WALKING HOME IN FRANCE

WALKING HOME IN FRANCE

"Walking Home in France"

12x12 oil on gessobord

Click here to purchase

I will be painting France for a long while. 

 I was totally charmed by the rolling hills, quaint villages, red tile roofs, and medieval buildings.

But now NEWS OF A CHANGE

It has been fully six weeks since my last blog post because I have not found the blog to reach a wide enough audience.  Also I never want to overwhelm my followers with too many posts, to have a feeling of being spammed.

ONCE A MONTH

I will be sending a newsletter from my website instead.  Those of you who have signed up to receive my blog will now receive a once a month newsletter instead of a blog.  You will have an opportunity to opt out of the newsletter should you choose.

HAPPY NEW YEAR with a "yay" for 2015!

VILLAGE FARM, FRANCE

VILLAGE FARM, FRANCE

I have embarked on a fun project of painting from my photos taken while I was in France in June.

I wish I could have stayed there for a month of painting! 

The countryside of France seems so unique

 rolling hills 

small quaint villages

and stone buildings 

 private gardens and ditches for irrigation

I took photos of my painting steps which I thought you might enjoy.

Village Farm, France
12x12 oil on gessobord
Click here to purchase

Block in with think transparent colors

Adding some opaque colors to buildings and trees

More development of buildings 

Starting to develop the sky

Progressing in covering much of the block in colors especially the sky

Working on foreground field and bale

Using palette knife to give the effect of straw left in the field
FINISHED

Painting and Website Do-Overs

Painting and Website Do-Overs

I just spent more than a week rebuilding my website with FASO 

a company I always loved but left.  

Many artists don't need as much tech help as me so going it alone, or nearly so, works well for them.

Now that heavy work week is behind me and I am happy.  

Please check it out at

www.carolhopper.com

Here are a four paintings with which I was not happy.

  Let me know what you think about the do-overs.

First Painting of Rural Life in France
Played too much with color
12x12

Second Painting of Rural Life in France
More accurate color representation as field wasn't ready for harvest
Cut off 3 inches;
Now a 9x12

First Painting of In the Garden
Direct sun coming through trees with no sky in view
caused light to blow out

Reworked Painting of "In the Garden"
Invented a sky and minimized tree with white blossoms

First Painting of "Renaissance Flowers"
Bottom right didn't please me

Reworked Painting of "Renaissance Flowers"
Now bottom right more clearly shows container edge

First painting of Natchez Poppies
Paint strokes seemed choppy

Reworked painting of Natchez Poppies




There is always so much to learn with painting, technology, marketing 
that sometimes I get really weary.

How do you keep up with all the change and learning?

PORTRAIT OF A TREE

PORTRAIT OF  A TREE

Let me tell you the truth...

Ready?

I participated in a weeklong plus three days

Starry Night Plein Air Event

in 

Corrales

New Mexico

The below painting is my 

FAVORITE

But...

it couldn't be counted as plein air

as this crazy tree had a mind and limbs of its own 

that didn't compute to any tree I knew

So tree and I fought

and I had to paint more than the maximum of the allowable 20% in the studio

Plein air paintings must be 80% done in fresh air.

Portrait of a Tree
12x9
Beautifully framed
Click here to purchase.

At 8 AM, I couldn't see the tree's shape
What was behind the tree and what was the tree?

Two days later I came back and took a photo of this apple tree from a kneeling position
Ah...I see the limbs...
Who trimmed this tree like this anyway?????
Does it produce more apples if it is a caricature?

Webster Dictionary:  caricature
  "1. exaggeration by means of often ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics"

I had to edit out the entire orchard back in my studio
and paint sky behind the tree in order for the tree to be
seen as a portrait

Lesson learned from this:
Draw first
Paint later

CORRALES WINERY BLUE

CORRALES WINERY BLUE

Gate to No Where

I started painting this gate by 8:15 AM, on a typical intensely bright sunny New Mexican day.
All week I painted in Corrales, NM en plein air for the
Corrales Plein Air Event.

It was intense....
daily hauling equipment
dealing with an umbrella that had a mind of its own
Yet I promise you....
in NM you either use an umbrella or find a shady place in which to paint.


Yet it was a fun week filled with meeting other artists
working with Sue Winstead, a most talented coordinator
attending meetings and events

blocking in the underpainting with transparent colors

Umbrella working fine but later did the Mary Poppins thing

"Corrales Winery Blue"
12x12, framed, oil on gessobord
SOLD

FRANCE IN COLORFUL BLOOM

FRANCE IN COLORFUL BLOOM

FRANCE IN COLORFUL BLOOM
12x12 unframed oil on gessobord
Click here to purchase

For ten colorful painting days I stayed in this magical place.
In this courtyard alone at
Le Vieux Couvent in the Lot Region of France

there were painting opportunities to last for weeks.

