
© adam cope

' Îlots, Pontours 2'
Mezdium size oil on canvas
70 x 33 cm
© adam cope

La Dordogne à Beynac 2

2011-03-17T21:45:00.002+01:00

'La Dordogne à Beynac 2'

Aquarelle
28 x 38 xm (approx 11 x 15 ").
© adam cope

La Dordogne à Beynac 1

2011-03-14T09:28:00.004+01:00

Aquarelle
28 x 38 cm - approx 15 x 11"
©

500th Post - La Vallee de Bergerac depuis Monbazillac

2011-03-11T10:08:00.005+01:00

This is the 500th post on this blog (489 published, 11 drafts not yet published).

Many thanks for your following. Your comments are an encouragement to me :-)

Just blogging away... Just keep on keeping on... Just painting away :-)

What else would I do with my hours? Hmmm, well... I really must finish off & publish my 'How to Paint' book.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Recently finished this re-working of a large oil which I had had my doubts about. It is now fully realised :-) It hung about in storage since 2003 till I could make my mind up about it. Here is the finished painting:

'La Vallée de Bergerac depuis Monbazillac'
Oil on Canvas
81 x 65 cm (approx 32 x 28 inches)
© Adam Cope

Another large oil of the same view dating from the same period :

'Dionysus's Patch'

Oil. 85 x 80 cm © SOLD

see more of my paintings of vines - peinture du vignoble de Begerac & Sud Ouest

Lire les articles de la press concernant Adam Cope, Peintre du Vignoble

Intimate Portraits of Artist's Own Children - Matisse, Cezanne, John, Rembrandt, Chardin, Rubens, Nicholson

2011-03-08T12:11:00.021+01:00

Telly Fans 10

Telly Fans 8

see more of my drawings of children

I overheard on the web some artists saying that they couldn't possibily do portraits of their own kids as it was 'too close' . I don't agree. Neither did a lot of artists much more well know & much more further on down the artist's path than I. Be they Mums or be they Dads. Often that extra intimacy with the model makes for a magic that isn't found in more run of the mill portraits.

Augustus John's portraits of his children for example.

Here's one of his son Robin (1912). A real boy if ever there was. Glaring firely out of the painting, obiviously not far-off from a tantrum:

You can see more at kids-in-art.blogspot.com

Another favourite of mine are Matisse's portraits of his son Paul:

Cézanne's son Paul (how did he get him to sit so so so very still for so so long?):

Then there's Gainsbourgh's two daughters ( When I was a little boy, I used to stand before this in the National gallery London with my Granny & laugh. A cabbage white, two sisters & a smile & a little hand reaching out) :

Rembrandt's kids... maybe this is a scene from family life :

More on Rembrandt's Drawings of Children - Anticipation & Action

and Rembrandt's Gesture Drawing

Gabrielle de St.Aubin :

Chardin (wisely skiving off his home-work):

see another selection of painter's painting their children here

Renoir (very diligent boy this):

Picasso , of course....many many times over! In some ways, I'm now refinding the greatness of Picasso via his images of his own children... it's all there : love, play, intimacy, likenesses (consistant over a series & different styles), talent of course... fireworks of course... fun ,as you'd expect from kids :-)

Here is a great page that sings of eternity of why we parents love our children :-) I really didn't realise that he had done quiet so many paintings of each child, with no thought for commercialism etc:
http://www.pablo-ruiz-picasso.net/children.php:

		Peter Paul Rubens
		Portrait of Clara Serena Rubens, c. 1616

Maurice Denis, Augustin Rouard et Lucien Jonas. more here : http://isegretidellanoce.blogspot.com/2010/01/les-enfants-modeles.html

How the list could go on...

And imagine all the old paintings of kids in art..do we know if they are the artist's kids themselves? Some of the Quattrocento drawings of kids are astounding!

And a personal favourite of mine is Winifred Nicholson's painting of her own two kids

The last word to Kathleen Raine on Winifred Nicholson, (who lived not far from where I trained at Newcastle University UK art school at the same time ...I wish I met her!)

'… to be with Winifred was to be with a totally committed artist, for whom each day shed its light on a new theme for a painting. The ever-changing light of the seasons, the flowers, the weather, the arrivals and departures of children and grand-children, all these gave her what she called the 'stories' of her paintings in which she captured the day, the hour, and ever-fleeting present.' Kathleen Raine, quoted by Alice Strang, Winifred Nicholson, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2003

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

A stray thought crosses my mind about actors/actresses & their off-spring, especially those that become actors/actresses in their turn.

see more of my drawings of children

related posts:

Rembrandt's Gesture Drawing

Intimate Portraits of Artist's Own Children -Matisse, Cézanne, John, Rembrandt, Rubens, Nicholson

Drawing of Mother & Child - attachment theory - Bed Time Story 9

Telly Fans 10

2011-03-07T16:26:00.001+01:00

Telly fans 9 - Child Portrait Tips

2011-03-05T11:57:00.009+01:00

Maybe this looks like what Vally might look like some years on from now? Compare it with 'Telly Fans 8' below. Can you see the difference in age?

Getting the age right is an essential part of a portrait, especially for a portrait of youth. Portraits of old age are easy in comparison! For example, wrinkles. Wrinkles are a clue that indicates the age of the sitter. Their presence in a drawing or painting are frequently due to the simple fact of just too many marks & strokes i.e. a lack of an economy of means, which is the ability to get it right first time.

My fellow-painter friends who do portraits for money tell me that flattery works every time. They consciously take ten years off the resemblance by knowing the markers that indicate youth & tweeking them.

QUESTION : Can you identify the elements in the above drawing that indicate the age of the sitter?

(I reckon there's about ten of them)

tellyfans 8

2011-03-01T14:55:00.001+01:00

Brambles

2011-02-27T02:39:00.003+01:00

Ronces
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. 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

2011-02-24T12:58:00.004+01:00

'Chemin, Cornus - Fin de Hiver'
Medium Size Oil on Canvas
61 x 45 cm (approx 24 x 18 inches).
© The Artist

This path at the end of winter, lined with oaks. Red dogwood suckers. Life surging back into the landscape.

Old Roman Road in the Woods

2011-02-22T08:59:00.003+01:00

'Le Chemin Romaine dans le Bois'
oil on canvas
15 Figure - 65 x 54 cm (25,6 x 21 " approx)

Sunshine at the end of winter. Bronze oak leaves. Old oaks growing out of a chalk landscape. An ancient path, earth-works eitherside. This path high up on the crest of a steep hill, not ploughed into the earth.

