Tuesday 25 June 2013

Artists & Illustrators Summer issue cover!

I'm very excited to announce that three other fellow plein air painters (Roy Connelly, Paul Banning, Antony Bridge) and myself are featured in the new issue of Artists & Illustrators! And we are on the front cover!! I should play it cool and blasé but I'm far too thrilled and excited for that! 




This is a special issue about plein air painting and the magazine followed us during a painting session outdoors. We all had to face pretty bad weather but it was a lot of fun. The magazine is out now so grab a copy if you can (for more info go to www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk). Here is below a small low resolution preview of the feature to give you a tease of what it looks like:





Roy Connelly and Paul Banning painting in Suffolk


Roy Connelly and Paul Banning painting in Suffolk


Antony Bridge and myself painting in Bath


Antony Bridge and myself painting in Bath


The magazine team has been really lovely and the photographer has been kind enough to send me all the great images of the day out painting in Bath where Antony Bridge and myself produced a painting near Putleney Bridge. I have included many pictures below. The photographer's name is Gareth Iwan Jones - do check out his beautiful website (www.garethiwanjones.com)


©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com


©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com


Here is below the painting I produced during the session. The weather was overcast and it even rained at some point but I managed to catch a glimpse of sun between the clouds:

Pulteney Bridge, Bath, in the afternoon  16"x9"  oil on board

Detail

Below you'll see all the steps:

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com


©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com


©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com


The finished painting:


©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com

Although we were both sitting on the same bench, Antony painted the Abbey (while I painted the bridge) and he did the lovely painting you can see below:

©Gareth Iwan Jones     www.garethiwanjones.com


Here is again my finished painting below. The painting session happened in the afternoon, and I must confess that Antony and I did arrive in the morning at the place to practice before the arrival of the magazine team. I painted exactly the same view, the first time as a practice, and since it was an overcast day, both paintings ended up looking very similar. Scroll below to see the first one!

Pulteney Bridge, Bath, in the afternoon  16"x9"  oil on board


Here is below the painting I did in the morning as a warm up:

Pulteney Bridge, Bath, in the morning  16"x9"  oil on board


The painting during the morning "warm up" session


Detail of the morning painting


After the afternoon painting session with the team, Antony and I decided to reward ourselves with a nice hot beverage in town. Although quite tired, we felt we could find time for a last little painting before calling it a day so we headed back to mine and set up in one of my favourite spots which shows beautiful views of Bath and we caught the sunset. I produced this little painting:



Bath view from Oldfield park, summer evening  10"x8"  oil on board


The painting towards the end


Antony was loving those greens


The sun came out and gave me the chance to add some lovely highlights


Detail


My paintings are available for sale directly from me or through a gallery and can be shipped worldwide. Prices depends on size and subject and generally range from £100 to £500. Please email me to check prices and availability at valpirlot1@hotmail.com



I would like to finish this post by mentioning that I currently have paintings on show at two places for the moment (Bristol and Corsham) so if you are around, please go and have a look:


"Inspired" at the Guidlhall Arts Centre in Bristol
A permanent painting and sculpture exhibition continuously updated throughout the year which precedes the Bristol Prize 2013.
The show currently includes all my recent Cornwall paintings.
Small Street, Bristol BS1 1DW


Mayastudio gallery
9B Station Road
Corsham SN13 9EY
Open Monday to Saturday 10am to 4pm
The gallery currently includes my recent Bath paintings amongst others.

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Trip in Cornwall 2013 - Part 2

Here is the second post about my recent trip in Cornwall as a part of the Bath Prize 2012 (click here to view the first post). As I was staying in Porthleven, I took the chance to go back to Marizion beach and paint again St Michael's Mount (I painted at the same spot on a previous Cornwall trip). It was a lovely sunny day with enough clouds to give some drama to the compositions. I did 3 paintings on the day. 

The first painting below was painted from a little viewpoint just off the road. The lovely blues in the sky and purple/blues/greens in the water were begging to be painted:

St Michael's Mount from the coast, Marizion  9"x12"  oil on board

Below you can see my setting. It think it is some kind of viewpoint where people can stop the car and take photographs. Some people popped by and I made myself useful by taking pictures of couples standing in front of the Mount. I could almost have started a business there and charge people for it but then I remembered I had a painting to do :-)

As I was painting, someone asked me if I was there to paint the Queen. (??) Apparently, she was coming 2 days later to visit the castle on St Michael's Mount!  Unfortunately, I was there only for the day, so the Queen and I will have to reschedule a painting session at an other time...




Again, the lazy me found a convenient place to sit as there was a concrete bench. I could just see above the railing so it didn't actually obstruct my view like it does on the photograph.




