Monday 21 December 2015

Capturing a place with paint

For my last post before Christmas I wanted to share a commission of four paintings I did earlier this year for a lady in Uccle (Brussels), Belgium. The property was outstanding and I tried to capture the beauty of the house and surrounding gardens. I worked on larger formats that I'm used to (40cm/60cm) but I really enjoyed the process and the client was very happy with the result which is always a relief!

The painting below is a side of the garden and features the beautiful globe metallic sculpture. The star of the show was the tree with the beautiful red foliage. I enjoyed suggesting the back of the garden with looser and cooler brushstrokes to give a sense of distance.

Uccle series - Garden with sculpture

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The second painting below is the driveway leading to the house. There was such a magical light piercing through the leaves which I tried to depict with impressionistic brushstrokes. 


Uccle series - The entrance

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The third painting below is a view over the garden from the top floor window of the house. It gives an idea of the beauty and scale of the property. The challenge here was to treat all the different greens in a different way to show the various shades, textures and depths of the trees and flowers in the garden.

Uccle series - The garden from above

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The one below is a cropped version of the painting of the house. I removed the house for privacy purposes but wanted to show here the trees and swimming pool surrounding the building.

Uccle series - The house (cropped detail)

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If you are interested in a commission of your house, garden, favourite room, favourite view etc..., you can contact me here or visit www.valeriepirlot.com/commissions for more info.

I wish you all a merry Christmas and fantastic year 2016 full of creativity!

Thursday 10 December 2015

Pop up Art shop this week-end in Bath!

Exciting news! A space just got available in my friend's shop in Bath so I will be setting up a pop up Art shop with my artist friend Bob Child for this week-end only (12-13 December). So if you are in Bath this week end, do come and see us! I will be there both days and Bob will be there all day Saturday.

There will be a wide range of products available (calendars, postcards and cards, small prints, giclée prints) and also original paintings on display. For those who came to our show in May in Bradford-on-Avon, you will find a fresh selection of prints and some new original paintings too.


Here are all the details below:

Valérie Pirlot & Bob Child Pop up Art shop
at "Charlie Boots" shop
35 Broad Street, Bath BA1 5LP

*Two days only*
Saturday 12 December: 10am-5.30pm
Sunday 13 December: 11am-4pm

valpirlot1@hotmail.com
07913474535






The shop is situated on Broad Street, near the Pig and Fiddle pub and Waitrose.
Click on the maps below for a larger view:

© google
















© google





















Here is a quick preview of what will be on display:


Original oil paintings by Valérie Pirlot:






Original watercolours by Bob Child:











A wide range of products:






Art prints by Bob Child:








And there will be us too!





We hope to see you there. But if you can't make it, remember you can browse and buy products/paintings online on our websites:

Valérie Pirlot

Bob Child


Saturday 5 December 2015

Painting against the elements...

Here is a little oil sketch of the Bath views from Alexandra Park in Bath. This painting might look similar to my other paintings. However, there is something quite special about it: it seems it wasn't meant to be painted. Let me explain: sometimes, you feel that all the elements are against you and that only the willpower of a superhero will get the job done. Well, that was the case here. See below for the full story.


Cold winter day, Alexandra Park  10"x8" oil on board - click here to buy this painting


Here is what happened: I got up at 7am on a saturday morning and by the time I took care of my daughter, prepared my painting kit, got wrapped up for this cold day (7 layers of clothes in total!), drove to the park, set up my kit and was ready to paint, it was already 11am (I'm a slow starter I know). As I was inspired and ready to put my first brushstroke on the canvas, I suddenly realised that I forgot my paints tubes home! Every painter's nightmare! I packed my stuff, got back home and then realised I didn't have my home keys on me. Fortunately I caught my husband just as he was leaving the house. I got my paints, put them in my rucksack and gave a lift to my husband and daughter on my way back to the painting spot. I waved them goodbye and then 2 minutes later realised my husband took my rucksack by mistake! I wanted to ring him but my phone was in there too (alongside my paints!). So I parked the car and ran around town like a mad woman looking for him ! Fortunately it all ended well: I finally found him, got my bag back and could get ready to paint again (it was 12.30 by then...). It was a bitterly cold day but I managed to finish this little painting and was quite pleased with it, maybe because I had to work harder to get it... I like the abstract quality of it, probably because I had to stop adding details before my fingers froze!

Here is below the view from Alexandra Park. I was painting the middle right section, with the train tracks going pass Widcombe.





This is me with my 7 layers of clothes and looking ridiculous as always:



Here are below the various steps of the painting. One passer by looked at the painting at that point and kept looking at the view with a confused look wondering what on earth I was painting. I tried to explain this is just the start so it is normal if it looks like a two years old's drawing at this stage!






The finished painting with the view:




A couple of close up details below:


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This painting is available for sale on the link below:



Before I end this post, I need to tell you that I will have a painting for sale at the charity Art sale organised by renowned painter Tim Benson to raise funds for those affected by Ebola in Sierra Leone. 

The event will be held at the Mall Galleries, London on the evening of 10th December from 5-8pm. All work is donated by the artists and funds raised from the sale of works will go directly to the Ebola survivors and the frontline healthcare workers who he met on his recent trip to Sierra Leone.

Below is my painting that will be on sale at the show:

Looking up to Gay Street, October afternoon  oil on board 8"x10"


Click here for more info:

If you wish to reserve/purchase the painting please contact directly Tim Benson by email at tim@timbensonart.co.uk. And if you can, have a look at the show on 10th December, which promises to include some great work, including some paintings by Tim himself.

Finally, just a quick note to remind you about all my products for sale directly from my shiny new website (calendars, postcards, prints, and original paintings) which can make great Christmas presents to my humble and neutral opinion :-)