River Dropt 2 - Wendell Berry on Local Care of Shared Places

2011-02-21T10:31:00.005+01:00

15 x 11" - 28 x 38 cm

Tanglewood. A bird song corridor through an empty land. Sluggish shallow river. Old roots holding the banks together. Old place, old beings. Being quiet here... the Dropt has an intimate & hidden charm, different from the majestic Dordogne with it's mighty flow. Being quiet here & now ... even in a modest landscape, a hidden corner. One of the last spaces for nature in monetised countryside.

Wendell Berry on Local Care of Shared Places:
"My wife, Tanya, and I were just in Massachusetts visiting with a friend of ours, Rachel Fletcher, who had organized some of her neighbors in her town to make a "riverwalk."

A little river runs right through the middle of her town. For maybe generations people had looked at the river the way we Americans have learned to look at rivers—as something to carry things away that we don't want. The town had just tumbled whatever they didn't want down among the trees on the river bank.

Rachel began to persuade people to allow a riverwalk to be built across their back lots. She organized cleanups, and people would come and bring their children. They picked up all the trash and cleared the river bank and built their walk, and they made a beautiful thing.

Any walk through the woods gives one a lot to look at, especially a walk along a riverbank. People made donations to put in seats in memory of loved ones who had died and so on. That was how it started.

The next thing that happened was that people who had property on the other side of the river, who weren't organized into this effort at all, began to clean up their lots. So here you've got a neighborhood institution that is minimally organized. So far as I know, it has no trust fund. But it's cherishing something local that everybody can have in common, and to me a thing like that can't go wrong. It's just a little narrow walkway, scaled right, but it's an enormously suggestive thing.

It was a way for people in the neighborhood to give days of their labor to one another, to give one another shares in their mutual place, to make a place where they would meet each other without agenda or schedule. And as the cleanup across the river would indicate, it has an influence.

So that's the way my instinct says to work. If you believe in goodness, if you believe that goodness has a power, then why not act on your faith and do something good and see if it won't call forth more goodness?"
Jack Jezreel interviews Wendell Berry, U.S. Catholic magazine. U.S. Catholic is published by the Claretians.

River Dropt 1

2011-02-18T08:36:00.003+01:00

15 x 11 " - 28 x 38 cm

Dordogne River Study 2- swans at lalinde

2011-02-16T11:51:00.000+01:00

15 x 11"

swans at lalinde

Dordogne river study 1

2011-02-14T11:39:00.004+01:00

'Sunlight Breaking Through'
quarter sheet
28 x 38 cm (approx 15 " x 11")

Poplar Grove - Evening Sunlight

2011-02-10T21:30:00.003+01:00

28 x 38 cm (approx 15 x 11")
© adam cope

Plum Tree

2011-02-09T20:24:00.003+01:00

Here & Now

2011-02-05T22:55:00.002+01:00

Cakes for Tet

2011-02-04T11:36:00.002+01:00

Earth cakes for Tet

2011-02-03T11:23:00.004+01:00

School Report 2011, Chateaux Painting Holidays, SW France

2011-02-01T12:48:00.007+01:00

A warm 'bonjour' to everyone!

I hope you are well & happy :-)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

calm & creative

NEWS OF THE PAINTING WEEKS AT CHATEAU DE BEDUER

School report of the three courses in 2010….No problems with any of the courses...and anyway, it’s been known for ages that there’s never any corporal punishment in the art room! ;-)

It's difficult for me to say something about each week... and even less each person's performance. There was painting. There was learning. There were discoveries. There were some beautiful paintings made and there were also some paintings ripped up & binned! All steps along the way....There was laughter. There were meetings & intrigues. The sun shone.... little rain was had. The powerful, stoney but lush landscape continued to be powerfully present in the background, and even the foreground, as the courageous painters witnessed, struggled with & occassionally enjoyed some of it's wonders. Beduer is a truly beautiful place.

Morning Mists at Beduer

As always vigilant Sue ensured the food was good. The wine flowed. Smiles & 'la bonne table' ...... :-)

Everybody was good company. There was a memorable group booking from Sao Paolo, (at the time of the world football cup), which was full of laughter & talent. These painting holidays are good places to meet people & spend an enjoyable time together :-)

http://fcembranelli.blogspot.com/2010/07/about-painting-in-franceetc-sobre.html

attention is the eye opener....

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

Practice makes perfect… of course the more you do something, the better you get at doing it. But I have a nagging doubt that this just doesn't take us to the heart of the problem of exactly why we don't find time to paint, even when we could, if really wanted to. I suspect it's more to do with the discipline of just doing it, over and above that of wanting to improve. Just doing it because it's intrinsically enjoyable, despite the ups & the downs.

"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make the soul grow. So do it. " - Kurt Vonnegut

Eager attention to detail!

Sometimes… in a beautiful place, in the sunshine, on holiday, with no distractions, no worries, with good company & good teaching, it all just seems to flow. Then the practice becomes easy. It is our aim to provide this for you at Beduer.

News of Adam's Painting Practice

"A perfect beauty of a sunflower! a perfect excellent lovely sunflower existence! a sweet natural eye to the new hip moon, woke up alive and excited grasping in the sunset shadow sunrise golden monthly breeze! " - exerpt from 'Sunflower Sutra' by Allen Ginsberg

2010 started off well with a few paintings that I was fairly pleased with. There was an exhibition in a commercial gallery in St.Emiliion (which then decided to shut its doors). Then it was THE ROOF of our house, six months of building. Despite the upheaval, I managed to maintain my drawing in my sketchbooks. I don't know why but drawing is just so… central.

"Do not fail, as you go on, to draw something every day, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worthwhile, and it will do you a world of good." ~ Cennini, circa 1400 ad.

I feel this long, fallow period will give birth to something new…something more than the above advice on Practice ;-) …. Maybe a new direction? Work has already started in 2011.

Exhibitions in 'La Récollets', Bergerac in August 2011 at St. Avit de Senieur in September 2011 & hopefully at Sarlat and St.Emillion (to be be confirmed).

