The Age of Enlightenment

After Chapel

Winchester College On Canvas

5 weeks to go until I head back to the UK with a car full of paintings for my Winchester College On Canvas exhibition in early March.

The brochure has now been finalised and my father has done a brilliant job preparing address labels for the mail-out in mid-February (if anyone wants me to send them a copy please email me at vellacott@wanadoo.fr)

At Winchester the “pitch” on which one plays Winchester Football (or “Winkies” as it is apparently now called) is called a canvas – and one plays “on canvas”.

A canvas is eighty yards long by twenty seven yards wide (recalling the fact that the game was originally played in a road) and on either side there is taut netting to a height of about 4m and a rope strung between posts.

Portrait of Princes William and Harry

This new portrait by artist Nicky Philipps of Princes William and Harry was unveiled yesterday.
Further details can be found here

Running out of Studio Wall Space

I now understand why Sorolla needed such a vast studio attached to his home in Madrid – I have completed almost 30 paintings for my March exhibition and my walls are now totally full – my kids are complaining that it feels more like living in Winchester than South West France!

And not only was Sorolla painting many times the size of my canvases but he also had over 300 pictures in some of his exhibitions!

My most recent painting is of lunch in Winchester’s 14th century oak-panelled College Hall.

“I could not paint at all if I had to paint slowly” – Joaquin Sorolla

Having been doing all this research for my new Sorolla web site (www.sorollapaintings.com) one of the things that keeps going around in my head is his statement “I could not paint at all if I had to paint slowly”.

So for my latest paintings in my Winchester College series I really went for – painting both faster and larger (80cm square) than I have for some time.

I have included a section on Sorolla quotes on the web site which you can view here

New Sorolla Web Site

I have just finished writing a new web site on my favourite artist, Joaquin Sorolla – www.sorollapaintings.com

It has been a fascinating exercise researching Sorolla’s life and his approach to painting, including, for example, the colours that he used and some of his direct thoughts and observations (taken from the US press reports of 1909).

I particularly wanted to include good-sized versions of some of my favourite paintings – I hate only being able to look at small thumbnails when part of Sorolla’s impact is the scale and grandeur of the works.

The site is not intended to be a definitive guide but rather a brief introduction to this great artist in the hope that it might provide a gateway through which others might come to know and love his fabulous paintings.

I have also set up a SorollaArt Twitter at http//twitter.com/SorollaArt to provide more day-to-day information about Sorolla – news, exhibitions, auction sales, etc

PS Thanks to Nick Simmons, my favourite American watercolour artist, for his comment below which I have put on Twitter – slightly abbreviated to fit the 140 character quota.

Kingsgate Street, Winchester

It has been such fun painting the street where I grew up – it has hardly changed since my parents moved there almost 50 years ago.

Guan Weixing’s Watercolours

I have just come across this incredible Chinese watercolourist, Guan Weixing, on Nick Simmons’ excellent art blog.

To do this sort of painting in oils would be amazing – to produce it in watercolour is breathtaking.

Guan Weixing’s web site is here and his blog (in Chinese!) is here

Congratulations to Nick Simmons (whose work I also greatly admire) on being chosen to sit alongside Guan Weixing as a judge for next year’s Shanghai International Watercolour exhibition.

Nick Simmons’ blog can be found here

New Sorolla Exhibition

Following the success of the Sorolla exhibition at the Prado around 50 of the works have now been put together in an exhibition at the Bancaja Cultural Centre in Sorolla’s home town of Valencia which lasts until 10th January .

Further information about the exhibition (in Spanish) can be found here

And the background press release (in English) can be seen here

Sadly, the exhibition only contains about 50 paintings (as opposed to the 100 at the Prado) and appears quite focused on the Hispanic Society’s Visions of Spain panels which, personally, I do not feel radiate quite the light of some of his smaller works. particularly his beach scenes.

But that is only my personal opinion and if you are in or near Valencia then I would certainly recommend a visit – the Panels are still staggering pieces of art – the idea of painting on such a vast scale with a team of models and still getting such an overall feel for the various regions of Spain is pretty impressive in itself – and I do love some of the Panels – the Tuna Catch and the Palm Grove for example are both wonderful paintings.

