"Provence Olive Grove" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 12")

 

"Provence Olive Grove" (watercolor, 9" x 12")

I decided to blog about my online Zoom classes with the Art League School in Alexandria, VA. This is what we did in the last week of the fall term, 2021 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class.  

The lesson was "Inspired by Vincent van Gogh," the famous post-impressionist painter who doesn't need introduction. We painted the olive grove next to the Abbaye de Montmajour, near Arles, where van Gogh used to live. He drew the medieval monastic ruins many times. He probably painted the same olive grove with the distant Alpilles mountains in the background. We tried to channel van Gogh in watercolor, focusing on mark-making with a high-key, impressionist colors.

First, I drew the design with watercolor pencils. Then I painted the sky on dry paper with very pale Winsor lemon (along the mountains) and cobalt blue (from the top of the paper) and let the two colors merge. If the brush skipped the paper and left some white bits, so much better. There you go an instant cloud or two!

When the sky wash dried, I painted the distant mountains in a mid-tone purple mixture of cobalt blue and permanent alizarin crimson (adding a little quinacridone gold to neutralize the purple). While the mountain wash was drying, I painted the dry grass shape with a light gold wash, leaving some white bits. Then went in the distant plane (between the mountains and the olive grove) in the light green wash of cobalt blue and lemon.

The olive leaves were painted with the same mixture, perhaps slightly bluer (even with the two-color mixture, you can push it to one way or to the other). The gnarly olive tree trunks and branches were painted with the mid-tone mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. The foreground bush was painted with light green and some yellow on top. Don't put this shape right in the middle, or make it too big, important and detailed! The purpose of the bush is to introduce some interest in the big foreground grass shape.

Now the painting is blocked in, it was time to break it down, add definitions, details, and brush strokes, and generally add busy marks in the style of Vincent. This was done with an increasingly deeper versions of the first colors, making sure we don't go too dark, maintaining a high-key feeling.

For the grass, I used a rigger brush, which made different marks. The shadows of the trees that indicate the time of the day (late afternoon) and the flat terrain were painted with the purple mixture of ultramarine blue and crimson.

I don't think I painted like van Gogh at all. Busy brush strokes are not my cup of tea! It was a fun project though. Below are the reference and my sample painting (at the bottom of the post). 

 

"Provence Olive Grove" Reference

Here is a quick look at what we have covered in just nine weeks. I am planning lots of fun projects for the winter term. The winter registration for my online "Watercolor from Start to Finish" is open; here is the link for the class.

"Fall Trees" (watercolor, 12" x 9")

"Sunflowers" (watercolor, 9" x 9")

"Peggy's Cove Lighthouse" (watercolor, 12" x 9")

"Red on Red" (watercolor, 9" x 12")

"Holmes Run Rocks" (watercolor, 12" x 9")

"Storm Moving In" (watercolor, 9" x 12")

"Siberian Tiger" (watercolor, 9" x 12")

"Annie" (watercolor, 12" x 9")

"Provence Olive Grove" (watercolor, 9" x 12")

Collage of My April 2016 Paintings

Collage of My April 2016 Paintings

In my garden, azaleas have peaked and irises started blooming.  That's how I follow the progression of season.  And there is of course a monthly collage of the paintings from the previous month.  Last month I did a lot of local Washington cityscapes, plus some still lifes and portraits.  Which painting is your favorite?

"Twelve Inches Squared of Sunshine" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 12") sold

sold

I put sunflowers, purple statice, and white Peruvian lilies in a creamy porcelain pitcher by the kitchen window.  One sunny afternoon, I saw the side-lit bouquet; et voila, it was a painting subject.  It has been a few weeks since the magical moment, when I finally got around to paint "Twelve Inches Squared of Sunshine".

Throw Pillows for Your Room

click here to order throw pillows

click here to order throw pillows

The above two paintings have been sold, to the satisfaction of both my collectors and myself. They remain two of my favorite paintings, full of energy and light.  Now they are available as throw pillows!  Isn't it awesome?  

Designs are printed on both sizes; three square sizes are available (16", 18", and 20"); the material is soft yet hard wearing 100% spun polyester poplin fabric; and concealed zipper is along one edge for aesthetic wonderment and convenience.

I am very excited about the whole idea of making my art more accessible to my fans and followers.  Greeting cards and calendars are also in the works!  

"Sunflowers on Hot Summer Day" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

sold

No other flowers say "summer" as loudly as sunflowers.  In the depth of winter, or on a cool summer day like today, if I want to feel the hot summer sun in my heart, I just have to think of these big, bold, in-your-face, flowers.