News of Sue

Ah hem????, said the gruffalo

Sue COPE sends everyone a ‘bonjour’. She will be at Beduer next year again, with her flair at quietly ensuring everything works. Marie-Line COPE has been doing wonders in the office, helping with the planning, booking & payment procedures (she does also helps run a three star holiday residence for Holiday Property Bonds). Such fabulous attention to detail! . These holidays wouldn’t work so well without such a great team.
http:www.artists-atelier/artholidays/us.htm

" A painting holiday which glides effortlessly forward like a swan always means that somebody is doing masses of work out of sight to help things run smoothly!" - Katherine Tyrrell

News of Adam, Marie-Line, Valentin & Eleanor

The kids are thriving and full of 'joie de vivre' The girl is 4 and the boy is 6 and half already. Happy days! M-L is well, a happy mum if somewhat tired. She's also still helping things work well at http://www.hpb.co.uk

Everyone in good health. Life is good :-)

New : Flights from London City Airport to Soulliac/Brive

This airport us about one hour from Beduer. We pick up & drop off at 115 euros per journey, which becomes easy when shared with others. The times of the saturday flight seem to be friendly with our course start time of sat 16 hr.

http://www.aeroport-brive-vallee-dordogne.com/
New: we have simplified banking. You can now pay my fees directly via IBAN (free for Europeans) or via PayPal for non-Europeans. Chateau de Beduer has now simplified things by one simple click of a PayPal button.

New : we now offer a reduction of 50 € per painter for groups of four or more painters.
'PRIX DE FIDELITE' - There is the usual reduction for returning students of fifty euros per person. We've not put our prices up either.

COURSE DATES 2011

Saturday 18 June to Saturday 25 June
Saturday 25 June to Saturday 2 July
Saturday 3 September to Saturday 10 September

Wishing you a very happy, creative 2011.
Paint well.
Best Wishes from Adam, Marie-Line & Sue

http://www.artists-atelier.com

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Post-script …..

'Piere de Ronsard' Roses at Beduer

An Erotic Poem written at Beduer by Paul Valéry, whilst tossing about sleeplessly in the four poster bed in La Chambre 'Paul Valéry' & thinking of Jean Voiler, the then current Lady of the Chateau.

À LA ROSE PROFONDE

Sombre et profonde rose d'ombre odorante, Ô rose de plaisir, dont le plaisir est pleur, Rose humide d'espoir d'une caresse errante sur ses bords de calice où la chair se fait fleur, D'une eau délicieuse, ô molle rose, enivre Jusqu'a l' excés divin du bonheur animal. Un coeur fuyant l'affreuse aventure de vivre qui boit ce poison de son étrange mal... Puisse fondre sur toi la lèvre favorite Dont l'oeuvre fut tendre et sincère irrite Plus, toujours plus en toi, toujours plus de douceur; Tandis que la beauté qui te porte palpite Et palpitante inspire une tendresse soeur Que son soupir appelle et qui se précipite... P.V. Corona & Coronilla.

Tree Climbing for Boys : Down

2011-01-12T18:02:00.002+01:00

'Tree Climbing for Boys : Down'
ink
© The Artist

3 of 3 illustrations for a book.

Tree Climbing for Boys: In

2011-01-08T11:58:00.002+01:00

Tree Climbing for Boys: In
Pen & Ink
© The Artist.

2 of 3 illustrations for a book

Tree Climbing for Boys 1

2010-12-28T08:26:00.004+01:00

'UP'
'Tree Climbing for Boys 1 '
ink
21 x 30cm
©adam cope

One of three illustrations for a story about a boy climbing a tree.

Sunflowers 9

2010-08-14T06:54:00.003+02:00

65 x 50 cm
watercolour

Not a host of golden daffodils but a field of star-bright sunflowers. Love these plants, so valiant, always shining, face towards the sun.

Sunflowers 8

2010-08-12T12:08:00.003+02:00

watercolour
50 x 40 cm
©adam cope

Some yellow acrylic highlights in this one, so not a totally Transparent Watercolour (click here for info about 'What is Transparent Watercolour?'). Some paintings go that way & if they require you to 'break the rules' , then that is what must be done, as it's picture-making first & foremost (& not some dreary, step-by-step, formulaic type of watercolour , which frankly, has more resemblance to an obsessional activity than the magic of creating a painting). I guess it boils down to listening to what the painting requires rather than a slavish obedience to rules. What is so wrong with the odd bit of yellow acrylic anyway? The sunflowers sing 'yellow! yellow !yellow! '... what would they care about a painting that missed the mark & didn't have enough yellow?

Sunflowers 7

2010-08-08T17:24:00.003+02:00

67 x 55 cm
watercolour
©adam cope

Sunflowers 6

2010-08-03T08:39:00.002+02:00

watercolour
38 x28 cm
© adam cope

Sunflowers 5

2010-07-29T10:35:00.000+02:00

watercolour
38 x 25 cm
© adam cope

"A perfect beauty of a sunflower! a perfect excellent lovely sunflower existence! a sweet natural eye to the new hip moon, woke up alive and excited grasping in the sunset shadow sunrise golden monthly breeze! "

- exerpt from 'Sunflower Sutra' by Allen Ginsberg

Sunflowers 4

2010-07-28T10:35:00.006+02:00

watercolour
38 x 25 cm
© adam cope

" A perfect beauty of a sunflower! "

exepert from 'Sunflower Sutra' by Allen Ginsberg

Sunflowers 3

2010-07-26T18:16:00.004+02:00

28 x 38 cm
© adam cope

"Keep your face to the sunshine
and you cannot see the shadow.
It's what sunflowers do."
- Helen Keller

Sunflowers 2

2010-07-25T20:45:00.002+02:00

25 x 32cm
watercolour
© The Artist

some previous posts about sunflowers :

Sunflowers 1

2010-07-24T19:16:00.005+02:00

25 x 32 cm
watercolour
©adam cope

here comes a series of paintings of sunflowers.

>

William Blake : Ah! Sunflower

Ah! sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller’s journey is done;

Where the youth pined away with desire,
And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves and aspire;
Where my sunflower wishes to go.

William Blake (1757-1827) P. 1793

Gates at Beduer

2010-07-22T08:59:00.000+02:00

'Gates at Beduer'
watercolour
28 x 38 cm (approx 11 x 15 inches).
© The Artist

Plein-Air Landscape in Acrylic at the Lay-In Stage

2010-07-21T08:52:00.003+02:00

'Cloudy Day at Beduer' _UNFINISHED, lay-in stage
Acrylic
30 x 40cm (approx 12 x 16 inches)
© The Artist

A demonstration piece from a recent Chateaux Painting Holiday, France

Watercolour by Candle Light/value study

2010-07-20T19:00:00.003+02:00

'Converstaion by Candle Light'
38 x 25 cm
watercolour & watercolour pencil

... and now for the candlestick, of course ;-)

'Candlestick'
32 x 24 cm
watercolour value study

Eager Students of the Art

2010-07-17T19:59:00.003+02:00

From a recent week Chateaux Painting Holiday, France

Eager

Less Eager, Sue Cope the assistant ;-)

Chris Sharland

Chris Sharland

Painting Holidays, roof

2010-07-13T10:58:00.004+02:00

Been absent from blogging these last two months. There's a clutch of new artwork to blog when I get round to it, though I think the days when I would write long accompanying text have gone.

