Day 3: The Baudy Courtyard

Courtyard in France

oil

12 x 12

$400.00

Available

http://www.Durinda.com

For the third day of the 30 Day challenge:  This is a scene from the Baudy Hotel in Giverny, France.  I painted there a few years back while staying in the hotel just up the street from Monet's Garden and Home.  This is where the American artists stayed who had traveled to France in hopes of meeting and painting with Monet.  Today there is a restaurant in part.  I'm not sure if they lease rooms still or not, but it has a beautiful courtyard in the back and a studio where the artists used to work.  Watch for a few more paintings from this wonderful place!

Wanderlust

Florence Cafe

Oil

Available 

When you close your eyes, where are you? Are you still in your own environment surrounded by things that are familiar to you?  Or are you someplace where you have been where you remember the sights, sounds, and smells?  Maybe you can imagine a place you would like to go.  Is it very different from where you are?  What do you envision you will see?  What do you hear? Are you alone or around others?  Is the language the same as yours? Are you in a town or out in the country? Maybe at a beach or in the mountains?  Do you smell traces of flowers or freshly baked bread at a market?

There is something about experiencing a new place that has always drawn me to travel.  Perhaps you enjoy discovering new places, new sounds, and new foods?  Where would you go if you were given a trip?  There are places I have been where I would return.  Still others that I would like to visit.  

Part of the joy of being a teaching artist is helping others to record what they see in sketches or paintings.  It is like you can stop time for a moment and capture it all to yourself.  When you return and see your artworks you created, you can still feel the presence of the place.  You can close your eyes and imagine being there again, hearing the sounds, smelling the air,and feeling the heat, cold, or breeze.  

Let me know if you want to experience some of the places I will be going this year.  I would love to have you join me!

Plein Air Painting in Venice  October 5 - 12, 2013, contact:      info@ilchiostro.com 

Painting in Provence  May 25-June 1,2014, contact:    contact@frenchescapade.com

Ciao!  or Au Revoir!

Durinda

A Feeling of Place

Luberon Valley

oil on canvas

24 x 30

$1200

Imagine Gallery of Fine Art

Franklin, TN

This is a place that you wish you could close your eyes and return to the very spot.  This is Provence.  Lush  valleys with vineyards in their spring greens and red poppy fields scattered across the fields.  To the left, the village of Gordes sits perched on the hillside like icing on a GiGi cupcake.  Below, the distant view takes you down the farm road through the fields to the rolling hills beyond.  It's just what you can imagine and more.

I guess that feeling of wanting to be in a place so peaceful is what makes this one of my favorite paintings of late.  I hope you like it too.

Close your eyes.  You're there.

Durinda

Day?

French Courtyard

20 x 16

oil on museum quality board

OK!  I know I said I was painting 30 paintings in 30 days as part of http://www Lesliesaeta.blogspot.com challenge for the month of January.  Admittedly, I am not up to 20 paintings that would be the total for today.  I have been painting nearly every day.  But due to sickness and then injury the first weeks of the month and (can I blame the rainy dark weather for some of this?)  I am just a little behind.  Hopefully now I am getting back into the swing of it.  I was able to photograph this painting today.  I have a few others who are in various stages of development that can be shot later this week including you guessed it, another poppy field!

This painting is from a tiny French village in Provence called Oppede that we visited and painted on our workshop in May.  Oppede had an interesting background with a fortified stone wall and a church that was up behind it on a hill.  Seems one of the major past times in olden days was to attack your neighboring village.  Then you had rulers who liked to tax everything and everybody.  Oppede started to fall into disrepair until artists and writers and others discovered its charm and began to restore the stone buildings and open businesses again.  I just know that I loved the architecture, blue shutters, and flowers that were there.  Thanks to Jackie with http://www.frenchescapade.com who hosted our group and took us to so many beautiful places.  And, I will give you a heads-up:  I am returning in May 2014 for another workshop and this time, an artist's retreat!  Watch for updates on my website http://www.Durinda.com  where you can sign up for my newsletter or check out my Fan Page on Facebook.  

So don't give up on me yet- I will see if I can put several photos in one post so you won't be getting something from me every day.  Then I will see if I can pin them to my Pinterest board that I made.  Wish me luck!

Hope the sun is shining where you are today!

Durinda

30 Paintings in 30 Days

Early Morning Market

20 x 16

Oil on museum quality board

 

I decided to challenge myself and sign up for the 30 Paintings in 30 Days on Leslie Saeta's blog: http://www.lesliesaeta.blogspot.com .  What was I thinking?  Today was Day One and I painted a 20 x 16!!  I'm not sure, but just looking at the others on the posts, I think most were 6 x 6 or something.  I just thought, here is an image from Provence I wanted to paint and I have ALL DAY.  Right?  Well, you know what happens when you think that!  Everyone including the cat needs you to do something for them.  Not to mention the house still needs a good cleaning from Christmas, but I won't go there.

Actually too, I changed the scene somewhat.  The cart in the front was folded material and not flowers.  Luckily I had photos of flowers in the markets that I could get ideas from. SO, it may need a little more twinkin' in a few days but that's it for Day One.

Stay tuned for the rest of the month!  I plan to travel through France and Italy with my images.  After all, I haven't painted Monet's Garden since I returned.

 

Happy New Year to you and yours.  I wish you a prosperous and healthy coming year.