To view my posts on the Sorolla exhibition in Madrid follow the link on the right side.

Back to Cricket

Despite England’s worryingly poor showing against New Zealand I have remained loyal to my cricket theme – and have just finished this new picture for my exhibition in Winchester next March.

At least now we only have to beat Australia to get to the final!

Postscript – sad about England!

Le Prix du Foie Gras

I was pleased to learn today that I won the Prix de la Office de Tourisme – a hamper of Foie Gras and other regional delicacies – at this year’s Soreze Salon for this picture of Jesus entering Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the weekend’s prize-giving as I was dancing the night away at a truly incredible 50th birthday party of a great friend over near Cannes – it’s a tough life!

French Cafe Painting

After a hectic summer driving around UK visiting friends and family I have finally managed to get back to my paints – and I chose this scene from Revel market to get back into the swing of things.

Rowing Painting

I have just completed this painting of a rowing eight.

The painting measures about 65cm x 90cm and is one of the series of sports pictures that I am doing for my exhibition in Winchester next March.

I never rowed when I was at school but I love the sight of an eight powering down the river and wanted to try to capture the speed, power, co-ordination and symmetry.

The Artist August Article

The Artist magazine has published an article about our move to France in their August edition.

I haven’t yet seen the magazine (the post to France is always quite slow) and I can’t remember which photo I sent them but I think that it was the one above – all that I can remember is that it took ages for my 11 year old son to get me and the mirror in the picture together!

I use the mirror all the time to give me an objective view of my painting.

Copies of the magazine can be purchased from The Artist Magazine and will be in WH Smith and other leading newsagents in the UK from around 12th July.

Channel 4 Nude of the Day

I sat down to have my lunch yesterday, flicked on my new TV and found myself watching Channel 4’s new Life Class programme.

What a great idea! Beats Countdown!

Sadly, the artist that was presenting the programme was pretty useless but the model was good and the programme seemed to give enough time for people to draw from the model – albeit that a TV image obviously misses many of the subtleties of light and form.

I started attending life classes when I lived in London 20 years ago and ever since then have tried to join a class wherever I have been living.

In Revel we have a class most Mondays, starting with short 5 minute poses and then extending the time out to about 20 minutes for the longer poses.

I always draw in charcoal on large pieces of paper (50 x 65cm) and love to work the charcoal around with my fingers and then lift off areas of light with a putty rubber.

I put a lot of concentration and energy into my work and at the end of 3 hours I am exhausted.

I would strongly urge any artist to try to find a local Life Class – I know it can seem quite a daunting prospect for some people but once you have got through a few sessions you will start to relax and your skills of drawing and observation will improve significantly.

And if you want to have a go before that why not turn of Channel 4 at lunchtime and get drawing!

Incidentally, more details of the programme can be found on Channel 4’s web site here

Lincoln Joyce Summer Exhibition

I see that some of the paintings from the Lincoln Joyce Summer Exhibition have been posted online here

I am honoured to have my paintings hanging alongside such high quality work and particularly like the watercolours by Keith Noble and Roger Dellar.

The exhibition is at Great Bookham in Surrey (England) and is open until 25th July.

Cricket Painting

I have just done this small painting of a game of cricket from my trip to Winchester a couple of weeks ago.

As a keen sportsman when I was at school, I am very interested in how to convey the competitiveness, movement and general atmosphere of sporting events in a “painterly” fashion.

If anyone has any good examples of sport in art perhaps they could post the link.

Sorolla Exhibition Video

The Prado web site has now published a 15 minute video of the Sorolla exhibition with subtitled comments by the curators.

You can link to the video here

The above painting is The Tuna Catch, painted in 1919. It is one of the enormous Hispanic Society panels (this one is 3.5m x 4.9m) which have been brought over from America for the exhibition.

I get the impression from looking at the Hispanic Society panels that Sorolla’s passion for life and light was drained by this commission – for me his paintings of the beach, particularly those around Valencia, are the work of a far happier man, full of energy and passion and loving the adventure of painting.