New roof on house which now means new electrics, new walls & ceilings then a spot of decorating.

I greatly enjoyed teaching this june's weeks at Chateaux Painting Holidays.

Lots of painting, inspiration, great students & great fun!

line drawings

2010-05-20T16:09:00.001+02:00

lili 12/5/10

2010-05-17T15:54:00.000+02:00

Pirate!

2010-05-16T20:06:00.000+02:00

"All of this has happened before and it will all happen again," - The Narrator, Disney Studios 1953 film

"Second star to the right and straight on till morning." - Peter Pan

Michael_Llewelyn_Davies_as_Peter_Pan.jpg

" Go on! Go back and grow up! But I'm warnin' ya: once you're grown up, you can never come back. Never!" - Peter Pan, Disney's 1953 film

J.M. Barrie playing Neverland with Michael Llewelyn Davies - Wiki commons

Peter Pan: Well, well, a codfish on a hook.

Captain Hook: I'll get you for this, Pan, if it's the last thing I do!

Peter Pan: Mr. Crocodile, do you like codfish? [crocodile nods] You do?

Wendy: Oh Peter, no!

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Pan_(1953_film)

" Similarly, Nico's daughter, Laura Duguid - also Barrie's godchild - is more affectionate than damning in her recollections of him. Now 80, she remembers being taken to spend an afternoon with her godfather (by then a baronet) at his flat on the top floor of Adelphi Terrace House, overlooking the Thames. 'Usually I was a feeble little girl,' she says, 'who needed Mummy or Nanny. But I remember having a wonderful afternoon with Barrie - and being surprised at myself for not minding being left alone with him. He told me stories and chased me around the dining table. And, of course, my father thought Barrie was the most marvellous person with children - hence him asking him to be my godfather, and being happy to leave me alone with him.' "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/donotmigrate/3556421/How-bad-was-J.M.-Barrie.html

excerpt from J.M.Barrie's Peter & Wendy, 1911
http://www.scribd.com/doc/404340/Peter-and-Wendy-Peter-Pan-by-James-Matthew-Barrie?autodown=pdf

telly fans 8

2010-05-14T15:56:00.000+02:00

telly fans 7

2010-05-13T15:57:00.001+02:00

Vietnamese Meditation Bell

2010-05-11T11:07:00.003+02:00

Dark Places

2010-05-02T18:27:00.003+02:00

".....turning around

you see the road you'll

never step on again."

Dark Places

" Un homme n'est que un misérable tas de minable sécrets." - André Malraux
(A man is only a miserable pile of pitiful secrets)

This post is part of recent series of postings loosely inspired by Antonio Machado's poem:

Wanderer, the road is your
footsteps, nothing else;
wanderer, there is no path,
you lay down a path in walking.

In walking, you lay down a path
and when turning around
you see the road you'll
never step on again.
Wanderer, path there is none,
only tracks in the ocean foam.

Antonio Machado (translated by Franciso Valera)

Drawing of an Adolescent

2010-04-25T14:53:00.004+02:00

'Etienne'

Father of Etienne, after I asked a favour : "Adam, don't you know never ask an adolescent to do anything! ;-) "

me : "What , nothing at all? never ever ever?"

Etienne : 'Si, ça va...." (yes, it's OK)

Einstein Walking Meditation

2010-04-23T09:29:00.005+02:00

wanderer, there is no path,
you lay down a path in walking.

Antonio Machado (translated by Franciso Valera)

Nobel Laureates in Physics Albert Einstein (left) and Niels Bohr (right) walking.
Photo taken at the 1930 Solvay Conference in Brussels.
Source: Danish Film Institute
Photo: Paul Ehrenfest

"Let a railway wagon be moving along a track at a constant speed . Let a man walk along the wagon at a speed in the direction of the wagon's motion. By which speed relatively to the railway embankment is the man moving during his walk? It seems that is only one possible answer results from this way of thinking:
If the man stopped after one second, he would, relative to the embankment, have moved forward for a certain distance which is equal to the speed of the wagon. Actually, relative to the wagon, that is, in relation to the embankment, he would also have traveled forward by a pace the distance , which corresponds to the speed of his walk. Thus, relative to the embankment, in the given second the man travels in all the distance

(19.1)

Later on, we will see that this way of thinking which is in accordance with classical mechanics, expresses the addition theorem, cannot be retained, and that this law, we had just now written, does not represent the truth"

Einstein, Theory of Relativity , 19. ADDITION OF SPEEDS, 19.1 Addition of speeds in a vacuum

quoted at http://users.scnet.rs/~mrp/chapter19.html

"I sometimes ask myself how it came about that I was the one to develop the theory of relativity. The reason, I think, is that a normal adult never stops to think about problems of space and time. These are things which he has thought about as a child. But my intellectual development was retarded,as a result of which I began to wonder about space and time only when I had already grown up." - Einstein

only tracks in the ocean foam

2010-04-22T23:07:00.002+02:00

Wanderer, path there is none,
only tracks in the ocean foam.

Antonio Machado (translated by Franciso Valera)

Wanderer, the road is your footsteps

2010-04-20T21:47:00.000+02:00

Wanderer, the road is your
footsteps, nothing else;
wanderer, there is no path,
you lay down a path in walking.

In walking, you lay down a path
and when turning around
you see the road you'll
never step on again.
Wanderer, path there is none,
only tracks in the ocean foam.

Antonio Machado (translated by Franciso Valera)

Telly Fans 6

2010-04-19T22:54:00.001+02:00

A Drawing for Dad's Birthday

2010-04-18T21:48:00.004+02:00

Viola Les Enfants :-)

2010-04-12T16:04:00.002+02:00

A5 sketchbook

Marine & her Mother Drawing

2010-04-07T11:04:00.002+02:00

'Marine & sa Mere - le Dessein'
A5 sketchbook - graphite
© adam cope

Drawings of Painters Painting

2010-04-06T10:02:00.002+02:00

Sunny weather brings the painters out 'en plein air'....

