Genalgualcil

Genalguacil is another of those gorgeous Andalucian pueblos blancos and an artists dream. Within this small village is an amazing art community who show their work throughout the village and once or twice a year hold an exhibition with their studios open to the public. I've not been fortunate enough to have been there at that time but my mother tells me its a delight! When you walk through this archway you come to a wonderful open plaza in front of the church and, if my memory serves me well, the view from here goes all the way to Morocco across the straits of Gibraltar. (Sorry for lousy photo - will retake in daylight on Wednesday).

The more I paint white the more I want to explore it - the different shades you can achieve and still create some very subtle difference. Just looking at my palette after one of these paintings shows the wonder of white. There is such an incredible subtlety and depth in areas that are close in value but shimmer with colour. The trick is in keeping the colours clean and not muddying them - now that I would like to learn! Doing the pastels has really helped in being able to see those differences in areas that at first look like they are one plane of colour but on closer inspection dissolved into multiple hues.

New Year Resolution 5 - explore areas of interest.

Plein Aire

I really wanted to go and paint plein aire today but I have too much to do at home (those horrible domestic things that get in the way of painting) so I stayed here but determined to at least try something new. This is the view off my back balcony to the neighbours house behind us. There were nice shadows cast off the angles of the house which is white. Trying to get distance into each step back in the building was interesting and working with white walls and trying to create some difference between those closest and those further away but still in full sun was difficult.

Last night was the first night I have missed my daily painting in over three weeks but I was totally exhausted when I got home from work. Its funny how quickly something can become a habit. And how quickly you can lose them! (Guilt here about not working out! Something had to give!). I'm trying to decide whether to go with canvas panels or stretched canvases for my next order. I do really like the "boing" factor of a stretched canvas, but thinking about how quickly daily paintings are going to add up bulk-wise if I do them all on stretched canvases.