Painting Paris - work in progress

The painting of the streets of Paris is progressing slowly but surely. I have worked on each of the three canvases in rotation so each is brought to the same degree of finish simultaneously. This allows me to keep tonal values constant and ensure that the work is cohesive across the three separate canvases.

Although the brief is essentially for a black and white painting I needed to add tones of grey to add depth to the piece. Now I am starting to add more black and white and those areas are really starting to pop.

Today I added some street lights and the first tree and I feel as though Paris is becoming more real. 

Parts of the Eiffel Tower are also almost done.

The cafe`s and the people are now my major focus. It's hard to say how much longer I'll need but I am quite pleased with the rate of progress. Working in acrylics has made the work go quickly as I haven't had to wait for paint to dry. (Sometimes it's dried rather too quickly but that's the nature of the beast!)

Arts Alliance Pine Rivers Exhibition

The Arts Alliance Pine Rivers is holding their Annual Exhibition this coming weekend.

My paintings for this show are a combination of nostalgia on the one hand and also an exploration of my new country. 

Towards Kaapse Hoop - oil on canvas - 610mm x 915mm - 2012 Carol Lee Beckx

Towards Kaapse Hoop (Hope of the Cape) is a painting of the view looking towards the mountains in the Barbeton Valley, South Africa, from the farm where my daughter and her family used to live. Protea is also nostalgic - so evocative of my roots. 

Protea - oil on canvas - 700mm x 700mm - 2012 Carol Lee Beckx

Blue Vase with Poppies is a variation on a similar theme that I have painted previously.

Blue Vase with Poppies - 600mm x 600mm - 2012 Carol Lee Beckx

Mooloolaba Spray - don’t you just love that word - was painted after a visit to the Sunshine Coast, and Towards Mt Coolum is the view looking towards Noosa from the same beach at Mooloolaba.

Mooloolaba Spray - oil on canvas - 600mm x 600mm - 2012 Carol Lee Beckx

Towards Mt Coolum - oil on canvas - 600mm x 600mm 2012 Carol Lee Beckx

Regular (and sometimes) irregular blogging

Visual artists do not always find that words come easily, and it’s often hard for us to get into a regular schedule of writing blog posts. Writing time is more often taken up with drawing, painting and sometimes just planning the next painting in a series. Preparing work for exhibitions, as well as planning teaching topics also takes precedence.

There are countless resources online to help a blogger stay on track including: having a blog writing day where multiple posts are planned and written in one sitting; and there are many wonderful brainstorming ideas for topics. The snag is just sitting down and getting on with the writing. I know I'm not alone as I read frequently of fellow bloggers taking time out.

My plan to blog once a week often falls woefully short of that goal, and recently this has happened more and more.

My excuse - I've had a very busy studio time. It’s likely to remain that way for a while. A new project is a large painting for a local business. I'm on a virtual journey to Paris.These photos give a glimpse of the scale of the work.

Suffice to say I’ll be busy - very busy…