Here's some sketches from a recent day of teaching. I greatly enjoy these painting days with such good company, a honour to teach & to watch other painter's creativity & learning open like the new spring leaves to the sun light.

Graphite, A5 Sketchbook

Hieratic vs.Gestural Drawing Styles - Zadkine

2010-03-31T10:31:00.013+02:00

'Busker - sculptor on the streets'
A5 sketchbook

This sculptor carving on the streets on market day (else he'd get moved on by the gendarmes) at Castillonnés.

Drawing 'sur la vif' moving targets. I've observed one tendancy , that which I call my 'Hieratic Style', as if an Egpytian or Modernist freeze 'à la Zadkine'. It's stylised & anti-illusionistic.

Static, it's the oppostite of the gestural or the dynamic...

Just an observation, these drawings happen so quickly, less than a few minutes, so not much time to think, just draw.

"It was primarily written in ink with a reed brush on papyrus, allowing scribes to write quickly without resorting to the time-consuming hieroglyphs" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieratic

"hi·er·at·ic
–adjective
1.
Also, hi·er·at·i·cal. of or pertaining to priests or the priesthood; sacerdotal; priestly.

2.
noting or pertaining to a form of ancient Egyptian writing consisting of abridged forms of hieroglyphics, used by the priests in their records.

3.
noting or pertaining to certain styles in art in which the representations or methods are fixed by or as if by religious tradition.

4.
highly restrained or severe in emotional import: Some of the more hieratic sculptures leave the viewer curiously unmoved." http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hieratic

Zadkine

BTW, Zadkine 'retired' from Paris to the deepest countryside of SW France in the Lot at a little village called Les Arques. Not far from me. Great place to visit.

Sept calligrammes d'Apollinaire
1967
Portfolio original, "Sept Calligrammes d'Apollinaire", contenant 10 gravures originales, chacune signée au crayon par l'artiste. Ed. Czwiklitzer.

Drawing of Mother & Child

2010-03-30T17:38:00.000+02:00

I recently made the acquitance of the baby of some friends, a charming little soul of five months. Took me back to when my own children were babies, some five & three years ago. Time flies!

Karst Landscape - finished state

2010-03-29T10:45:00.003+02:00

'Karst Landscape' (St.Avit de Senieur, Dordogne)
Finished state
2009
Oil on Canvas

The bright spring sunlight has returned. Seeing it again gave me the prompt that I needed to finish off this large oil canvas fom last year. Sometimes a painting needs a year or two (even more sometimes) before it arrives at completion.

See the work in progress & some commentary: Karst Landscape at the End of Winter

"Karst topography is a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karst

Read about painting & rocks:

Leonardo Da Vinci : Rocky Landscape Studies in Pen & Ink

2010-03-28T11:24:00.005+02:00

LEONARDO DA VINCI
'Study of a Tuscan Landscape - Val d'Arno'
1473
Pen & Ink, nib on vellum
Approx 15 x 22 cm
Uffizi Museum

LEONARDO DA VINCI
'Study of a Ravine in a Rocky Landscape'
C.1486
Pen & Ink, nib on vellum
Approx 22 x 15 cm
Windsor Leoni Volume

Been looking again at Leonardo's pen & inks. I wrote about them here:

Pen & Ink-Leonardo da Vinci-Stone Lithography - Mythological Images from Prehistory

I enjoyed reading about them here: http://www.lairweb.org.nz/leonardo/landscape.html

Vasari recorded Leonardo as, "frequently occupied in the preparation of plans to remove mountains or to pierce them with tunnels from plain to plain."

I'm not currently planning on moving any mountains, other than maybe a little bit of pottering about in the spring garden;-) And maybe doing some more doodles of rocky landscapes....

Detail
'Deux Bicorne - Bis'
Large oil on canvas

Prehistoric Cave Art - a contemporary artist's personal response

Ditypch 'Mistletoe' - Parallax in Landscape art

2010-03-25T16:15:00.008+01:00

"Here, by the riverside, the motifs multiply, the same subject seen from different angle offers a subject for study of the greatest interest, and so varied that iI think I can keep myself busy for months without shifting my position, inclining sometimes more to the right, sometimes more to the left." - Cézanne, to his son Paul, Aix, sept 8 1906

More about Ditypches & Parallax in Painting

Here's a reference photo, at dusk, as I imagine there's possibly a few of you who might not know what misteltoe looks like (it's the round clumps in the trees).

Mistletoe is a parasitic shrubs that grows in trees, living of the host-tree's sap. Mysterious plant I love it & have four clumps in my garden. We used to celebrate New Year with it in my southern english home town of Winchester.

"Mistletoe bears fruit at the time of the Winter Solstice, the birth of the new year, and may have been used in solstitial rites in Druidic Britain as a symbol of immortality. In Celtic mythology and in druid rituals, it was considered a remedy for barrenness in animals and an antidote to poison^[11], although the fruits of many mistletoes are actually poisonous if ingested as they contain viscotoxins." Mistletoe-WIKI

Carnival à Castillonnès

2010-03-24T18:05:00.003+01:00

'Val diguisé comme un sanglier'
Graphite
A5
© The Artist.

....et voici Kermasse il y trois ans, déja!

Val
graphite
A5
2007
© the artist

Landscape as the Mirror of the Soul

2010-03-22T12:21:00.008+01:00

'Meaning' is often conferred to the landscape by us humans. Certainly, us artists find 'meaning'.... us image makers, who weave our lives in & out of both inner & outer worlds, trying to mesh them together into images. When image becomes 'Image'. Landscape as the mirror of the Soul.

Van Gogh's letters show him finding 'meaning' in the stars. Mondrian's early landscapes are visible expressions of his search for Theosophical meaning in the world. Do we look for something that doesn't exist ? Doesn't exist outside of our imaginations? Outside of our busy mental lives?

Maybe the artist should stay silent about his images. Leave the interpretation to the onlooker.

detail of 'Misteltoe 2'

“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.” - Rumi

“Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.” - Percy Bysshe Shelley

Another painting about looking through a (veil) screen of trees to a view of hills the other side :

Mistletoe

2010-03-18T12:25:00.000+01:00

WORK IN PROGRESS
'Mistletoe'

medium size oil on canvas
French format : 15 F - 65 x 54 cm (approx 21 x 26 inches)
© adam cope

Actually I think it's finished now. I had to wait long time for a another sunny evening when I has some free time to paint.

Gnarled Old Vine Stocks

2010-03-16T12:10:00.001+01:00

Fields of gnarled old wine stocks. Archaic. Tormented.

