Jul 21st 2010PeterUncategorized
Wednesday 21. 07. 10 We went to the Gauguin show at the Musée Fleury in Lodève yesterday. A show more about the Nabis than Gauguin but an interesting show none the less and well worth a visit. The video though is terrible which is unusual as normally the videos that go with the shows there are very good.
May 5th 2010PeterUncategorized
Wednesday 05. 05. 10 Have been fiddling around with these two paintings for a couple of weeks but I think they are now finished. Today started on a couple of monoprints, one of leeks and the other of grapefruits and if they go well they may be the beginning of yet another series. I am printing them in black ink and then adding colour with coloured pencil. Winter came back yesterday with a vengeance with winds and heavy rain. I drove through the storm to Pezenas where I helped David and Monique hang David’s paintings at the Caves des vins de Molière. He has a show there through to the end of June.
Apr 24th 2010PeterUncategorized
Saturday 24. 04. 10 This was the week that I was supposed to meet my brother in England and see all our cousins, however due to the volcanic cloud, neither of us could get a flight in so we had to cancel. It was a disappointment but we will reschedule for the Fall. So this week I bought three more large canvasses courtesy of the Dalbe sale and George’s car to ferry them home and I am hoping to do a night landscape of Celles with a white van. I have done some drawings and shot some reference photos so hope to start the painting next week.
Apr 17th 2010PeterUncategorized
Thursday 15. 04. 10 Yesterday I went with Gisèle to what I thought was a gourmet wine tasting but turned out to be a high class tupper ware party. We went to the Domaine de la Tour which is a rather grand looking house on a hill overlooking Nebian. Instead of standing around sampling wine we were subjected to a spiel about high end German cookware and cutlery. Good for the French but for me ultimately deadly boring. However after a couple of hours we come away with a bottle of wine and a jar of paté each. Today instead of staying in at the Accueil we had a field trip. We drove out to St Jean de la Blaquière, parked and then had a walk down to the river which is known locally as a miniature version of the Colorado. As we walked Alain pointed out the various wild flowers, aromatic herbs and edible plants found there, some of which we sampled. It was the perfect Spring day, sunny but not too hot. After lunch I decided that it was such a lovely day that I drove out to St Jean de Fos and Aniane and shot lots of photos of various white vans. In the evening instead of going to my life drawing class I went up to George and Laurene’s for aperos and caught up on their recent trip to Italy.
Mar 30th 2010PeterUncategorized
Tuesday 30. 03. 10 I have finally finished the first two of my white van series. Currently working on a third in this new series.
Mar 26th 2010PeterUncategorized
Thursday 25. 03. 10 I am pleased to announce that George aux bois Wymondley has been bought by Lawrence and Diane and will be receiving guests in the new extension of their home in Stevenage.
Mar 22nd 2010PeterUncategorized
Saturday 20. 03. 10 Just got back this afternoon from my trip to London. Very refreshing. Went to lots of expos. Really enjoyed the Paul Nash at Dulwich – an artist I have known about vaguely but not specifically – impressive stuff. The Van Gogh at the RA was very good too and his sketches within his letters are exquisite. A number of paintings there that I had not seen before. Only problem was that it was very, very crowded. The Moore at the Tate was OK – I found his drawings more interesting that his sculptures. As always when one is wandering around London there are always surprises. This time it was an exciting show of prints at the London Metropolitan University in Whitechapel. Went to see the Keith Grant show at Chris Beetles – looked pretty successful – I noted about half the 60 or so paintings had red dots. Besides the above managed to get to the White Cube, both Tates, the National, National Portrait and the Whitechapel Gallery and take a river trip to Greenwich. Now back to painting again.
Feb 28th 2010PeterUncategorized
Saturday 27. 02. 10 I have been working on and off on George and Winter Landscape this week. It has been quite damp so everything seems to take so long to dry. I finally went into Dalbe today and have bought a drier to mix with the linseed oil which should speed things up in the future as I really like using linseed glazes. George is nearly finished but I still have some work to do on the other one. I’m hoping to start a new series next week based on the ubiquitous white vans which are so much a part of the landscape around here.
Feb 16th 2010PeterUncategorized
Tuesday 16. 02. 10 Today is a grey, rainy day here but it is a bit warmer than it has been. This seems to be the pattern for winter: either sunny and cool or warm and rainy. The forecast for this week is mostly rain so will be in the studio. Today have been working on George again and also on Winter Landscape. I have been working with oil pastels and glazes which give depth to the painting surface.
Feb 3rd 2010PeterUncategorized
Wednesday 03. 02. 10 Today is market day and bunches of mimosa’s are on sale so I assume that Spring is here. It is sunny and there is just a hint of warmth in the air. Currently working on a couple of large landscapes. One of Lawrence’s lurcher George, in the woods near his home and the other a winter landscape near Plaissan. Both 100 x 80 cm. Have also been reading Sarah Bakewell’s biography of Montaigne – the world’s first blogger in 1572! A great read.