I love the color of the flowers, medieval stone building, and the shade umbrella.

Cove's Edge, Maine

COVE'S EDGE, MAINE

COVE'S EDGE, MAINE
8x8, unframed oil on gessobord
plein air painting
Click here to purchase

For two glorious weeks I rented a cottage in Cushing, Maine.
This was my view from the lawn of the cottage
I found it glorious and painted on the property several times.
Floating in the water is Rockweed
which
at low tide
 one can clearly see is attached to the rocks.

Cushing Peninsula is the peninsula on which the Olson House is located
that very site of Andrew Wyeth's most famous painting
CHRISTINA'S WORLD

Across this cove from my cottage and this painting
is the home of Andrew Wyeth...one of his homes

  Andrew died in 2009
and is buried in the Olson family cemetery.
Why did he choose this spot?
No one knows for sure but we can say for sure
he loved and painted the Olson House
and its occupants
 for many many summers.

Andrew's gravestone
exactly as he years previously had pictured it
as Christina's stone!!!!

Christina and her brother Alvaro Olson's gravestone.
The two siblings died within mere weeks of one another
in different years

The Olson House
Cushing, Maine

RIPENING LAVENDER, LHERM, FRANCE

RIPENING LAVENDER, LHERM, FRANCE

Ripening Lavender, Lherm, France
9x12, unframed oil on gessobord
Click here to purchase

The lavender fields in the Lot Region of France are small but exquisite.  The owners are expats and started these fields after visiting similar fields in New Zealand.  Their story and website is interesting.  DreamaTollePerry took her "June Painting France" participants to visit these fields.  Though there wasn't time enough for me to paint oil en plein air, I painted a watercolor postcard while there.  Since I am not a watercolorist, I am not showing my attempt.  No, honest, you don't want to see it.

RURAL LIFE IN FRANCE

RURAL LIFE IN FRANCE

France is an amazing country, romantic and beautiful.  

In the Lot Region, the hills roll and twist as they follow river valleys. 

 Honestly, everywhere you look, is a scene worthy of painting.  

During our artists' 10 day retreat with DreamaTollePerry (not a workshop), 

we took in as much as we possibly could.  

Except for two days, we visited quaint villages near our home 

base in tiny Frayssinet, 

a village of fewer than 300 souls. 

I painted everyday, either watercolor postcards or in my watercolor journal

 or a larger oil painting. 

"Rural Life in France" was a hike of about 1/2 mile from the artist compound.  My load was heavy, carrying paints, easel, and all other necessary equipment.  I didn't tire; the anticipation was great. 

 I have so much more to share!

Rural Life in France
12 x 12 unframed oil on gessobord
Click here to purchase

FRAYSSINET, FRANCE VILLAGE SCENE

Frayssinet, France Village Scene

Ten days painting in France has been a dream come true...a long-time desire I may be able to cross off my bucket list.  Every oil painting completed in France was done in plein air (fresh air).  Without my easel umbrella (which I sorely missed) I got a lovely tan.  Additionally many people stopped along the roads where I painted to tell me how beautiful my paintings were.  I felt so encouraged as most of you know I am a creature of comfort and love being near a refrigerator, computer, and away from the constantly moving sun.  I gave myself two hours to complete a painting....didn't always work, so by the time three hours passed, I had a different light.  Fortunately I knew early on to establish my light and shade so usually I was fine.  

DreamaTollePerry and her husband Ron set up this "Paint France with Dreama" event, not a workshop, but still held many opportunities to learn.  We visited many quaint towns and I have hundreds of awesome photographs, enough to last me quite a while.

Plein Air Painting
8x8 oil on gessobord
Click here to purchase

NO POSTS FROM FRANCE.....oh dear

LOVED THE FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE

so why no promised posts on my blog?

For the most part my Internet connection was very sporadic and attempts to post blogs failed mid-stream.  Additionally I was immersed totally in the area, the activities, and painting. I will share much more once I am no longer jet lagged and blogging now in the middle of the night.

TRAVEL NIGHTMARE

so stressful I arrived a wreck with no luggage and a full day late due to missing my international flight.  The upper midwest had thunderstorms and hail so no flights were coming in or going out of the Chicago Airport after I arrived there for my first plane change.  Seven hours of sitting in that airport gave me more than adequate time for my online travel agency to cancel completely my flights and rebook them.  (Thank goodness for travel insurance!)  Once I arrived in Toulouse it took four days for my suitcase with painting supplies to arrive and five days for the suitcase with clothes to make it.

FINDING JOY ANYWAY

DreamaTollePerry and her husband are wonderfully positive people and immediately the group began to see the French countryside and I began to do a bit of watercolor journaling. This I could do since those supplies were provided for workshop participants. I found watercolor journaling to be fun and light hearted.  

MUCH MORE SHARING AND BLOGGING TO COME