La Gravette

La Gravette, a beautiful old French house, carefully renovated as a holiday home. It was here that a wonderful French-Bavarian wedding took place last year - regular readers might remember my paintings from that event.

oil on wood panel - Öl auf Holzplatte - huile sur plaque de bois
24,5 cm x 13,5 cm / 9,65" x 5,32"
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Golden Light

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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Epeluche

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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Ah, this light! A blessing for us artists!
I will be on the road again for a while, so there might be no postings for a few days, but I hope to get back to you as soon as possible with new impressions! So, stay tuned!

Down to Earth

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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I enjoyed painting this field. I had the feeling of nearly actually sculpting the soil and the grass - thus the title... For quite some time I have played with the idea of painting just soil, no grass, no sky, nothing else but thick chunks of soil, as you see them on the fields now. One of these days I'm going to tackle that challenge!

Font Losse

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

After two very busy and tiring months, I have started painting again - at last!

Paul and Antony

Our move is now in the end phase, only three more weeks in our old house and very much work to do. So I hardly get round to painting and thought I would show you where two of my paintings went to. This is a photo by the photographer Rip Hopkins, that he published in a book about the english people in this area, the Dordogne, titled "Another Country". I was very pleased to see that he decided to photograph these two gentlemen besides their portraits, painted by me.

Wedding with "Zavatta"

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

At last back to the easel - sorry about the delay.
This last weekend we were invited to a wedding - and what a wonderful wedding it was!! For the nearly 200 guests, they had rented a real circus tent from the family "Zavatta", the most famous circus family here in France. So when we arrived in the early evening, this was the first sight we had of the festivities - a big, wonderful circus tent at the top of a huge meadow, next to a pavillion, where the aperitifs where served at the side of a swimming pool. The atmosphere was very special and we had a great night! I will be painting (and telling) more from that unique event!

Siorac de Riberac

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

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"
sold - verkauft - vendu

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"
sold - verkauft - vendu

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.

Country Road

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 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!

St.Emilion

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

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"
sold - verkauft - vendu

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"
sold - verkauft - vendu

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...

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!

Matin d'ete

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

Springtime

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