Alps-2008

It's been a while since I posted anything here. It's not that I've been living the quiet life. It's been very busy in fact but I haven't felt the inspiration to write anything.

I was in the Alps this summer for two weeks and apart from the influx of the tour de france cyclists and their adoring entourage it is a remarkably quiet place which is even more remarkably beautiful. Although the alps are breath taking in the winter, I find them to be even more beautiful during the summer.

While there I painted, as normal. This landscape is too beautiful to ignore. The towering mountains are awe inspiring and the sense of perspective that distance creates in that kind of landscape is a formidable challenge to capture on canvas. Fortunately my wife and her father took a couple of photos of me painting. I look at them and think, 'you need to get rid of the weight boyo'.

There's a great many wild flowers everywhere and thankfully lots of insects and wild bees pollinating them. The air is very clear here and in years to come I plan to spend several months drawing and documenting them.

While there, I worked on a commission and was lucky to have a studio where I could paint. Unfortunately I can't post any information on the painting for the moment for fear that the person whom it is intended for, might find out. The painting will be a surprise gift from the commissioner. It's taken a lot of time to just prepare the ground work for this painting and I'm glad to say that it seems to have been worth it. Despite that I still haven't done any colour on the actual canvas yet. I've been building up an underpainting with enormous attention to detail. At times it seemed to be too much of a challenge but after a visit to the Louvre where I examined other paintings done in the same manner I feel that I've made the right decision despite the enormous amount of time which it demands.

Here's a photo of me sketching the crowd at the tour de France.




Here's another of me taken by my wife who snuck up with her camera as I painted.