Category: France

#1504 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, France, SerendipityLeave a comment

There was never a plan to paint yesterday.

#1503 theoldmortuary ponders

Tennis Club admin, rat eradication and emails were my target for the day.

Pest control took a little longer than planned and a Summer rain storm soaked me through. For reasons that I can’t quite put a finger on I decided that a rain storm was exactly the moment to paint a sea pool in a heatwave.

I am physically painting a lot less this year, and yesterday was an absolute joy. This painting is a mixture of traditional water colour and water colour pencils.

Water colour pencils are my quick/ holiday/travel medium of choice. A pencil case and a sketch book take virtually no space in a bag and water is always easy to find.

The other travel tool is my smart phone. Digital manipulation  can sometimes rescue a failing painting. The Sea Pool at Conleau did not need rescuing but I did have a little half hour of tweaking.

To be honest I dont think these digitally tweaked images have a huge amount of value. They give me the slight AI ‘ick’. But looking at them gave me some ideas on how to improve my painting. They offer a different perspective. Just one digital manipulation pleases me.

A much simpler less vivid image. Not at all Conleau in a heatwave. But certainly a nod to the 1930’s history of the emergence of Conleau as a tourist destination.

Digital dabbling is a great learning experience and I can do it on my phone whenever there are a few spare minutes in a day

But nothing beats creating art using my hands and art materials. Who could possibly pass up sharpening pencils. Such a satisfying task.

#1503 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, FranceLeave a comment
The Sea Pool at Conleau Basin

Today I am whisking you all back to France in a heatwave.

The thing about heatwaves is that they are relentlessly hot. A campervan holiday in 35 degrees is an exercise in trying really hard to keep cool when stationary. Humans are one consideration but a curly haired dog is quite another. For her sake we booked into a cool Airbnb for three days.

A heatwave is not great for art or photography. The sun makes photographs really pretty dull as deep shadows and bright sunlight drown out detail

And the baking heat dries out paints far too quickly for anything useful to be achieved. I tried. All attempts are in the bin.

Oh my arty bones were very frustrated I really wanted to show some of the beautiful places we visited.

Our day at Conleau was just one of those days.

A really fascinating scene but the magic and vibrancy is lost in bright sunlight and deep shadow.

For some inexplicable reason, after being drenched by heavy summer rain I decided today was the day to paint Conleau.

©theoldmortuary

The things you could never see on any of my photographs were the children having a school lesson on the beach.

The beautiful 1930’s changing rooms and cafe. With wrestling teenagers in the foreground.

And the yachts moored up beyond the sea pool.

I really wanted the whole scene to vibrate for the viewer. Funny that I have achieved it during a rainy day in Devon.

My aim was for vibrant and languid all in one picture.

I think I am done.