Siorac de Riberac

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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Luckily the weather didn't change and we actually had a beautiful, clear, sunny autumn day which was great for painting "plein air". This is our small village as we see it on our way out into the world. It is situated on a slope and overlooks a beautiful valley with it's romanesque church, dating from the 13th century.

Changing Weather

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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On the Way to Aubeterre

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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Guess I'm on a roll here and I hope you're not getting bored, but I am really enjoying painting our countryside at the moment.

House by the Woods

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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Country Road

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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This road is on the way to Lusignac, a beautiful village, where several friends of mine live. One of them just gave me a call to invite us round for drinks and "nibbles", as he said - love that word - as he and his Javanese wife will be leaving for a longer stay in Java next week. So after having painted it today, I will now drive along this country road and verify if I actually captured it well!

Autumn Fields

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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Startet this one yesterday afternoon and left it looking quite different than now, thinking it was more or less finished..
Today though, I changed nearly everything and like it much better than before.
Nevertheless I'm not sure it was worth so many hours of work! Sometimes it's better to just start a new painting!

House in the Valley

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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St.Emilion

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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Should you ever come to this area, stop by in St.Emilion and taste some excellent wine while enjoying spectacular views like this one into the valley of the river Dordogne!
It is actually even on the list of the "World Cultural Heritage"!

Farm Track

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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Wet, muddy and chilly, but beautiful colours to enjoy and paint!

Path to the Neighbours

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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It's become really cold here suddenly - this morning -2° celsius which is below freezing point! So the colours of the leaves are changing and offer wonderful painting subject!

Down to the Lake

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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The landscape around here is nothing really spectacular but nevertheless it is very beautiful. When going along some little road in a forest or through a plane of some ordinary fields, every now and then you will suddenly be surprised by a fantastic view into a wide valley which opens in front of you into the far distance, as in this picture - I like that change of closeness and vasteness.

Vineyards in the Bergeracois, France

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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Well, looks like I will be painting these landscapes for a little longer, as they do help me to loosen up. Actually I always start fairly loose with bold brushstrokes (even with paintings that end up very tight). Then somewhere along the way I get drawn into the details, which has in parts also been the case with these last landscapes but at the moment I'm trying really hard to focus on colors and values and nothing else. So when I notice I'm going too far again, I take a bigger brush and bravely cover up all the details with one big splash (as far as that is possible on this small format!). AND - it is soo liberating! AND - it is mostly for the better!
Ps: "Splash" seems a bit exaggerated but I don't know which word would be more suitable...

Cold Morning in Autumn

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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Our garden with view into the valley and rolling hills on the other side.
I am trying and enjoying to keep the paint more fluid and plan on doing more landscapes for a while. But then - I don't always stick to my plans...

Homeward

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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Houses in Chignac, old farm near Riberac, Dordogne

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
sold - verkauft - vendu

This part of France is still fairly authentic, in spite of many foreigners having converted old buildings like these - often to the better, sometimes to the worse. But one does still come across properties that don't seem to have changed for centuries. And just when you imagine the farmer coming round the corner on a horse carriage - voila! - there he comes on a huge modern tractor!

Rose Hips

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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Le Pot Rouge

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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Same subject, different angle, different light - always interesting to see things from a changed perspective..... not only in regard to painting!

Ancient Walls, detail of old French farm

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
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This is a part of our property that hasn't been renovated yet - probably one of the very first buildings that was built here a few hundred years ago. The walls really are ancient and the wood of the doors look like weathered, wrinkly old faces - very beautiful.

Pumpkin in Fog, semi abstract

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
sold - verkauft - vendu

You might wonder what on earth I painted here - well, after having tried for three hours - in agony - to come up with a decent painting of a pumpkin, I finally gave up and decided to wipe it all off. Yet, I did quite like the stem and kept wiping around it, not really wanting to destroy the only tiny little part of the painting I felt happy with. Holding on to the stem, so to say.... And then, I thought it had something, that pumpkin in a foggy cloud and decided to post it nevertheless. What do you think? I offer it for 70 Euros.

The Lavender Bush, charming b&b in France

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
sold - verkauft - vendu>

The last three days we had some guests staying here in our guest room and while I was clearing out after they had left, I once again became aware of the lovely scent this lavender bush gives off when you pass it - although the blossoms were cut off about a month ago! The leaves alone smell so good! That, and of course, as always, the sun inspired me to paint this charming corner.

To the Balcony

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
sold - verkauft - vendu

A bit overcast and quite chilly this morning, so I decided to paint an interior. I am obviously not as tough as René in Holland or as Carol Marine when she was in Germany! I do admire them!
As you can see, this is an old house - admittedly the balustrade of the staircase looks alarming but believe me, it is perfectly safe and firm!

Red Cushions, table and chairs on sunny terrace

oil on canvas panel - Öl auf Malplatte - huile sur carton entoilé
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
sold - verkauft - vendu

As promised yesterday, I did get round to painting this other nice spot around our house, as the sun was still shining bright and warm today.