Different Pastures

FOR SALE

No we havent moved yet.  

Nor is Bandouille properly on the market. Yet....Not until we can found someone who is actually capable of marketing and selling our beautiful home.  Finding an estate agent here that is worthy of their commission is proving extremely hard.  I say no more.

As most are aware we are currently not running art holidays as we wish to sell.  And I am relieved that this year we did not do them.  What with the atrocious start to the year with the rain and constant storms till the beginning of June and since then the incredible heatwave.  France has also been hit with air and rail strikes which has hindered tourism.  And indeed would have left us with alot of frustrated people, not to mention how awful we would have felt to.

So what to do?  Gardening is out...pretty much since having both my hips replaced, but mainly due to the fact the gardens gone mad and its too hot. Cooking exotic meals is not really practical for one....I am sewing and crafting and sketching, but need to be fulfilled.  I miss my guests terribly......

A couple of months ago my son Toby and his girlfriend Angelina surprised us with a visit from New Zealand.  Toby also arrived with his drone and has made a stunning film of Bandouille both inside and out.  So I spent some quality time with all three of my children in Brighon and then here at Bandouille and also in La Rochelle.  . It was the first time I had visited La Rochelle properly as a tourist and we had alot of fun cycling around the town, which was so easy as it was so flat and we also spent a couple of days exploring Ile de Re. Not enough time though and I will be going back there again soon, with sketchbook in hand.  It amazed me how close to the airport it was and how huge and wonderful the bridge was.  The beaches are gorgeous and the small white towns a joy to wonder through.

Gare de La Rochelle

Since then I have spent alot of quiet days sketching from the myriad of pictures that I had taken.

Faye L'abbesse

But truth is I am also re evaluating me...and what I want to do in the future.  I know now that I still want to teach and paint and to create and to be with people.

Then the blood moon eclipse happened and was aware that big changes could be taking place, not only for me but for everyone.  That day I received an email  asking if I knew anyone that could fill the place of an artist/tutor that had fallen ill and could not attend a venue near Bordeaux at short notice...Instantly I knew that it should be me to fill that slot.  I'd not really thought of "being the tutor" outside of Bandouille before.  But it made so much sense and I jumped at the opportunity.  I love coincidences and they certainly didnt stop there.

Chez Castillon

So I wrote back and offered myself et voila.....I'm off to the gorgeous Chez Castillon in a couple of weeks, to join my hosts Janie and Mickey Wilson and  a house full of authors which looks like lots of fun.  

Janie herself has just launched her latest book and its rapidly becoming a bestseller.  I have just myself bought it and am hooked as it touches on my life in many more ways than just one.  You can find it here.

Sky's the Limit 

I found a photo of their gorgeous venue and decided to get to know the place by sketching it on brown paper with gouache.   Being  in a "townscape" is going to be new to me in France and fits in perfectly with my recent new pastime of urban sketching.

I've not in the years of being here spent enough time travelling around France and now I am going to take the opportunity





Since then I have been revisiting my lesson plans and gathering my tools together and have also been making some sketchbooks and a brush roll too.  Such fun and I hope to share those ideas with my students too. 

Brush roll

 

The sketchbooks are made with watercolour paper and are made in accordian style  which is fun when out and about and creating a flowing record of your visit. It can be covered with anything you want including maybe maps of where you are going and inside you can attach an envelope to collect tickets and souvenirs that you pick up en route.  I also use my Gel prints

Accordian Sketchbook - watercolour paper

So I have alot planned and in the meantime the weather has become cooler and I feel some gardening coming on and also some eco printing too whilst the leaves and the flowers are still fresh.

In a few weeks I will be sketching with Christian Couteau which I am also looking forward to so will fill you in on that adventure too.

Watch this space 

A bientot
Bix  

Oh here is a picture of Arty too to show that he is still alive and kicking ....or not as the case may be  Bx

Autumn at Bandouille

Autumn - from Spring.....where has that time gone....and so much has happened!

Yes, again my blogging skills have lapsed, but all the better to play catchup.

The 2016 Art Holiday season  was packed with fun and wonderful paintings from both Tutors and guests. 

Sadly because of the work that this entails I felt that I had to resign from my role as Creative Designer from the Gel Press Team to give 100% to the holidays.  I throughly enjoyed the short time I had with them and the people I met through them too.  But I am following their progress avidly on their facebook page Gel Press Junkies. 

No doubt now that the Autumn has arrived I will be printing madly again.

The tutors we had this year were  Stephie Butler, Eugen Chisnicean, Joanne Boon Thomas and Jane Minter and they left their mark as usual by thrilling us all with their wonderful skills.

Stephie Butler

Stephie Butler

Here are examples of some of their work some of which we now have hanging on our walls at Bandouille

Eugen Chisnicean

Joanne Boon Thomas

Joanne Boon Thomas

Jane Minter

Of course all of our guest produced lovely works too and many of these can be found on our Facebook page .

Just select the album you wish to view and browse.  If you see any photo you would like to use as reference you may do so.

We announced earlier in the year that this year would possibly be our last at Bandouille.  I am pleased now to say that it wont be and business will continue as usual next year although we will be reducing the amount of weeks and tutors that we normally have.  So please be sure to check our website for available dates.  Or if you have a date in mind please contact us as none of the calendar is set in stone.