 

Durinda

 



An Artist's Life

Van Gogh's portrait sculpture outside the Maison de Sante Saint-Paul  Mental Hospital in St. Remy-de Provence-France

I am still haunted by the memories of visiting the St. Remy mental hospital where Van Gogh stayed for a year (1889-1890).  He has always been an artist that I was interested in.  I wondered about his heavy worm-like brushstrokes.  What did he see?  What did he think?  The more I read and researched his life, the more questions would appear.

Fortunately for us, his sister-in-law kept all the letters that Vincent wrote to his brother Theo.  She also kept the paintings, hundreds of them that Vincent shipped to Paris, thinking that his brother the art dealer was actually selling some of them.  We all know he only sold one in his lifetime.  Thanks to Jo we have some insight into what and why Vincent painted what he did. 

At St. Remy, Vincent painted 142 paintings, some books say 150, and over 100 drawings.  Probably the most important period in his work. He had admitted himself to the hospital for rest, after a disastrous stay in Arles (I won't go into that).  When he was "improved" he was allowed out to paint around in the area.  This is where he painted the famous "Starry Night" and quite a few others that you would know. Think of all the money that Theo sent to cover canvas and paint! 

A bedroom typical of what Vincent would have had with a reproduction of one of his paintings he did while there.

Vincent for the most part, lived a very unhappy life, unable to have meaningful relationships with friends or family.  He had bouts of manic depression, maybe epilepsy, and maybe glaucoma.   But his inspiration to us is his passion and devotion to his art.  

So some of the questions:  Are we in love with his art or with his story?  If he were alive today, would his art be valued?  Would he be your friend or someone you would help?  Do you have to be crazy to be an artist? 

What do you think?

Off to the studio...
Durinda





ICE

Spending the day shopping at the street market in Isle sur de la Sorgue

May 17,2012

I don't know if you have ever traveled to Europe, but I am addicted to it.  There is just something about being in a new place that is very different from home.  I love everything about it.  There are however, a few things that we as Americans take for granted that the Europeans seem to live happily without.

Ice- never comes with a drink, not coke or tea.  Forget having it in a glass of water.  I know from being in New England it is not as common there either, but usually you can ask for it.  I figure the New Englanders are just too cheap to take up space in a drink with frozen water (sorry all my NE friends- this is a generalization of course!)  But in Europe, ice is used to keep things cold in a freezer and not to be consumed in a liquid drink.

Soft sheets and towels-never take for granted your indoor dryer and fabric softeners.  Most laundry is hung outdoors to dry in Europe just like your great-granny did it.  So no thick fluffy towels or 700 thread count cotton sheets unless you are staying in a 5 star hotel and paying the big bucks to sleep a few hours.  You're in Europe, for pete's sake, don't spend it in a hotel!

Washcloths-who knew that not having a washcloth would make any difference?  It's all in what you are used to, right?  A couple of our gals even bought some while we were there since they are not provided.  It is pretty universal in Europe not to have them. 

Shower curtains-some places do have glass doors for showers, but if there is a tub, there isn't a shower curtain.  You have to do the best you can to shower and not flood the entire bathroom.  OK, so it was me who flooded the bathroom in Paris the first day.  And given that you only get one towel for a week, you learn to direct the water so it doesn't spray all over the room. 

Toilet seats- now here's the "touchy" subject!  Few places have a separate men's and women's.  That means there usually isn't a seat on the toilet.  Guess it saves cleaning time?  No problem with keeping the lid up or down?  And that is if you are lucky enough to find an indoor toilet in a public place.  Yes, they still have the "holes".  I found it funny that they would have fancy metal hangers for purses or coats in the same room.  And usually have electric hand dryers.  I remember my dad telling me about the "water closets" that he saw when he was there during WWII.  Still there.  Maybe even some of the same ones? 

Despite the minor differences in things we deem as "normal" in the US, we 6 Tennessee gals plus 2 Minnesotans did a fairly good job of contributing to the ailing economy of France on this trip consuming delicious meals, pastries and desserts. And maybe a bottle of wine or two.  Not to mention the clothes, scarves, linens, and other items we all bought and brought back.  It was a hard job, but hey, somebody had to do it without ice on this trip!

For Memorial Day, let's not take for granted the lives and sacrifices of our military.  Enjoy your weekend.


Durinda

Loose Women

Enchanted

Oil on museum quality board

6 x 6

(My first painting at home since the workshop, what do you think?)

With Leslie Saeta

Dreama T Perry

The Rowdy Corner of Southern Gals, minus Karen taking the shot

What better place to encounter loose women than Buckhead in Atlanta for a week?  I was part of Leslie Saeta and Dreama Tolle Perry's workshop.  Leslie and Dreama are two of the Daily Painters.  Leslie paints with a palette knife and Dreama works in transparent oils.  Both very different styles and especially different from mine.  What did I want to learn?  To loosen up of course!  I am wanting my oil paintings to look more like my watercolors.  I know that when I paint with watercolors, I am confident and just go for it!  I put colors where I see them and not where they necessarily are.  I can swish and splatter and work wet-in-wet.  I have felt that my oils lacked that looseness, that confident brushstroke, that surprise of color.  These two gals were about as loose as you can get, fast and furious, brave and confident.  I also found out that painting with a palette knife takes some practice.  I wasn't sure if I could hold my mouth right to get those strokes I wanted.  The benefits of knife painting?  No brush cleanup, soft edges, textured paint, clean color.  So whether or not I pursue either of the gals' styles in painting, I have told myself, "I can do this!  I can mix color, put it on, and leave it alone."  It was fun being a student for a week, observing how they each had their style of teaching, being around artists I knew already and meeting new artist friends.  Now, if you will excuse me, I have some paintings to knock out in the next couple of hours.

Paint Happy!

Durinda