Theme - Turquoise in Watercolours

a turquoise turquoise by Isabelle.

Another great session on Tuesday afternoon, with the Aquarellistas of the Hangar! We had the colour 'turquoise' as our guideline &  inspiration. And as always the results were very different, interesting and inspiring!  The pictures are a bit bluer than the actual paintings, it turned out that turquoise is a hard colour to photograph!

 Isabelle also painted this turquoise stone mask - a bit on the green side, but  o so mysterious!

  

 Sandra has started with a beautiful wreath-like shape, with fantasy leaves (of which some are turquoise). She works on handmade paper, on the wrong side, without top layer. Which absorbs the pigment immediately - and leaves the water on top. Great effects - curious how this will look when finished!

 Glen has finished the basics of this window with turquoise shutters. I love the south french light & shadow! Needs a bit more contrast in the window itself for an even more exciting effect, that I'm sure she will do perfectly!

 Sylvie combined her favourite colour with her favourite way of working, the mosaic, into this composition. Is she going to leave the middle white? I'm curious!

Amazing mask of turquoise stones, by Liz. Super well done! 

Anna-Karin is back and she experimented with fantasy-landscapes, using turquoise. We all agreed that all three are awesome - and different -  but o so recognizable as Anna-Karin's

Anna Karin used round shapes in the last of her three watercolours. Works so good as a foreground

Liz' round shapes of the odd one out also work excellent on their own...

And the last one in this weeks'  Liz - collection: a very good evening painting! with violet, that is so much warmer than paynes grey for instance...

More evening paintings: the starters exercise is now finished 

 Judith finished hers - we agreed it is super and looks like a cruiseship

 And so did Jutta - and hers looks like Cinqueterre!

Our three starters are almost done with their must-have exercises!  Next week I will present the 3 versions of the last one, a pair of eyes behind an elegant black mask...and here's a preview, created  by Ilse

Flamingo's in Watercolours

On our first session in 2018, we did several things - touch base extensively after not seeing each other for a couple of weeks, paint wooden blocks for the Valbonne500 project and paint our subject du jour: Flamingos! And as one of us remarked, they all came out so differently - it is great (and interesting) to see the variety in styles and interpretations of our group! 

 

Fantastic, graphic painting by Celina. (Opera Rose and Permanent Rose were very popular last Tuesday!)

Liz had a completely different view on the Flamingo and created two portraits of 'Flora Flamingo'
She is so fluffy!! (click image to enlarge and enjoy the fluff)

Wonderful version by Michele - not yet finished, but the colour of the bird is alread perfect!

 Linda's flamingo. She was not delighted with it - but I think she should be. The face of the flamingo is really good. But! The artist decides, so the back of this one will be re-used!

There was also great work done on portraits. By Elia, she started this deep and quiet one, with expressive colours. Can't wait to see it finished!

Sandra is painting a series of portraits, of interesting artists. Artists who are no longer with us. And as you can see, she gives them a lot of character, both by strong expression and the use of unusual and subtle symbols

In the introduction I mentioned the Valbonne500 project. That is about the 500 year anniversary of our neighbour-village Valbonne. We are asked to participate in the construction of a wall, made out of wooden blocks. The wooden blocks are painted on 2 sides, one side represents 'war' and the other side is for 'peace'. Carol, Agnes and yours truly painted with watercolours on the blocks (prepared with Schmincke aquarelle gesso) and it works like a dream - and looks fab! Next week we'll varnish them. The other Aquarellistas will create their versions too - and we will show the results, and then in May, the whole wall, through the village...

War

Peace

Wreaths in Watercolors

Last week the Aquarellistas painted wreaths. A lovely subject, with so many possibilities for expression! But first I would like to show you a painting by our own great watercolour artist Cathie. I would never have thought that a stack of newspapers would make my heart beat faster - but this one did:

Fan-tas-tic painting by Cathie. Please create more of this!!

 

Not yet completed but syunning in this stage already, Michele C.'s wreath! She's certainly on a roll...

