Travels And Destinations

I'm back with part two of my crazy painting spree.  As I said in my last post, I wanted to enter two shows that had specific themes.  This show was titled "Travels And Destinations".  I have plenty of small studies done on location, but I have never been successful at turning those into large studio paintings.  So, for this show, I decided to do something that I never do:  use photographs.  I normally would never paint from photos, but it was the only way to get these paintings done.  I did have some help from my field studies, so I was still able to capture the mood that I was after.

The first painting was of Monet's pond in Giverny.  Years ago I was lucky enough to spend some time in Giverny when artists were still allowed to paint in his gardens.  I have several posts coming up dedicated to my time there, but for this post, I'll just concentrate on the painting for the travel show.

One day last fall I was feeling particularly fed up with the orchids I was working on and I just needed to paint something that was not going to strain my brain and that would be some fun.  I had a canvas that had less than stellar paintings on both sides, so on a whim I pulled it out and began throwing paint on it for a landscape.  I had some of my Giverny photos in the studio, so I pulled one out and got to work.  I blocked in the canvas and did some work on the sky and the famous giant willows that surround the pond.  After a day of this I got back to work on the orchids and basically forgot about the landscape until the call for this show came up.

I'm sorry to say that I was in such a frenzy painting that I did not document my steps along the way, but here is the finished painting.

Monet's Pond At Dusk, 16x20, oil

My next painting was from the botanical gardens in San Miguel de Allende.  My field studies are too awful to show here, but they did capture the colors and the heat of the place.  Between them and some photos I was able to get what I was after.  I actually did this painting in two days.

I put in the sky and the great cloud shape.  Then I blocked in the greenery and the dirt. Even though El Charco del Ingenio is called the botanical gardens in San Miguel, it is really the desert so I tried hard to get the dry, earthy, hot feeling of the landscape there.

El Charco del Ingenio, 12x16, oil

This is the finished painting.  I am not a landscape painter by any means, but these were fun to paint and I'm happy to report that the painting of Monet's Pond was accepted into the show!

Now that all this crazy is over, I'm back to painting my still life and florals.  I have a few new paintings to show you and my studio is just about finished so I'll have that coming up as well.  

Happy New Year And A New Still Life

Happy New Year everybody!  I hope 2014 is off to a good start for you.  We are in a deep freeze here in New York and the weather has been nasty in general, so I have not spent as much time in my studio as I normally do, but I did finish up a new still life yesterday.

This was the original set up.  As you can see from the plum, I started this quite a while ago (in October I think).  I worked on it for two painting sessions, then went to Mexico.  On my return from San Miguel de Allende, I started work on my lovely model, Jamila.  It is just recently that I have returned to this painting to finish it up.

This was the original block in and the second day work.

Fast forward to picking up the painting again.  There was not a plum to be had in New York City so the plum became an orange.  I also changed the cloth on the shelf.  I'm happy things turned out this way as I like this set up much better than the first.

I also decided to redo the vase.  The shadow on the left hand side was not strong enough and that was making the vase look flat.

Building up the shadows and colors.

Started adding the pattern on the cloth after finishing everything else

Vase With Oranges And Grapes, 12x16, oil

Here is the finished painting.  This was a fun still life to paint and a good reminder that it is okay to change things as you go along.  I'm glad to have this painting done as I'm starting a new portrait soon.
As soon as we have a sunny day and my windows are not covered with ice I will take the "official" photograph of this painting.

Stay warm everybody!

San Miguel de Allende: A Visit To El Charco del Ingenio

A few days after arriving in San Miguel de Allende, we decided to take a trip out to El Charco del Ingenio.  El Charco is an amazing botanical garden and nature preserve.  We have several botanical gardens here in New York, but this place was unlike anything I'd ever seen.   For starters, there were almost no flowers.  The preserve is in the desert and features desert trees and all different kinds of cactus, some of which are in danger of extinction.

My original plan was to join my friends out in the field and paint the reservoir.  It is insanely beautiful.  Can you believe the sky and the clouds?  Amazing.