There are, however, some exceptions – I love both the Tuna catch and the one of the girls sitting under the palm trees (Elche, El Palmeral).

What I had not appreciated until visiting the exhibition is that the top 70cm (roughly – you can see the line if you look hard) of this painting comprising the underside of the yellow awning is a separate canvas which presumably Sorolla added towards the end of the painting – I hope that I would have the confidence to do that!

The Hispanic Society commission undoubtedly made Sorolla a very rich and well-known artist but did it contribute towards his death at the relatively young age of 60?

Lincoln Joyce Exhibition

I have 5 oil paintings in the Lincoln Joyce Summer Exhibition that opens this week, including this one of a restaurant in Covent Garden.

The exhibition is open until 25th July at Lincoln Joyce Fine Art, 40 Church Road, Great Bookham, Surrey, KT23 3PW.

Further details on the Lincoln Joyce web site, click here.

Carcassonne Vernissage

Friday evening was the opening of the Kaye Gallerie Summer Exhibition in Carcassonne.

As well as some great paintings by Aldo, I loved Tracey Rowan’s recent paintings of San Fransisco and Toulouse.

The exhibition is on until 1st August.

Squinting at Everything

I spent Friday and Saturday on an excellent 2 day life painting course run by Aldo Balding at his studio in Castlenaudary.

As well as being a wonderful painter, Aldo is a natural and inspiring teacher – and his advice and encouragement is behind much of my progress over the past few years.

In painting a different model from life each day Aldo reminded me of the importance of squinting to identify the tone (on a scale of 1 to 9) of the various shapes.

I feel that I must now look like I am doing a rather poor impersonation of Clint Eastwood as I walk around Revel squinting at everything!

Cricket and Pimms in Winchester

I spent a very enjoyable 5 days last week in and around Winchester searching out possible subjects for my exhibition in 2010.

It was very nostalgic to walk around the College, watching cricket, tennis, rowing, etc and meeting a number of the Dons who taught me – over 30 years ago!

Before leaving from here I had posted a couple of examples of my style of painting on my web site at (www.inoils.com), including the one of a game of Winchester Football which I put in a previous post. And one of the Don’s saw it on my web site and bought it!

Once I get some admin out of the way I am hoping to get started on some serious painting – only about 25 canvases to go!

The Sorolla Exhibition is Stunning!

The Sorolla exhibition that Rosie and I visited in Madrid last week is without doubt the best exhibition I have attended – over 100 of the most stunning canvases, including most of the best known ones, all brilliantly displayed in the new part of the Prado.

The exhibition is open until 6th September and I would urge anyone who likes Joaquin Sorolla’s oil paintings to book up immediately – I promise that you will be bowled over by the quality, the light, the colours, the edges, the compositions and the scale of some of the canvases (one of my favourites, the Tuna Catch, measures a whopping 3.5m by 4.8m!)

You need to book entrance places online. We booked for 2 days running both at 9.30 to try to get in before the queues.

Details of the exhibition can be found on the Prado’s web site, click here

To check the availability of tickets click on the “Tickets in Advance” tab on the right hand side.

We stayed at the Prado hotel which was about a 10 minute walk away and was quite sufficient – although do ask for a quiet room. There were lots of great bars and restaurants within a couple of minutes walk of the hotel.

There is an excellent new book to accompany this unique exhibition but we found that the reproductions in the hardback edition (only available in Spanish) was better than the English paperback version – so we lugged a copy of both home with us on Easyjet!

Winchester Exhibition 2010

I am flying over to the UK this week to spend 4 days in and around Winchester Collage – watching/studying cricket matches, music concerts and other aspects of daily life of the historic school – in preparation for an exhibition that I shall be holding in the school’s Angelus Gallery next March (2010).

I grew up within the College and spent 5 very enjoyable years in Beloes in the mid 1970s.

Many artists have painted the historic architecture and very attractive grounds of the College but what I am hoping to do through my paintings is to bring out the underlying “spirit” of Winchester.

