Monday 26 June 2017

Portugal Day 4

Finally here is my last blog post about the Portugal trip with the 4 paintings I did on the last day. It took me so long to finally post them all that either you had completely forgotten about it (quite likely), or instead the intense suspense of this long wait was killing you! (who knows) ;-) Well, no more waiting, here they are.

On the last day, we all stayed in the beautiful garden and surroundings of the property as there was lots of beautiful subjects to chose from and we didn't want to waste any time travelling to various painting spots. In the morning, Tim, David P., Karl and I walked to the edge of the cliff to capture the warm colours of the morning light.


Morning light, Cama da Vaca   16"x9"  oil on board
Available for sale here

In progress


Towards the end


Tim King


David Pilgrim


David Pilgrim and Karl Terry



Walking back home through the garden, I spotted an interesting tree with light piercing through the leaves. I couldn't resist, I had to give it a try. Lunch will have to wait!

Tree, Cama da Vaca   12"x10"  oil on board
Available for sale here


After 30 minutes


Towards the end


Painting gardens is one of my favourite thing so I was having the best time ever. Just after lunch I spotted this beautiful arch with views over the sea. I kept it very loose, I just wanted to capture the essence of it without getting lost in details.


Garden arch at Cama da Vaca  7"x10"  oil on board
Available for sale here



Quick drawing



Blocking the colours in



Adding more contrast


Towards the end


Finally, we only had time for a last painting before heading back to the airport.  I was shown this beautiful view with olive trees that some of the guys painted in the morning so I couldn't resist having a go myself. The place was beautiful and it was so peaceful, I could have stayed there for hours, but it was time to catch our flight!


Olive trees, Cama da Vaca  10"x7"  oil on board
Available here


At the start


After an hour or so



Towards the end


In case you wonder how we managed to transport wet paintings, well, during the trip I used a wet panels carrier box. Mine was kindly made by Tim King who ingenuously built it with polystyrene (and not wood like many on the market) so it is truly lightweight. And for the plane, most of us used the ingenious matchsticks technique: stacking the paintings up two by two with same sizes and separating them on the edges with matchsticks (whose heads have been cut off) glued at the back, to leave a gap, then stacking the whole pile together and wrapping it tightly with tape. That can be then transported in a hand luggage.

I have wonderful memories from this trip and had so much fun painting so intensely after such a long baby break. 

A few group pictures from the trip:

From left to right: Valérie Pirlot, Haidee Jo Summers, Mo Teeuw, John Stillman, Karl Terry,
Andrew Roberts, David Pilgrim, David Bachmann, Tim King, Tony Dakin, Michael Richardson







All my Portugal paintings are available on my website here:


I now have some new Bath paintings to post and some news to share so I will do that in my next post as soon as I get the chance. 

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Sunday 11 June 2017

Portugal Day 3

Better late than ever, here is the second part of my recent Portugal painting trip which includes paintings of Lagos and a painting of the beautiful fish supper we had one evening.

Here is below the view over Lagos that coud be seen from the car park. Most of my artist friends went to explore the nearby beach to find the best painting spot, but I was happy staying right there, because I found the view inspiring and wanted a change from the beach and the rocks. (or maybe I was just too lazy to walk, that is a strong possibility too)

Lagos  10"x8"  oil on board
Available for sale here


Detail

Here are a few steps

quick drawing


Blocking the colours in


Adding finishing touches



When I finished the painting, I had time for an other quick one before lunch, so decided to simply turn my easel around (now I do sound really lazy!) and paint the view towards the beach. Here is the result. 


Lagos cove   7"x10"  oil on board
Available for sale here

Detail

A few steps:
Simple drawing

Blocking the colours in

Towards the end


Afterwards, we all stopped for lunch. I never share pictures of food as it's pretty boring, but this was the best prawn pasta ever!


From left to right: Tony Dakin, David Pilgrim, Karl Terry, John Stillman, Andrew Roberts,
David Bachmann, Mo Teeuw, Haidee Jo Summers, myself and Tim King




After lunch I went to paint in Lagos centre but after an hour battling with my brushes, I ended up wiping my disastrous attempt to paint a busy street. There was only 45 minutes before we had to head home and I did a quick little 5"x7" painting of the view towards the marina. Very simple but I quite like it.


Lagos, looking towards the marina  7"x5"  oil on board (SOLD)



Can't get much smaller than this!



Finally, back home, our lovely cook was preparing some beautiful fish. Haidee, Mo, Karl and I couldn't resist doing a quick painting of it. The poor cook just wanted to put it in the oven, and we kept saying "just five more minutes please"! We ate a bit later than usual that night but had a great time painting these. 






Fish at Cama da Vaca  10"x8"  oil on board (SOLD)

Detail


Haidee, Mo and I painting the fish dish (on the coffee table)


That's it for day three. I'll soon post the paintings of the last day of the trip. 

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