As usual, I kept the brushstrokes lose and included the minimum amount of details possible to try to capture the essence of the place:

Detail


Detail2



After a lovely lunch with my mum at Ben's Cornish Kitchen (I told you my mum was good at feeding me between paintings!), I set up on the beach to capture the changing tide and moody sky: 

Marazion beach, Cornwall - sun between the clouds  16"x9"  oil on board

I really enjoyed doing this painting and getting my fix of fresh seaside air!


The painting towards the end

The sea had some lovely turquoise and green colours in it and the water was very sparkly when the sun came out:

Detail

Finally, I did a last little study of St Michael's Mount from the beach (see below). I loved the way the blue sky was piercing through the grey clouds and how the puddles of water on the sand are reflecting the colours of the sky. I know that we can moan a lot about the weather here in England, and probably only get about a week worth of summer, but to me, it offers the most beautiful moody skies and is a paradise for painters!

St Michael's Mount from Marazion beach, Penzance  7"x10"  oil on board

Talking about summer, you can see my stylish summer look below as I was being snapped by a paparazzi from behind the dunes! 




The painting towards the end

Adding the final touches...



Detail

That was my last painting of the trip as we had to head back the following day. Here are some pictures taken of Porthleven that evening bathed in the evening sun. I didn't get the chance to paint it on such a nice sunny light but might consider doing some studio works from it:


Porthleven harbour


My mum enjoying the views


Boats on the harbour


Beautiful typical english houses in the evening sunshine

Most of my Porthleven and Cornwall paintings will be on show and for sale at the end of June at the Guildhall Arts Centre in Bristol  (BS1 2HL) as a part of the show "Inspired" - showcasing around 600 paintings, sculptures and works of Art, which precedes the Bristol Prize 2013. More info will follow.

Sunday 2 June 2013

Trip in Cornwall 2013 - Part 1

I just got back a couple of weeks ago from a painting trip in Porthleven in Cornwall. This trip was the prize I won last year when I received The Plein Air prize during the Bath Prize 2012 competition. Two other painters - Peter Nance and Ben Hughes - won the same prize and we all had a wonderful inspiring time. My "+1" guest was my mum, who enjoyed visiting local gardens while I was painting (she is a gardening journalist in Belgium). She was back in time everyday to feed me and carry my kit, the perfect assistant!

Here are below the paintings I did in Porthleven where we were staying at:

Boats at low tide, Porthleven harbour   10"x8"  oil on board

For this painting, I sat down on the steps leading to the harbour during the low tide. What caught my eye was the combination of the bright colours of the boats and the lovely grey muddy puddles on the sand. I was all set up and ready to start when I realised I forgot my brushes at the apartment so I had to pack up and fetch them before setting up again. But it was worth it as I really enjoyed painting this one.


The painting in progress


Detail


Detail

The painting below is the classic view of the harbour with the church in the background. The weather was quite cloudy but still with a bright light which made the white boats and houses stand out:

Porthleven harbour in the afternoon   16"x9"  oil on board

Why stand up while you can comfortably sit on a bench?



I soon realised that the bench I was sitting on was right next to the bus stop, as I had the chance to chat with various local people waiting for the bus and telling me all about how the place was 50 years ago, and how late the bus was. I must say all the people I met during this trip were so nice and welcoming.  


The painting towards the end


Detail


This painting below was done on a miserable rainy day. I couldn't face going out of the apartment and shamelessly spent all morning watching "The curious case of Benjamin Button" on TV. I forced myself to get out in the afternoon and found shelter in the covered empty fish market place. I did this little painting below:  

Porthleven harbour on a grey day   10"x8"  oil on board


The painting towards the end

Detail


Once I got home I got the lovely surprise to notice that my bags - which you can see on the floor below - caught the fish smell from the wet floor they were sitting on. Always nice to bring a little souvenir back home.



Seeing me wrapped up like this, you wouldn't think it was May!



The  painting in progress



Detail



The painting below was actually the first one I did on my arrival at Porthleven. And I must admit it was probably my toughest plein air experience so far! 

Porthleven coast on a windy day   14"x11"   oil on board

I set up on the edge of the cliff alongside the coast. It was a VERY windy day and I struggled to find any shelter. I was wrapped up like someone who would dress for a North Pole exhibition but was still feeling the cold wind. The dramas in order were: 1. my medium had completely leaked in my bag; 2. my chair broke and I fell on the floor; 3. It started raining and got my umbrella out but it broke because of the wind; 4. my painting started to get ruined because of the heavy rain. 

If a painting was to be priced by the effort you went through to produce it, then this one surely is worth a couple of million pounds!

I actually had to finish it in the studio because the conditions didn't let me finish on the spot.

The view from where I was sitting


Detail

I'll post soon my 3 last paintings of the trip, done in Marazion, near St Michael's Mount, where I was blessed with beautiful weather.