Pits and Seeds - a great subject for watercolours!

 Chinese Lantern, an awesome painting by Elia!

Nature is always such a great subject...There are countless possibilities to inspire, and an Aquarellista can see it 'abstract' and 'figurative'. Today we had pits and seeds, both in a still life and with pictures...

This painting by Carole is so subtle, well-observed and creative! Somehow it is also very much about reproduction - as seeds should...

Sylvie D. bravely painted this enlarged pollen on the very rough paper and created a very interesting painting, doing the paper justice!

'Not a strawberry' by Brenda - you will see next time what it actually is...😃

There were more paintings, after the still life, but I did not take pictures. So, next week probably...  Luckily I did photograph some of the other projects:

The cute nesting dolls by Celina - now finished. They have so much expression. I see two sisters, a bit afraid of the outside world, but coping because they have each other. What do you see?

Cathie's bells - now finished, they are SO GOOD!

And a potential new series 'old paint tubes' Cathie is still in doubt, I am not - I think it is a worthy follow-up on the 'old brushes' series she was so successful with. TBD!

Anna-Karin used the very rough torchon paper to experiment a bit further. She found out that it doesn't hold one type of masking tape too well... (the grey border). I'm pretty sure she will use this for something interesting. You wait and see...

Patience worked on our regular Arches Torchon for the powerful painting of a Dutch landscape (Keukenhof-like, with tulips and a windmill).
She also finished her nesting dolls:

Aquarellistas at work

 

In the new setup of the Aquarellista sessions, we have a subject, a still life -and then of course whatever else we like to paint... It may sound complicated but it is a great way to keep everyone sharp! This week just some crockery, a glass vase and some lavender as still life... and it turned out to be inspiring! Have a look at the results!

Carol really achieved something and then worked on it at home - and needs to tweak the big vase. Watch this space to see the final result - it is going to be fabulous!

Tricia popped in late and then achieved a great and very 'Shirley' (Trevena) result... 

Not finished but looking good already!

And another subtle and attractive painting by Tana - see the transparency! 

Can't wait for the finished painting... 

Cathie was practicing and trying out apples and grapes for a commission - using the grapes in the still life. Even her tryouts are mouth-wateringly beautiful. Sorry for the bad pic, I must have been too moved...

The other subject was 'Optical Illusion'. I brought pictures of graphical illusions, and believe me it is not easy to make a painting, as your brain gets confused... But the group attacked the subject and it worked out well! I hope to show you more of it as not everything was finished and it is such a great subject (personal hobby of mine) - and here are some first goes:

Perfect illusion, great volume by Sylvie!

Patience - what an artist she is! if you squint this is all volume and a true illusion, if you don't squint, it is quite scary - and very strong!! Love it!

André joined us for the first time. He has never painted with watercolours, and is used to oil paint. That makes it all the more difficult - but he did a great job and is clearly getting the transparency! This is going to be a great watercolour if he finishes it in 2 weeks...

And then there were the 'free' subjects:

Brenda proceeded with the beautiful little man - shadows next week to make it a strong portrait - but already so lovely

And another wild artwork by Patience! In a way this is an optical illusion too - just a couple of lines and a bit of paint to create these shrubs! I'm impressed...

Agnès had visited the pottery market in Antibes and for her Hobby Sketcher blog created this great pic of a visitor checking out these fun stripey clay figures

Edith worked on several projects and finished the copper ornament on the antique wine cask...

And  last but not least, Sylvie worked at home on this, almost monochrome, painting, so subtle and beautiful in its simplicity. Great idea - and Big Compliment!

Wine tasting and watercolours

 One word - fabulous. These grapes by Anna-Karin

Anna-Karin is back from Sweden! We're all delighted to have her with us again - she's of course a nice person and we get lots of inspiration from her 'Nordic' painting style.

Also she knows about wine and that is a good thing, esp. in France. Lucky coincidence that, having been in the Gironde the past two weeks (o, I did mention that before didn't I...) I brought some of the local drink, Pineau, with me for a small tasting. It is made of fresh grapejuice with cognac. Sweet and gorgeous and with 12% alcohol... We took tiny sips - and were still able to finish our work:

 Also Tana was inspired by the subject. Well done for the grapes - and the leaf will be more defined in the next session to create a perfect picture!

These juicy bad boys are painted by Carol. She is good at the round shapes - here with a soft glow, and below, her fnished marbles, with sharp lightfall. Excellent work!

  

I brought inspirational pictures from the vignoble that I visited, of the age-old containers and other attributes for producing wine -- 

Edith started with one of them... Looking age-old like it should, only the salt kept absorbing the colour, so more next week

For the aquarellistas who like to paint from three-dimensional examples, I will from now on bring real stuff. Last time: a basket with white cutlery

Two versions here, above the experienced, comic book style of Agnès

 

And one in the slightly more classic version painted by Vanessa

Of course everyone is free to choose their own subject, and both Sylvie and Brenda were looking for something to make them feel 'Zen'...

Brenda started a portrait of her lovely grandson...

 ...and Sylvie worked on a levitating buddha surrounded by bamboo.

 

Aquarellistas "dress up" for first session after holidays

 

Liz' great stripey dress with white top +accessories...

We started the summer with an all-girl aquarellista-group and had great fun with this subject: "paint a dress". Style up to you, you can use an existing image, or a real dress as example. But also you can use a picture for the outlines, but come up with patterns and accessories, or just design a dress from your imagination... Someone in it, or just the dres... there are so many possibilities! Here are a couple of pictures of last week's session where everyone created their own interpretation!...

  

 Bev let herself be inspired by the lady who wears the dress - and then made it into an intriguing artwork with a story behind it by adding the skull!

  Patience went for lilywhite beauty in a tight satin dress

 

 A lovely, innocent and colourful dress with well defined patterns and folds. A typical Celina!

 Super romantic vintage by Brenda...

 

Edith worked on a nighty - a dress to go to sleep in, with a oon and a heart and stors and a little girl having a dream... Lovely as always!

And last but not least, can't get over it, what a fabulous dress, and so well painted by Tana!

she used a picture for inspiration but gave it a new look -and worked very precise to try that out. And it worked so well! Well done!

Then there were 2 participants going for other projects:

Tricia was trying out something new and combined her own use of salt-pigment-spattering-and-letting-the-paint-do-the-work-style with dark defining lines. I'm impressed!! Hopefully to be continued...

 And Agnès worked on a future post on her HobbySketcher blog!

Super picture, can't decide which one I love more, the 2CV or the bicycle!

Preparing an exhibition...

 Brenda's dreamy poppies

On 9 and 10 July the Aquarellistas will be the main act in La Roquette sur Siagne, during the 'Route des Arts'. Closer to the date I will certainly give you more information

Celina's mosaic is finished! Everyone agrees it is stunning...

But as you can understand, we are already preparing, checking out the existing work we want to show, finishing potentials and even starting some brilliant new stuff!

Front side of a rose by Sandra

Coquelicots par Andrée...

Coquelicots par Edith

During the exhibition there will surely be poppies - and probably some Flamenco dancers.

 Patience's latest dancer...

Portrait by Tana

Portrait by Sandra

 Liz on a roll with a fabulous regatta on a flat sea and a still life (and she also started another set of poppies)

Cathie working on a potential new series-subject 'Horses'

 Laila finished a second wonderful botanical piece

Bibbi, our 'correspondent' in Sweden worked on a fantasy painting of a boat, reflected in the water... then looked at it turned upside down - and discovered a lady with a hat...She decided to finish it like that. Next week, next stage!