Daily Musings

August 31st.

A planter on the wall with geraniums. Flags in the garden. Happy Pride Day Bermuda.

August 30th.

Painted atop Bernhardt’s Rock, The Viking and one-time resident. A sweeping view of the river Vilaine drenched in the sun’s reflections

August 29th.

Into the woods. I’m a little out of my comfort zone with these shady forest pieces. That’s a good thing, it makes me work and think all the harder. I have a tendency to put a lot of information down when painting, albeit in an impressionistic and loose fashion. These kinds of scenes probably lend themselves to a fair bit of editing out. With the kaleidoscope of dappled light and all the structure of the trees, things can get complicated and confused pretty quickly. Having said that, I do want to retain that busy technique thing that comes from within me. I guess I’m searching for a middle road on the journey through the woods.

August 28th.

Up the hill and on the trails, I stopped to paint this ploughed field as the light sank.  The fields were all full of hay a few days ago. I had forgotten to pack my tripod, so ended up crouched and kneeling to complete the job. It wasn’t comfortable but once you get engrossed in the process the discomfort fades to the back of the mind.

August 27th.

I painted this view from the field with the bee hives in. I was looking across the river at the far bank from a pretty elevated position. I liked the break in the trees with the steeply sloping field. Some cool things were happening with the low sun on some of the tree tops at one point, but in a flash that was gone. I went with the more muted feel which is was what I was seeing for the majority of the time. Man, that water is a different colour than back home!

August 26th.

I set up in town, mid-morning. The streets were still quiet and a haze was hanging in the air. The shadows of the buildings were a dark mass. As I worked the sun burned through the cloud and the street began to light up. I incorporated some of that feel by picking out lighter areas in the darker values of the shadows.

August 25th.

Jo’s Birthday 🙂 We have a young protege staying with us who was interested to watch and learn, so we remained on the property and painted the boats. I talked my way through the painting with him, which also helps reinforce where I am going with things. The two-way street of teaching.

August 24th.

A short ride up the hill for an overview of the bridge and the river framed between trees. Most of the painting flowed well, but I did struggle to portray the corn field in the left foreground. It was painted and scraped back for as long as it took to complete the rest of the painting.

August 23rd.

I walked up to the top of the rock around mid-morning to beat the August crowds and selected to paint a row of bee hives I have noticed before, rather than the many various options of the boats and the water. Highly unusual for me to turn inland! The hives are on a small field that was catching the morning sun with a bright slash of green light on the grass. It drops steeply away down the banks of the river, making for a very dramatic abstract view. I toyed with including some of the water and the boats at the bottom of the view, but elected not to and keep the focus on the hives. I pulled out a little paint with the tip of the palette knife to suggest bees in flight around their homes.

August 22nd.

A ride up into the woods in search of a cool spot to paint, out of the sun. Muffled silence amongst the trees aside from the odd caw from a crow. The light filtering through the trees onto the dirt track and the “light at the end of the tunnel” made for drama and theatre.

August 21st.

Struggling with a tender back, I painted from home. Yakum’s, the restaurant bar next door, from the bedroom window. A moving target of changing people. I tried to avoid getting over distracted with background details, leaving it loose and abstracted.

August 20th.

I set up on the rock of La Roche Bernard, with an incredible vista of the river Villaine as the sun was going down. It’s the same spot where Bernhard the Viking set up camp after navigating the river on his longboat.  I included some of the sailing yachts anchored in the river, but otherwise I imagine the scene is not so very different from that which Bernhard would have experienced over a thousand years ago.

August 19th.

The town was mad busy with tourists, so I took to the bicycle in search of somewhere quiet and soulful. Jo and I like to ride the labyrinth of trails around here. The Bretons call them ribinous; it’s a catch-all for a farm track, gravel path, or shortcut that’s not a sealed road. I happened on the one in the painting and set about trying to capture the array of greens and filtered light.  Just four people passed me while I worked for an hour so. One on a bicycle, one with a dog and a couple just walking. Perfect.

August 18th.

Morning sun.  From the garden, peering between two planters and over the wall.  Continuing with the liberal use of the palette knife, combining it with brush work. Scraping back, re-applying, spreading on and gouging furrows in the texture.

August 17th.

Low light, tucked into the alcove peering out of the window. The sterns of the boats with a tricolour draped over one of them. The French word for a flag: “drapeau”, so appropriate.

August 16th.

I rode up the hill in search of a scene to tackle, as the town is buzzing over a bank holiday weekend and I fancied a bit of solitude.. A few km on bumpy gravel roads along the riverside later, I turned in and settled on a tree at the edge of a ploughed field framed against a cloudy sky. On unpacking, I realised that I had not resupplied my pack with paper towels or rags which made for difficult brush cleaning. As a consequence, I primarily used the palette knife which needs less clean up. It’s a sort of half knife, half brush piece.

