Saumur, the castle (2)

 

Another view of the castle, this time overlooking the city and the Loire.

Saumur (France), the castle (1)

 

Just returned from a lovely holiday in France, in the Loire valley. We stayed at a holiday camp near Saumur, together with my son and our grandchildren Finn (6) and Zara (5). One of the days I went up to the castle, high above the town, and made a few sketches. One of those is this one, on tinted paper.

Chambord

 

Forgot to post this drawing: the castle of Chambord. Also made during our French holiday.

Chenonceau

 

Castle of Chenonceau , at the Loire, France. It was raining all day, I had to make a very quick sketch, protecting parts of the drawing with sheets of paper against the loose raindrops. Painted it at the camping site.

Candé sur Beuvron

Just returned from a great holiday in France, in the Loire are. With our children and grandchildren. We had a great time, and excellent weather (except for one dreary and rainy day). This is a sketch of the village, there had been floodinge recently, and large treetrunks were still blocking the passage under the bridge.

France: Any Martin Rieux: an old barn

 

Here the painting I was most proud of: an old, half collapsed barn in Leuze, a small village close to Any.

I took a pice of MDF wood 60x80cm, and sticked carboard to it, then acrylic paint.

It was really nice weather that day, warm, but not hot. The farmer even dropped by to look at what we were doing; he was quite talkative, and showed us the cows he was clearly proud of. THe barn dated back to WW2, and had been in this state since 20 years. Which is a small wonder.

France: Any-Martin Rieux (2)

 

I am lagging behind. Far too busy in the office. Another drawing/painting in Jaunes. Acrylic and charcoal.

France: Any Martin Rieux

 

Painting week in France, under the guidance of Annemiek Jongen. We had a great group of 6 participants, fine lodging and superb French food. The weather wasn't so cooperative, it was quite cold for June, but we had a great time nontheless. 

Here is a study on bamboo paper 50x70cm, made with charcoal and acrylics, of an old farm in the little village of Jeantes.

Any-Martin-Rieux: 5th and last painting

I made this in the courtyard of our lodging, on the last day of our painting holiday.
 

Abstract landscape

One of the paintings I made in France, trtying to turn a landscape into something more abstract, with focus on making the painted areas as interesting as possible, without losing the composition. A bit like Rothko.

Any-Martin-Rieux (3)

The hills over Any-Martin-Rieux, near our Chambre d'hotes. Just when I had finished, an angry farmer dropped by, and said we were standing on private property. It looked like a country road, but who are we to know for sure. Actually, that was not the first time a farmer sent us away. Usually French are very friendly, but I assume we should have asked around in the village who the owner is, and asked permission before we started.

Aubenton, France

 

A door of a workshop in Aubenton, the North of France.

I made this on location, using ribber carton, local newspapers, tilemortar on a wooden basis. And acrylic paint.

I tried to get the idea of the door.

Here you see a picture of the door, with the painting in the corner. It was fun to make.

Any St.Martin Rieux (1)

I just returned from a great week, drawing and painting in Any-St. Martin-Rieux, a small village in France, just south of the Belgian border.

We did several assignments, initiated by the artist Annemiek Jongen, who organized the week. All together our group consisted out of 12 painters. 

Great scenery, perfect warm weather, plein-air painting during the day, superb French food for dinner, great company in the evening, and don't forget the abundant amounts of white wine: making art doesn't get better than this. 

Corravillers

 

Watercolour of a workshop in an abandoned factory in Corravillers, France. I made a picture of it last summer, tried it out as painting. Schmincke paint on Millford paper. This is the second one, the first was horrible. Still not 100% satisfied. But when are we ever :).

Le Corbusier in Ronchamp

 

Two real quick sketches that I made in France. This is the famous "Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut" in Ronchamps, by Le Corbusier. I managed to squeeze a visit to this iconic landmark in between the sketching week.

Unfortunately the front (the other side of the building than shown here) was in scaffolding, as were the famous tainted glass windows. But when I made the interior sketch, the few remaining nuns came in (yes it's still a monastery) and sang hymns and flayed a flute. THat was really special.

Abandoned factory

On the last day in France I visited an old abandoned factory, and made a quick oilpainting there. An experiment if I could ue oil while using my usual Urban sketching gear. It's not yet finished, there was not enough time. 

This is how it looked like

Lake in France

Another one from that productive week in Corravillers: a little lake on top of the hill. The challenge was to use round brushes - and to show them in the painting somehow.

This was what it looked like.

Corravillers: tiny painting

Another small painting: 20x20cm. Acrylic, on location.
 

Corravillers, church

 

Another one from Corravillers, the third day. This time the idea was to use flat brushes only, and it should show. Acrylic on panel 40x50cm. I am kind of fond of this one.

Tiny Corravillers

My smallest plein air painting ever. On an old piece of wood: 9x6x4 cm. In France, Corravillers.