Celina has been traveling for some time (and will again soon) but she came in last week and worked on her cell. She has really achieved a fantastic effect, I am a fan! Very well done. And it happens to also fit the bill of 'wreaths' by the way 😛

Agnès painted a classic wreath in a very alternative way! You can read all about it in her blog (where I also nicked this photo because it is so much better than mine...)

 Anna-Karin started her own version of Christmas cards in her personal and attractive style...

More of this in the next post!

 

Michele C. finished her Funny Santa, Brilliant!!

Jane started the cards too - I think the finished tree and the other two are great - but most of all I love the Robin!!

Brigitte is back - and she worked on a couple of Xmas cards to get into it again. 

They will be so nice when they are finished! Next time - the results...

Sylvie D finished  two paintings, the ballet dancer - with a tremendous light, and the falling autumn leaves below, with so much atmosphere!

And we end with a work in progress by Cathie... The velvet is so soft already

NB: Michele F. & Sandra SD's  paintngs were so good - but my pictures didn't do them justice (to put it mildly) So Sorry - I owe them an extensive mention in the next post!

Norwegian Kunst Glas

 One of the setups, on a mirror for extra reflection (and difficulty) there was much more!

Celina suggested to bring some of her Kunstglas as still life to the Zen Watercolour session of last week. Kunstglas is Norwegian and it translates into Art glass - and that is what it is, handmade, colourful, slightly irregular, highly original and all unique pieces of glassware! It was a great succes, everyone painted the still life - and we will do it again next week...

 

Michele C. is back in the Med! And she has not forgotten how to work with watercolours... What a fantastic, balanced little painting.

The one-big-brush version by Anna Karin - she will finish it as soon as she gets back (in max 2 weeks) and that's great because this painting has the potential to become really really special!

Celina knows her Kunstglas better than anyone. It is visible in this watercolour, true to her signature colourful firm style. A very well-balanced composition.

Fantastic, quiet and simple version by Sandra. She makes the mirror visible without painting it, the reflection speaks for itself! 

Michele had 10 minutes left after her cute little still life and used it to quickly paint a single longstemmed Kunstglas glass

Sylvie D. painted another take on glass, broken. I love it, it has lots of drama, with its sharp edges and the wet background...

And of course there were several projects to be finished - and new projects started... 

Right before she left us for a couple of months, Brenda finished her nesting dolls - and how! I am loving the depth, the shadows and the colours. See you in 2018 Bren!

 Patience finished her dutch landscape with tulips. Everyone agreed that it is a very good painting, and that the best-of-the-best part is the dutch cloudy sky!

Sandra's mask is finished! I absolutely totally and completely love it! The writing, the poetry, the background and the eyes, that have become a bit sad. Makes me think of our local history (and movie) of the 'man with the Iron mask'.

 Cathie works steadily and slowly on her paint tubes painting... it is getting shape... watch this space to see it grow 😊

 And last but by no means least, Patience's portrait of a Rhynchophorus ferrugineus - the beetle that destroys our local palm trees.

Aquarellistas - Tuesday session with Marina

We had a session last Tuesday, with a small group, lots of verveine menthe - and the new cd of Adèle! We were extra inspired - and continued with the Circus theme, and worked on other projects..

 Sandra's Elephant & girl clown is getting there! As always interesting and original...

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Edith finished one of her trapeze artists. I love the light in it! Lots of indigo -and salt...

 Another trapeze painting by Edith...

Circus painting by Liz... She will no doubt finish in the next session. These are the first washes, the exciting athmosphere will be in the next layers, which will leave just a little white...

 Sylvie is working on a very delicate still life with orchids... It's going to be a fantastic painting!

 Interesting work-in-progress by Edith, inspired on Adèle!

Carole worked on the details of her tree. She's so modest about it - but I think it looks very very cool!

 

 Cathie finished her long thin & gorgeous painting of the courgette flowers. Love it!

 

 More fantastic fruit - by Liz. Inspired by the outside fruitstand in Plascassier!

 And Cathie is working on a still life of a couple of mustard jars. Great depth already, fab!