These vine stocks ('céps') are pruned ('La Taille') in the mediterrean manner, much lower to the ground than the Atlantic manner, which is the widesest spread ('Taille Guyot')... This way of pruning is called 'La Taille Gobelet'. I always felt they looked demonic, like the horns of some, crazed, demented Devil.

La Taile de la Vigne

Strong early spring sunlight. The white isn't snow but white chalk. In the Cahors Apellation the vines sometimes grow out almost pure rock.

'Have a Nice Day'

2010-03-15T10:06:00.003+01:00

This fellow and his dog in the market place, playing the accordian. The sign said "Bonne Journée Avec le Sourire" ( 'have a nice day - with a smile'). He looked worried. I think the dog was used to his music.

'Life Insurance'

Drawings of Musicians & Buskers
Some pages from my A5 sketchpads. Drawn from life, when the music stops, the drawing stops. Click on the images & the let the music begin.

Bed Time Story 12 & 13

2010-03-12T12:16:00.004+01:00

'Bed Time Story 12' - detail
2010
Sanguine
40 x 40 cm
©adam cope

'Bed Time Story 4 ' - detail
2008
Pencil
40 x 40 cm
©adam cope

'Bed Time Story 13'
2010
Sanguine
40 x 40 cm
©adam cope

'Bed Time Story 12'
2010
Sanguine
40 x 40 cm
©adam cope

Exhibition - St.Emilion, The Little Gallery

2010-03-11T09:42:00.004+01:00

My paintings of vines are currently exhibited at The Little Gallery in St. Emilion till 9 April. They return on show permanently after May, all things being equal, as a 'gallery artist'. Nice to be showing permantly in the best gallery in town :-)

St. Emilion really is an amazing place, one of the epi-centres of the culture of the vine. It is listed by UNESCO as part of the world's heritage. The gallery is also near a three star Michelin restaurant, so if you feel like complementing the art with a nice meal... 'que c'est bon!'

Magazine Article & The End of Winter!

2010-03-03T13:38:00.004+01:00

See a Selection of my Paintings of Vineyards in SW France

France's leading wine magazine Terre de Vins published a nice article about me, a painter who paints vineyards. I've made a web page of press articles so you can read it here: http://www.artists-atelier.com/press/press.htm

" Souvent les gens jugent un tableau à première vue, mais come le vin, l'œuvre si elle est réussie doit permettre d'aller chercher un second goût. La phase de conception est très important car ce sont ces arrières saveurs, ces seconds arômes qu'il va falloir faire remonter." - Adam Cope, Magazine 'Terre de Vins' Jan/Fev2009 - lire l'article

Other news is that the wild geese have been migrating back to SW France during the last week. Flying overhead, often around evening time, their wings cutting throught the air,making a slicing whooshing sound, that makes the heart leap with joy! This is a sure sign of the end of winter. YIPEE!

Photo BOGUY

If you know SW France , then you'll love the photo-blog of my friend Boguy : IMAGES EN PERIGORD

Painting of 'The True Vine'

2010-02-28T16:35:00.005+01:00

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and
every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring
forth more fruit.

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto
you.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide
in me.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and
I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can
do nothing.

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is
withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they
are burned."

John 15.1-6

Taille Slyvos

Taille de la Vigne

WIP - Pechers de Vignes, Finished State

2010-02-24T12:30:00.003+01:00

These lovely trees seem to have an 'inner fire' in autumn, as if they were lit up from within. Beautiful tree, I've planted one in my garden :-) Confess to being happy with these two paintings.

Here's the unfinished state from last autumn ( I date the work from the time of inception & not completion).

Here's the partner of the diptych. Nice & 'smokey', soft glowing mid-tones in an overcast autumnal day.

Here's the diptych together.

Chromatic Black in the Colourist Palette

2010-02-22T10:22:00.002+01:00

Experimenting with a new mix for 'black'. Lets call it a 'chromatic black' (as does Dan Smith oil paints) in the hope that it's more colour friendly than soot (lamp black)& burnt bones (deadly death black).

To make chromatic black, the mix is basically the same as the transparent watercolour mix of a bluey green PG 7 pthalo viridian & a bluey red magenta. This gives a very blue black. I like it in watercolours but when mixing down with white in oils, I find it way too blue, so I add some opaque Indian Red to pull it back over to a broken neutral, more grey than blue.

These last five years I've been using dioziane violet (normally ... but often with some burnt umber) as black. Looks like black but is 'cleaner' in mixing on palette than the soot & bones. But.. it's very slow drying & is complicated to work with in colour mixes. Especially with the warm colours. So I've tended to isolate it & not allow it to mix with the other colours. Which thus isolate my black values... making them too black? Too moch like 'black holes' or black cut outs. This is exaggerated by photography's very poor performance in registering colour in very dark values. Result : not enough fluid run down through the upper mid-tones?

In the above painting, I'm using more yellow ochre than cadium yellow pale, thus softening & muting even more the mid tones.

Same old connundrum of bringing Values into harmony with Colours, especially for my preference for a colourist palette of heightened bright colours.

Anyway, the mistletoe makes fun circles doesn't it ? :-)

Artist's Statement

2010-02-21T10:26:00.002+01:00

My Artist's Statement is updated & published at http://www.artists-atelier.com/press/statement.htm

" For me, painting is about a way of seeing. Being outside, under the open skies, painting directly from the subject... is an exploration of one's response to the landscape. A kind of meditation. Nature teaches me to see the subject... in a deeper way. The more you look, the more you see. I particularly like the unspoilt little corners of 'deep nature'... wild wood, tangle wood... It makes me sad that they are increasingly threatened by ecological aggression."

Also, updated my homepage http://www.artists-atelier.com/cope.htm

Forever Smiling Buddha

2010-02-17T20:19:00.003+01:00

'Buddha Statue at Plum Village, Upper Hamlet.'
graphite & ink
A5 sketchbook

"(...) dharma art refers to art that springs from a certain state of mind on the part of the artist that could be called the meditative state. It is an attitude of directness and unselfconsciousness in one's creative work." -Tibetan meditation master, the XIth Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Freezing cold weather so not quiet a meditative state, more of a frozen state...

Exerpt from my unfinished project 'Carnet de Voyage en Egypte', © Adam Cope, 2001 - ongong :

"But now, after my recent travels in Egypt, these fragments in the museum seemed displaced and uprooted, somehow diminished and made smaller.

...the sands of time....

