Wylie bath 2

This painting was also completed just before Christmas. It is the second in my Wylie series.


I like the composition; how the figures are arranged to focus on the ladder to the rocks. I also like the way the rocks turned out. There are a few problems with the figures but what I've noticed is they are a lot less obvious when the figure is not the sole subject in the painting.

Masterpieces from Paris

The blockbuster exhibition from the Musee D'Orsay Paris is in Canberra and worthwhile seeing, even though I had been in Paris last year and toured D'Orsay plus Le Orangerie, and Musee Picasso. This time I was seeing it through the eyes of a painter, noticing tones, colours, brushstrokes and composition. It is quite a different perspective from one who is interested in the story behind a painting. The story of the impressionist and post-impressionists is not new to me, and with the crowd being 3 deep, it was probably wiser to just focus on the painterly aspects.

There are several paintings that stand out for me.

Monet's Villas at Bordighera: Bordighera is on the Italian Riviera, just a short distance away from the border and Menton. We drove past Bordighera last year, where I mentioned the villas and gardens, to deaf ears as the driver sped past so that we would 'arrive' damnit!

This painting is less impressionistic than Monet's more famous paintings. There is harmony in the colours, with lovely shadows. It reminds me of our vacation in the Italian Riviera town of Rapallo, where the villas are not dissimilar.

Cezanne's Rocks near the caves above the Château Noir: This painting struck me as being very similar to the Australian landscape.

The boulders look Australian, and so do the trees in this painting. There are many colours to his rocks and yet the painting remains convincing.

Not in the exhibition but on display at the Australian Painting section, was this gem by Tudor St George Tucker. The shadows are beautifully done, and the light soft, as it is in the evening.

Portrait of my husband

I've made numerous attempts to draw my husband but he is frustratingly difficult to draw. He has the impression that he is less bald than he is and less jowly too. I chose only to return to this subject only because the Musee D'orsay impressionists are in Oz and a self portrait of Vincent Van Gogh was featured in posters everywhere. Vincent has a beard and my hubby has chosen to grow a goatee recently to make up for his lack of hair. As we all know, I'm no Vincent but an attempt in his style would be a learning experience.


Unfortunately Vincent had a full head of hair which lent interest where my subject lacked. It is a reasonable likeness of hubby although he is not as sombre in real life. Of course I was not aiming to capture his essential personality, rather just imitating a style.

Flamenco dancer

After the study on capturing motion I decided to try capturing the colour and motion of a flamenco dancer. Celina Zambon is a famous dancer and her hands are wonderfully expressive. The swirls in the back represent her skirt swirling as she swirls. This is a large piece and I finally conquer painting with large brushes purchased from the hardware shop.


Here is a close up.

Wylies bath completed

In a spurt of pre-Christmas energy I completed the painting of Wylies Bath. Hooray! I accomplished what I set out to do more than a year ago.


And here is a close up of the people.


This picture reminds me of lazy summer days at Wylies where I'd do a few laps in the cool water and then reward myself with a massage! Bliss. Wylies is not usually busy on weekdays when I escape work and domestic life.

Last class for term 4

Today we had our last class where Olivia modelled. Olivia was often sullen previously but appears to have loosened up. She was great today, striking several very interesting poses. This first one was a 10 min pose while waiting for the class to assemble.


It has been a very social class. We even ended up having lunch to mark the end of the term. I've enjoyed the artistic companionship and was quite productive even if I had less time to devote to art. The company, David's gentle suggestions and seeing how others were working gave me ideas which then led to other explorations at home.


As he did previously we did a composite drawing, 5 mins of 4 people drawing. This turned out better than I had expected.