This is an oil painting that I have just completed of a game of Winchester Football, a mix of rugby and football played at Winchester College where there are nets and ropes down each side and the rules say that you must always kick it as hard as you can!

Our French friends have been fascinated by this painting and are eagerly awaiting the chance to put together a team that includes Frédéric Michalak and Thierry Henri as “Kicks”!

I have posted a couple of other paintings of the College on my web site at www.inoils.com – click on the “Winchester 2010” tab on the left hand side.

Des Nouvelles Vaches

A note from the Logistics Department

A day of moving paintings around today – I am taking 4 paintings to Carcassonne for the Kaye Galerie’s Summer Exhibition (including this one) and then on down to Leucate near Narbonne to pick up some paintings following my recent Sol y Fiesta exhibition.

I hadn’t realised how much admin and logistics there was involved in being an artist!

The Freedom Bus

I am flattered to have been the subject of an interview that has been published on The Freedom Bus blog about our family "adventure" which has allowed me to pursue my passion for painting.

You can read the interview here

Sorolla Exhibition

We are flying down to Madrid this week to see the Sorolla exhibition that has just opened at the Prado and lasts until September.

Sorolla is my favourite artist – I adore the light and atmosphere that he captures, particularly in his beach scenes.

This is apparently one of the largest collections of his work ever assembled and so I was thrilled when my family announced that the trip was my birthday present this year.

You can find details of the exhibition at www.museodelprado.es

Following my nose

Yesterday I went looking for cows sitting under trees in the hot weather that we are finally enjoying as a subject for a future oil painting – I am in a bit of a “cow phase” of my art at the moment.

Just past Dournge the traffic was stopped by a group of people herding about 30 horses and donkeys across the road.

I managed to park the car, grabbed my camera and set off in pursuit but they were going so fast it took me about half a mile to catch up.

It turned out that they were from La Ferme d’En Goût which rents out pack donkeys and horses for people to take with them into the mountains – they even have some gypsy caravans pulled by wonderful old carthorses.

What an adventure that would be!

And today’s “promenade” was to take the animals up to a field that the organisation owns about 2 hours into the mountains – for a holiday of their own before they enter the busy summer holidays.

You can see details of La Ferme at www.roulottes-engout.com

They were all great people and were very welcoming and I ended up walking for about 2 miles up these steep mountains tracks – in my sandals.

I need to look at the photos that I took later today to see whether I can find one that could form the basis for a painting.

Examples of my recent Paintings

I thought that I should start by adding some examples of recent paintings so that if you don’t like my paintings you don’t waste too much time!

This is my nephew playing in the waves at Dinard after a great evening last summer.

I love painting French cows and they seem to sell pretty well!

This is the cafe in the Galerie du Nord, adjacent to the wonderful market that takes over Revel every Saturday.   A couple of people have said that it would be better if it were in focus (!) but I am particularly interested in how light can be exaggerated in this way – so watch out there may be more of these to come!

I love painting people playing boules – the light, the atmosphere, the concentration …………..

You can see more of my paintings on my web site by clicking here

Introduction

Hi!

Welcome to my blog which I hope some people may find of interest in following my painting and the more general fun and excitement of my new life as a professional artist painting in oils.

4 years ago my wife and I (both in our mid 40s) took the decision to upsticks from our “comfortable” lifestyle near Banbury and pack our labrador and 3 children into a campervan and set off in search of a “cultural adventure”.

We ended up here in Revel, a small very French market town halfway between Toulouse and Carcassonne where our boys (14, 13 and 11 years old) attend the local schools and my wife teaches English to the local Saucisson maker (amongst others!).

One of the principle reasons for the move was to allow me the chance to realise my life-long ambition to study and develop my painting – although I used to exhibit paintings when I was at school my life as a professional consultant over the past 30 years provided few opportunities for anything much more than Saturday life classes and holiday watercolours.

So the last 4 years has been a fascinating and exhilarating journey of re-discovery and development – starting with choosing a palette and learning how to prepare a canvas, through studying colour theory and the work of artists such as Sorolla to approaching galleries and selling my work.

This “blogging” idea is all a bit new to me so please be patient as I get used to this new form of communication!

Iain