One element however manages to cross the sands of time and remain intact, despite the ravages of plunder & the displacement of uprooted museum collections. It is the Egyptian smile in the face of eternity.
::
The expression on the face of this sculpture is the work of a great artist, full of mystery and interior life, fuller than those pert, self-assured later Ramassidian smiles. The restorers have done a wonderful job in piecing together these fragments, which are said to have been found in the mortuary temple of Amenophis III (circa 1400BC).
She is MUT, Goddess, adored of Thebes, Feminine Divine, consort of Amun-Ra, mother of Khons the Moon-child, World Mother, Anima Mundi.
In some ways the act of drawing is akin to the act of worship. To draw is to love, and in loving we carry our breathe of life and enter, fuse with the adored. They say that the Gods need us so as not to be forgotten, and it is with semen of worship that the grain of the Divine is brought to life. Almost as if the sculpted stone itself, the inert granite becomes flesh. Picasso said " un tableau ne vit que par celui qui le regard"( "a painting only lives in the eye of the beholder"). The museum shut its doors but I could not leave... Casting one last look back, it seemed to me that the Goddess Mut was shimmering, forever smiling."

No Space for Nature in the Countryside? Wendell Berry

2010-02-03T19:36:00.015+01:00

Concernant la Destruction de la Ripisylve de la Riviére Dropt dans les Cantons de Villeréal, Castillonnès et Eymet.

I went downstream to the next commune to paint.Wild wood. Tangle wood. Quiet days dreaming besides the sluggish flow. An intimate space of tangles & branches. You climb inside it & leave the wide & bare fields behind.

'My Two Little Ones, A Crack Willow & an Ox Bow'

These trees will be destroyed in next winter. 2011.

Condemned beings. Death row, the calmness of the alders, ashes & poplars unaware.

NO SPACE FOR NATURE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE ?

The Dropt at St.Dizier before & after the cutting in winter 2009

The three deer that lived here are now flushed out & run for their lives around the neighbourhood. Looking for shelter, of which there is precious little. Their homes are steadily being destroyed. "tué habitat, tué animal" (to kill the habit is to kill the animal). It was the same with the nightingales when hedgerows were all grubbed out in 2006. How I miss their song!

BEFORE THE DESTRUCTION OF 2010

'Berges du Dropt, St.Dizier'
38 x 46 cm
oil on canvas
2006
©adam cope

SAME SPOT (looking downriver) AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF 2010

Legislation now requires a 6 meter grass band either side of the river. This serves to filter the ground water as it flows off the farm land. The Dropt is green with nitrates & slurry from cow farming (domestic grey-water isn't always properly filtered either). Not much bio-diversity in a grass band in comparison to a riparian zone.

Machines have great power to sculpt the landscape. But what type of landscape are we making?

A square mile field without hedges?

A river with bio-diversity?

No space for nature in the countryside.

Contempt for Small Places Minor Destructions Add Up - WENDELL BERRY

"A GREEN CORRIDOR "

The basic idea of a green corridor is to leave a corridor through which animals can migrate from one safe place to another. Good for nature, good for tourism, good for the soul.

A green corridor .
Une trame verte

A well preserved riparian strip on a tributary to Lake Erie.

Observe the band of trees eitherside of the river.

The banks of the river Dordogne are a classified nature reserve: Natura 2000, part of the European government's legislation to protect nature. The banks of the river Dropt are also classified down river from Allemans sur Dropt, just after Eymet. http://natura2000.ecologie.gouv.fr/sites/FR7200692.html

The basic idea of a green corridor is to leave a corridor through which animals can migrate from one safe place to another. It also has the happy advantage that humans can walk or canoe along these passages. This is very good for tourism, which is the second economic activity of the Dordogne department & IMO, would become more important for the Lot & Garonne if the people in power had a better vision of how they take care of nature.

" Great problems call for many small solutions." - Wendell Berry

NO SPACE FOR NATURE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE?.... OF NATURE RESERVES & SUPERMARKET CONSUMPTION

"In Human culture lies the preservation of wildness." - Wendell Berry

"The question we must deal with is not whether the domestic and the wild are separate or can be separated; it is how, in the human economy, their indissoluble and necessary connection can be properly maintained." Wendell Berry For Love of the Land, Sierra magazine, May/June 2002

"The awareness that we are slowly growing into now is that the earthly wildness that we are so complexly dependent upon is at our mercy. It has become, in a sense, our artifact because it can only survive by a human understanding and forbearance that we now must make. The only thing we have to preserve nature with is culture; the only thing we have to preserve wildness with is domesticity.

"To me, this means simply that we are not safe in assuming that we can preserve wildness by making wilderness preserves. Those of us who see that wildness and wilderness need to be preserved are going to have to understand the dependence of these things upon our domestic economy and our domestic behavior. If we do not have an economy capable of valuing in particular terms the durable good of localities and communities, then we are not going to be able to preserve anything. We are going to have to see that, if we want our forests to last, then we must make wood products that last, for our forests are more threatened by shoddy workmanship than by clear-cutting or by fire. Good workmanship--that is, careful, considerate, and loving work--requires us to think considerately of the whole process, natural and cultural, involved in the making of wooden artifacts, because the good worker does not share the industrial contempt for 'raw material.' The good worker loves the board before it becomes a table, loves the tree before it yields the board, loves the forest before it gives up the tree. The good worker understands that a badly made artifact is both an insult to its user and a danger to its source. We could say, then, that good forestry begins with the respectful husbanding of the forest that we call stewardship and ends with well-made tables and chairs and houses, just as good agriculture begins with stewardship of the fields and ends with good meals."
- Exerpt from 'Home Economics' by Wendell BERRY

".... the great causes of agrarianism and conservation, despite local victories, have suffered an accumulation of losses, some of them probably irreparable-while the third side, that of the land-exploiting corporations, has appeared to grow ever richer." 0 0 For Love of the Land by Wendell Berry

Futher Reading:

Natura 2000
European Union Water Framework Directive
A green corridor .
Une trame verte

Wendell Berry

< For Love of the Land by Wendell Berry
Contempt for Small Places Minor Destructions Add Up - WENDELL BERRY

3 Birthday - Domine Quo Vadis?

2010-01-27T16:03:00.004+01:00

Today is the third birthday of this blog.

Thank you everybody for commenting & the in-depth feedback.

I note that 25th January is the festival day of the conversion of Paul.

To celebrate, here's a page from my 'Carnet de Voyage en Rome' 2002.