On the way down there I came upon a huge line of enormous ants carrying leaves and building a house (?) for themselves.  I am a city girl and this got me a bit freaked out, but I kept going on and made it to the water.

I set myself up and almost immediately noticed an enormous black bug heading straight toward me.  That was a little too much nature for me and I packed up and headed back to the snack bar!  I know, I'm crazy, but I couldn't help it.  Central Park is about as close as I get to the outdoors and this took some getting used to.

I got myself under the overhang at the snack bar and happily set up my easel.  There was beautiful scenery everywhere and it was not hard to find something to paint.

Much different from what I usually paint, right?  In fact I brought the paintings over to my studio today and couldn't believe the difference from my usual work.  This trip was such a great way to change things up and explore new painting horizons.

I loved El Charco so much that I decided to make a return trip a few days later.  It was so beautiful and peaceful that I could not leave San Miguel without visiting there one more time (I'll show you that painting in another post).

Before I sign off, I must give a shout out to the staff.  Not only did they have delicious food and smoothies, but they didn't mind me and my easel being set up in the midst of their tables.  They could not have been nicer.

Have a good day everybody.  See you tomorrow!

San Miguel de Allende: El Jardin

I spent much of my time in San Miguel de Allende in El Jardin, the town square.  I really believe that El Jardin is what makes visitors pack up and move south.  In fact, the first day I was there painting on the street I heard someone call out my name and it turned out to be a friend from New York!   She visited San Miguel for two weeks in January and promptly packed up and moved there (I'm fantasizing about that as we speak due to our horrible weather).

El Jardin is where everyone hangs out.  There are artists, shoppers, people selling all kinds of things on the street, people just hanging out on the benches reading the paper, talking or having coffee.  My favorite thing to do there was hang out at the Cafe El Jardin having a limonata.  After painting all day we would get lunch and a drink and people watch.  I've been missing it everyday since I've been back home.

Speaking of painting,  I wish I had a finished painting to show you from El Jardin, but I do not.  I made three attempts, but none panned out.  It happens.  Perspective is not my strong suit and with rolling hills added in, well, it just did not happen.  But I do have some fun pictures to show you.

La Parroquia, one of the most photographed churches in Mexico

La Parroquia at night

My painting set up

Yes, there is a Starbucks, but that is the only chain in the area

Groups of school children always stopped to see what we were up to

Hanging out at the cafe

Saw this woman on the street everyday

 I have lots more photos but will save them for another post.  In the meantime I'm going to get back to San Miguel real estate fantasizing!  Have a great day everybody.

My Big Painting Adventure: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico!

Hello Everyone.  I'm so glad to be back to blogging.  I know I have been gone for awhile.  The reason is that I went on a 10 day painting trip to Mexico!  It was a great trip and I can't wait to tell you all about it.

We spent our time in San Miguel de Allende, a beautiful town recently voted the number one city in the world in the Conde Nast Magazine reader poll.

These are some photos from the car leaving Mexico City.  The highway was busy and crowded leaving the airport, but eventually gives way to mountains and desert.

A few hours after landing we were in beautiful San Miguel.  San Miguel is a small city with a good sized American expat population, and after spending 10 days there I understand why people choose to retire or have second homes there.  The weather is great (75 degrees there today vs. 28 in NYC), it is very clean, the people are friendly and there is a great free spirited vibe about the place.

Sunset was soon after we arrived.  Every night was more beautiful than the last.

This is the view we saw the first morning.  The blue sky was unlike anything I've ever seen.

I heard some barking and this guy was looking down at me from his roof top.  Such a cutie.

Our first morning started off with Gregg doing a demo for us.  He did a two hour painting of the lovely Victoria in the outdoor studio of our B & B.

The block in

Adding detail

Placing the shadows

End of the demo

After Gregg's demo, we set up our easels to paint Victoria.  I made a good start, but it takes awhile to paint a complete portrait and unfortunately Victoria was unable to pose for us again.

This was just the start of a great painting week.  Tomorrow I will show you some of the spots we painted in around town and out in the desert.  

Hope everybody is doing well.  See you tomorrow!

Frances