By the way, I am back to painting oils.  You wouldn't believe how exciting it is to switch back and forth between mediums.  Watercolors do something oils cannot do; there are things one can do only with oils.  As I told a friend of mine, by renewing my watercolor ways, which were my first love, I doubled the fun!  I am sharing the collage of the paintings I created during my explorations on Yupo painting last month.  Enjoy!

Collage of my Yupo Paintings created in July 2013!

"Sunflower and Tulips" (oil on linen; 12" x 12") sold

sold

Floral still life demo I

Floral still life demo II

Floral still life demo III

Floral still life demo IV

Dreama's finished demo painting

Floral still life student show

Last three days I attended Dreama Tolle Perry's workshop in Springfield, VA.  Wow. That sums up my experience.  I signed up for her workshop last May and have been impatiently waiting for it.  I ordered the paints and brushes she recommended, which have since become part of my "arsenal."  I bought her book and poured over it, trying to figure out how she did it.  In the end, I had to wait to see her in action to learn her methods.

I am overwhelmed and overstimulated with the stuff I've learned for the past three days. Here are some of the things I remember.  What attracts me and many others to Dreama's art is, I believe, her joie de vivre, "happy" colors, and bold brushstrokes. Her joy of life that one senses in her website/blog is her true self.  She is not bubbly all the time.  She is actually a quite reserved and sincere person.  It's just that she appreciates life and is eager to share her joy with others.

Her "happy" colors come from her love of colors.  You might think that she slaps random bright colors on canvas.  I was really surprised to see how she started her painting.  In the middle of the four edges of Ampersand Gessoboard (her support of choice; I instead used linen mounted on Baltic birch panel), she made a mark, then without any drawing, she started painting the dark and mid-tone underpainting.

The shockingly dark underpainting gave her painting the foundation, gravitas, so to speak.  In this stage, she used ONLY transparent colors.  No white or opaque colors were allowed.  While the underpainting was still wet (Dreama is an alla-prima painter, who finishes her painting in one session with many breaks), she introduced opaque paints and white.  Form and light were carved out with opaque colors.

The students painted from the same reference photo, I might add fearlessly, following the teacher's step-by-step instructions.  Despite the shock we were in, we did a fabulous job, as you can see in the bottom picture.  Tomorrow I will continue my experience during the workshop with Dreama.

"Sunny Sunflowers" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

sold

Reference photo

There is something about the sunflower that make it irresistible.  It is possibly the most favored flower, after the rose, of course.  If I remember correctly, Vincent van Gogh's painting of sunflowers used to be the most expensive painting in the world until its record was broken.  As some of my readers may know, I regularly auction my artwork on eBay, and whenever I list a sunflower painting, there is a positive buzz from the first day!  Perhaps it's because I usually throw in a couple of bees, too (ha, ha).

"Sunflowers and Happy Bee" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") sold

sold

Reference photo

On to way to Lancaster, PA to pick up our daughter at camp, my husband and I stopped by at the rest area in York.  Instead of going in to use the facilities, I dawdled, captivated by these sunflowers.  I was the only person taking pictures of these cheerful flowers; other people were obviously more sensible than I!  Sensible or not, I was as happy as the bee on the flower on the right.  Whenever I find the reference material for future painting projects, I feel like I hit the jackpot.  How small things in life please me!

On the technical note, compare the photo above with my painting.  The photo's colors are predominantly cool yellows and greens; my painting is dominated by warm yellows and violets.  I did that on purpose, pushing the yellows toward the sun and contrasting the yellows with the complementary violets so that the painting would pulsate.  Besides, I love using pure colors out of the tubes: cadmium lemon, yellow light, and yellow medium.  They are toxic--never to be touched or, god forbid, digested--but no other synthetic paints can replace them.  They simply glow.

"Sunflowers and Daffodils" (oil on linen, 12" x 14") sold

sold

Robert's demo painting

The second day of the oil still life workshop with Robert A. Johnson was all painting and no relaxing by watching the teacher do a long demo.  I was better prepared than the previous day with my own vase and fabric.  I wanted to paint something different from Friday so that I could learn as much as I could in three days, so I chose sunflowers, balancing them with a couple of daffodils and purple flowers whose name I can't remember.

Can you tell which flowers I had the most trouble with?  It was the sunflowers.  Robert said politely that they looked too "petally."  Compare my sunflowers on top with his at the bottom.  A careful observation of shapes, then decisive brushstrokes.  No dubious handling of values, either.  Look at how dark the center of his flower and shadows between petals are.  Not that I am unhappy or upset with my painting.  I am actually proud because I tried hard and did my best.

What pleases him the most about his painting career, Robert said, is that he can honestly say he is painting better than six months ago, that he is not so self-satisfied with his artwork that he will stop growing as a painter.  This is from a master who has been painting for decades!  I have a long way to go and am eager for my artistic journey.