August 15th.

Loose and textural. I kept the block-in and early stages simple and suggestive, not getting overly distracted with perspective, but rather trying to “feel” the scene onto the panel. It’s a busy subject treated in a spartan fashion. It’s actually really hard to edit out detail and not get sidetracked with small elements.

August 14th.

Confined to the house with a steady Breton drizzle soaking everything outside, I chose once again to paint from the loft studio window. With the low light and grey scale mood, the abstract nature of elements came to the fore. I counted at least five obvious possibilities from my crow’s nest, but settled on, once again, painting the view of the front of the Sarah B restaurant. It’s very freeing to paint the abstract colours and shapes in front of you with a minimum of preconception getting in the way.  In the low light of the alcove and looking out into light, you are painting pretty blind.  The little oil sketch has, for me, a flavour of some of the early 20th century urban scenes I have studied in museums. The realist painters of NY like the Ashcan School who were all ultimately part of that push towards abstraction.

August 13th.

A final day in Brest before we head home to La Roche Bernard tomorrow. I painted frim the hotel window again, across the Anse Du Moulin Blanc. When I was half way through I took a break to welcome in one of the transcontinental race riders, then continued on forty minutes later. This required switching out some elements as the light and mood had changed.

August 12th.

This little back lane marks the end of the epic 4,000 km journey for cyclist in the Transcontinental Race. We have spent a fair few hours cheering riders in here over the past few days in rain, blow and shine. After we closed down the official finish line yesterday, I did this little painting to mark the occasion, adding the impression of a rider, headlight on, making their way to the finish.

August 11th.

Somewhat tied down with Jo working the finish line of the race and three dogs in tow, I worked from the hotel room again this afternoon. Pushing the bed to one side I was able to crane my neck out of the window and record the bathers and shellfish diggers on the beach. The tide moves rapidly here so the abstract patterns of the wet sand and the mud at the shore line altered visually by the second.

August 10th.

The merry-go-round next to the plage. Something moving, yet stationary. Just as I was finishing up, the owner packed it away in an impressively short space of time, leaving it looking like a yurt. I lucked out and had what I needed.

August 9th.

Another room bound painting of the suspension bridge in Brest, but zoomed in this time.

August 8th.

Brest, where we are lodging to assist with the finishing line of an ultra-cycling race. Raining. Wind. Hunkered down in the hotel and painting out the window across the bay. In the distance is the bridge that the transcontinental racers will cross at the end of their 4,000 km journey across Europe. When I started it was a real mood scene of greys and limited visibility, but as I worked the weather lifted revealing the intrepid sailors and surfers out on the water.

August 7th.

A final painting of the boats from the terrace today as we de-camp to Brest for a couple of weeks as volunteer support for the Transcontinental Race. There are boats in Brest too though, it’s a port town 🙂  The painting flowed well this morning, interesting background shapes, then I managed to keep the boat detail loose and interpretive in the foreground.

August 6th.

Rain.

August 5th.

It was raining, so I set up under cover in the sun room and painted the boats and the people walking the docks. Towards the end the sun came out and everything glistened. I wasn’t after recording individual boats, but more the mass of shapes and colours that stimulate the eyes as I gazed at the scene.

August 4th.

We walked the dogs this morning on the fields with the bails of straw scattered around looking abstract and surreal. I returned by bike to paint them afterwards. It’s quite a slog cycling up the hill with a backpack, but I need the exercise with all the great food and wine around here. A field is like the water. I searched for ripples and variety in the sea of sameness. I stayed on to do a larger 8 x 8 piece that needs some more development at a later date.

August 3rd.

A similar composition to July 3rd. I handled it with my more recent looser approach this time round. I feel that after a month I’m now getting know the local elements on a deeper level.

August 2nd.

I set up in the old quarter, which has a Mediterranean feel. The micro climate of Southern Brittany means that it’s possible to grow plants generally seen further South. The shadows were moving fairly rapidly across the buildings at this later hour, so I made sure to stay true to my original block in despite the changes in front of me 40 minutes in.

August 1st.

I set up on the old town walls with a sweeping view of the river Villaine and the port de plaisance below.  The river enters the sea off there in the distance. It was a lot to take in and I scrubbed my first design in the early stages, realising that it wasn’t going to work out. I managed to keep this piece loose again. Woohoo! Two in a row. I think maybe sketching moving things in London have helped free me up.  I jotted down the shapes and colours as I saw them, not fussing with detail or worrying if the mark-making was ambiguous. Ambiguity allows the viewer to fill in the gaps and react with the story.