'Domino Quo Vadis'

photo: enrico virdis

Artists & Ecology 5 - Le Dropt, Castillonnès - une trame verte?

2010-01-20T16:52:00.024+01:00

An ash tree growing out of the middle of an old crack willow, not coppiced for many a year.

Wild Wood. Tangle Wood.

Nyiad. Dryiad. River. Tree. Older things than you & I.

This is a condemned being. These trees will be cut down in a week's time or so.
Death row.

the execution has now been done

Great sadness as all the little pockets of tangle wood are irradiated & 'cleaned up. "Pas propre"...
developed into agriculture, money, gardens & water supply.

No space for nature in the countryside.

Tangle Wood. Wild Wood. Mole & Ratty - if you listen, you can hear the wind in the willows.

Some photos from www.valleedudropt.com

Le Dropt à St.Dizier avant les coups de 2010

A green corridor .
Une trame verte

"To write a love song, you have to be love" Henry Hensche (Cape Cod School of Art).

The river Dropt downriver from Allemans de Dropt is a Natura 2000 site. http://natura2000.ecologie.gouv.fr/sites/FR7200692.html

Up River, near Castillonnès, things are different. The banks are privately owned but the water board owns the water. Agricultors pay for irrigation water for their crops. Trees drink the water. Tangle wood block the water.

No space for nature in the countryside.

No home now for the deers, water rats, moles, rabbits & others who try & find their place in a human landscape that has no place left for pests & those who dare eat crops.

Beautiful tanglewood, wildwood. Not the garden of Le Notre. Versailles. All clipped. Perfect. The hand of man dominating the profusion of nature.

Man vs. Nature?

Over 30 kilometres of river bank cleared. Not cut to the bone, true ... but cut to the quick.

Brave New World?

coppicing

taillus

Pray that the willows, alders & ashes may regenerate. Wild Wood no more. The hand of man decides who shall be left to attain a wild old age & who shall be 'restored'.

A coppiced alder stool after one year's growth. photo :wikicommons

Alnus glutinosa (English: Black Alder, European Alder or Common Alder)

"In celtic mythology, Bran the Blessed is associated with the alder tree "The Alder deity is considered to be Bran the Blessed, God of the Underworld. He was also known as the God of Prophecy, Arts, War and Writing. With the size of a giant, it was impossible for Bran to fit in a house or in a boat. According to medieval Christian writings, Bran the Blessed is considered to be the first British man. " - WIKI

Look at this 300 year old 'têtard' or coppiced willow, a survivor, here in St.Dizier. Regeneration?

'Têtard, Saule, St.Dizier'
Oil on Masonite
30 x 40cm
2006

©adam cope

Adam's Paintings of Trees ...plus some thoughts & poems

Futher Reading:

Natura 2000
European Union Water Framework Directive
A green corridor .
Une trame verte

Bed Time Story 10 & 11

2010-01-11T09:22:00.003+01:00

'..... After months at sea, they found themselves in Baghdad.
" What a gorgeous city!" cried Emira.
"Isn't it! " agreed Sinbad. He was delighted to be home... at least for a while.'

Sinbad the Sailor, retold by Katie Daynes. Usborne Ilustrated Stories for Boys.

Dordogne Painting Days

Vignobles, Dordogne 1

Vine Paintings from France

Chateaux Painting Holidays Newsletter 2011

No posts + no comments= no blog?

Exhibtions in Sarlat & St.Avit - dordogne

* 25 August - 24 September. Galerie de la Presbytere, ST.AVIT DE SENIEUR

* 12 September - 26 September. Galerie André Malraux, SARLAT

Exhibition in Bergerac

Poplar Trees in Spring time

pssttt! - don't be scared of green!

into the sunlight (contrajour) vs. sunlit from behind in watercolor

Bookings for 2012

Painting Holidays au Chateau de Beduer 2011 - part one

The green Dordogne in sunny spring time

Grand Roc, Les Eyzies, Dordogne

Dates Exhibitions Summer 2011

Dates Exhibitions Summer 2011

* 4 July - 31 July. solo - Galerie Ap'Art, Marcilhac sur Cele, LOT

* 17 - 24 August . solo - La Maison des Vins de BERGERAC

* 25 August - 24 September. ASSA group show - Galerie de la Presbytere, ST.AVIT DE SENIEUR

* 12 September - 26 September. Solo - Galerie Andre Malraux, SARLAT

first drive your car into the river

Le Cingle de Limeuil, Dordogne

WIP : Le Cingle de Limeuil, Dordogne

WIP : compositional sketch & tonal 'notan'

Life's a Beach

bright spring yellows -Matisse on shock

Recent paintings 2010 webpage

La Dordogne à Lalinde 2 - L'Eau et les Rêves, Gaston Bachelard.

Poplar Grove, Dusk

WIP : Lay-in, Large Oil, Plein Air

La Dordogne à Lalinde 1

La Dordogne à Beynac 2

La Dordogne à Beynac 1

500th Post - La Vallee de Bergerac depuis Monbazillac

'Dionysus's Patch'

Oil. 85 x 80 cm © SOLD

Intimate Portraits of Artist's Own Children - Matisse, Cezanne, John, Rembrandt, Chardin, Rubens, Nicholson

Rembrandt's Gesture Drawing

Telly Fans 10

Telly fans 9 - Child Portrait Tips

tellyfans 8

Brambles

Path at the End of Winter

Old Roman Road in the Woods

River Dropt 2 - Wendell Berry on Local Care of Shared Places

River Dropt 1

Dordogne River Study 2- swans at lalinde

Dordogne river study 1

Poplar Grove - Evening Sunlight

Plum Tree

Here & Now

Cakes for Tet

Earth cakes for Tet

School Report 2011, Chateaux Painting Holidays, SW France

Tree Climbing for Boys : Down

Tree Climbing for Boys: In

Tree Climbing for Boys 1

Sunflowers 9

Sunflowers 8

Sunflowers 7

Sunflowers 6

Sunflowers 5

Sunflowers 4

Sunflowers 3

Sunflowers 2

Sunflowers - the Last of The Stragglers

Sunflowers III

Sunflowers circa 1997 - Van Gogh 1889 - Who 'owns' subject matter?

Sunflowers 1

William Blake : Ah! Sunflower

William Blake (1757-1827) P. 1793

Gates at Beduer

Plein-Air Landscape in Acrylic at the Lay-In Stage

Watercolour by Candle Light/value study

Eager Students of the Art

Painting Holidays, roof

line drawings

lili 12/5/10