Shelves - bottles, books and miscellaneous items, 2020

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Shelves - bottles, books and miscellaneous items, 2020

 oil on card, 17.5 x 14.9 cm, available

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Sofa, cushion, coffee table, bowls and books

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Sofa, cushion, coffee table, bowls and books, oil on card, 15.3 x 17 cm

 

 

 

 

 

 

From just over a year ago, in the previous apartment;

 

Oddly, the paint still hasn't dried in places. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Distant rocks, Armação

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Armação, distant rocks, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm  unavailable

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Trees near a church, Trindade

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Trees near a church, Trindade, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm

It is getting very hot, and even when painting in the shade one returns sun-dizzy.

 It may be time to start painting still lives again, perhaps flowers...

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Praia Mole, trees near the sea

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Praia Mole, trees near the sea

 oil on card, 26 x 28 cm   SOLD

 

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A road and bushes near the university, Florianopolis

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A road and bushes near the university, Florianopolis- available

 oil on card, 26 x 28 cm

Does the plein air painter go out and respond to the world with paints?

Or is it like this: the artist goes out and finds a motif. This motif is like a key which opens a door in their mind.

Behind the door is a pre-existing image which the artist then reproduces, albeit usually adaptng it so it corresponds wih the scene that they are, ostensible, depicting.

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Armação, from the island

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Armação, from the island,

 oil on card, 26 x 28 cm unavailable

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Plate, book, table, window

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Plate, book, table, window, oil on card,  15.6  x 15 cm unavailable

This was painted back in March, and put aside. It still works for me. It`s survived a few months. 

Still life is about a sense of place. But the kind of place is smaller than in landscape. And one has more power to decide what goes in that place. A still life painter has a degree of control that the landscapist lacks. 

A reference in this is Morandi, whose pictures are sometimes interpreted as miniature cityscapes, with towers and blocks

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Armação, rocks on a promontory

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The Splendid Rocks of Armação

Armação, rocks on a promontory, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm

I continue my work here on the rocks with their weighty, uncompromising forms. The colour is beautiful: pinks and dard reds. They darken so when wet to a dark reddish brown.

I think of a series with this title. Twelve pictures...or is that overambitious? It might be nice to have a tiny show of them somewhere.

You can probably guess that I`m pretty happy with how the paintings from down here  in Armação are going. I started visiting here about a month ago exactly. This season is subtle in lighting and my painting today is correspondingly reserved in tone, rather md-nineteenth century like Courbet. 

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Tree with yellow leaves, Itcorubi

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Tree with yellow leaves, Itacorubi

oil on card, 26 x 28 cm -unavailable

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Santa Monica, a tree in the sun

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Santa Monica, a tree in the sun, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm  unavailable

A painting from the nearby suburb of Santa Monica, where I`d move to if I had a bit more money. It`s spacious, leafy has good local serives but isn`t snooty or pretentious.

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Armação, rocks

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Armação, rocks, sea, sky, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm - available

Fine weather after several long cold grey days.

These rocks are magnificent, clean and geometric, and scattered as if they are intended to mean something.

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Books and bowls and junk on my shelves

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Books and bowls and junk on my shelves, oil on card, 14.9 x 17.5 cm

This was painted a few months back, probably in March.

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Armação, from above

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 Armação, from above, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm - unavailable

 detail -bridge

detail- hillside

I attempt to further explore the possibilities of dot and dab, thus possibly arriving one day at a less immediately impressionist effect, and enjoying more paint itself.

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There is constant and quite dreadful music playing from one of the bars in the town, even at 10 am. I wish they would stop. I shall visit the town a few more times however. It is nice to gradually get to know it one session a week.

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Bromelias, Joaquina

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Bromelias, Joaquina, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm

The flight moves more than a non-painter might imagine, the shadows shifting, different leaves, stones or twigs becoming more or less prominent as the session passes. The colours are bleached in the sun.

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Armação, from the hill above

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Armação, from the hill above, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm - unavailable

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Armação, a view of the river

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Armação, a view of the river   SOLD

, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm

Perhaps the view is obvious, but it so suited my mood to work so easily.

This is the second from here and until (or if, given the COVID-19 situation) tourists come in droves I shall work here every Friday. The new airport road makes the south of the island much more accessable.

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Santo Antônio de Lisboa, house on a hill

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Santo Antônio de Lisboa, house on a hill, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm-  available

With this one, I wished to maintain to show brush movement and the forms of bushes on the hill. .

I seem to be going to a style of work where simple marks that contrast evocatively. I like things like textiles and ceramics

I used black here for the first time in ages. Black gives a "BLAM" effect that I can't obtain otherwise. But as it can easily pollute the palette, it has to be handled with considerable caution.

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Corrego Grande, a path; dots and lines; Paul Klee

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Corrego Grande, a path, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm - duscarded

I`m attempting to use dots and simple lines and blocks for fun, to give a cryptic aspect to the picture. I set myself a challenge, a limitation on the sort of marks I can use. There seems something intrinsically humorous about the dot, I guess maybe because of how a dot can make such a strong impression despite being so little

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I've been interested in the dot, or dab for a while but I think for some sessions I'll give it particular attention.

This kind of approach to painting is like trying to make a musical composition for certain selected instruments except I have the additional issue of representation. I guess it I`m following Paul Klee though I am not sure he worked much directly from nature.

I am continuing in the suburb that I visited last week. 

Today one of the residents brought me a plate of food for lunch- very kind.

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Puzzle: can you find the man in the picture?

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Armação, rocks

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Armação, rocks, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm SOLD

This is the first of a series from Armação. 

This fishing village offers a considerable variety of landscapes within a very small area.

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