Also if you wish to bring a group let us know as we can organise group rates, pick ups and dietary requirements, which we do as standard.

The standard holidays essentially means that there will be no guest tutor and you are free to paint what you like with my guidance if required.  We will also go out visiting sites to either sketch, photograph or just enjoy.

Also the holidays are not restricted to Painting. Crafting, yoga, anything in fact if you need a venue for your groups.  Please enquire.

Arty is now just over 1 year old and is thriving in our environment and could not be a more delightful feline companion.  I shall leave you with a few pics of him too!  

With that said I will leave you for now and continue again in the next couple days upodating you on other things that I have done in the last 5 months.

A bientot

Bix x

Simple Landscape Video

As promised I have released a short video of how I do my landscapes under the Gel Press umbrella.

As you will see the steps are simple and easy to follow and you can make yours your own by introducing different colours, textures and subjects into your work.

I have shown the materials used and the outcome of each print.

Click HERE for video




Please feel free to comment or ask a question if you want

The final results of 4 pulls with embellishments

Click Here In the meantime France is sunny and getting warmer and together with the April showers we are also blessed with stunning views like this.

Holiday bookings are picking up once more after the terror strikes and there still a few places left on a couple of our Guest Tutor workshops.  Email us here at France Painting Holiday  for more info or visit the website

Also if you are interested in a printing workshop or a craft week also please inquire.  These workshops cannot takeplace unless we know that enough people are interested. 

Preparing now for the World Earthday bloghop on the 20th so visit this page again then with a chance to win a prize.

A bientot
Bixxy x

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=4BE1A8D896E2CC3D!286&authkey=!ACoJkgvPjb8nLXU&ithint=folder%2cjpg

Inspired by Art

Having fun playing with my Gel Press plates again this weekend and have set aside a new blog post step by step for April 20th for World Earth day which will be a blog hop where you can win a Large Format Round plate from Gel Press so keep an eye out for that. 

In preparation for that I was playing around getting ideas for it and the ideas kept flowing. This one is inspired by Monet,

I will post the other ones after embellishment after the Blog Hop;

I have discovered one thing whilst doing all this printing on the Gel Press Plates...I do love it but I love an instant result too.  As I am not a "art journaller per se" (and I do so admire those that are) I cannot see myself cutting out bits n pieces to use in a book or journal.  I paint. I paint pictures mostly in watercolour and therefore I like to produce paintings........so that is what I am going to strive for mostly from this process.

As so many people have requested a video showing how I create my small poppy landscapes I have just finished filming a simple landscape routine which I will be publishing later this week.




In the meantime I have decided I want to run "Inspired by my favourite artist" every month and will deliver the final print on my blog.  I think it is important to study other artists famous or not as it expands our knowledge of techniques, mediums and colours too.  Also the way that those worked before us set certain styles in motion which became the fabric of all the art movements.

So this month I am working on a huge favourite of mine and may do more of his....that was a big hint!!!!

Can you see who the artist is yet????  

More to come soon

Bx

Birds Nest for Easter Step by Step

"If we always do what we always did we always get what we always had!"

Perfect quote sent to me the other day by my lovely friend and fellow artist Joanne Boone Thomas

What a great saying! And its so true.  I am very much climbing out of my comfort zone and having such fun experimenting with new printing techniques.

I can't believe it was only last week that I received my delivery of all my new Gel Press plates and this is the first time or using a round one. 

So much has happened since then and all of it doing printing! Oh and planning, dreaming, sketching out ideas..............

Gel Press junky is now an understatement.  So whilst the paint is still wet I will fill you in with what I have done.

Here is a short step-by-step on how I achieved my nests of eggs.  A favourite subject at this time of year in all mediums and printing by no means gets left behind!
                                                                 SLIDESHOW BELOW

Materials

• 8" Round Gel Press Plate
• Acrylic paints
• Brayer
• Copy Paper
• Bunch of grasses
• Scrap Paper 
• Egg cutouts (masks)
• Embellishing materials and spare prints

 First I dabbed on nest colours of yellow ochre and burnt sienna

 I brayered this over the plate till the colours blended but in a patchy way

I then took my bunch of reed grass and moving around the plate pushed it into the paint thus picking up the paint on the way and leaving an impression

I then used the brayer to roll black paint on the grass

 and then pressed this onto the painted plate to leave black grass impressions

At this point I took a print with the centre a solid colour as one option

I then added three egg cutouts (masks) and pulled another print

I added cream and pink paint and rolled it out over the Gel Press plate

And got this, which I love!  Can you see the childs face in there?  Something to work on later.

Here is a short slideshow showing how some of them ended up.  A couple I would call finished and the others ....well i'll just have to play with those.

Click HERE view slideshow

Happy Easter and see you next time!

Bix x

Fresh Air?

Spent nearly the whole of last week pretty much locked  in my very "underused in the winter" Studio as I took delivery of 14 different sized Gel Press Plates from Gel Press in the US on Tuesday. So not alot of fresh was had!!! A shock as I only had to wait 3 days and was thrilled when the box arrived jammed packed with goodies.

As part of my  role as a Creative Designer for the Team I need to play with each Gel Press Plate and see what I can come up with and my head is swimming with ideas.

So Tuesday was spent prepping the area in the Studio for my marathon session including lighting the stove on Wednesday and Thursday as it was pretty cold out there and the room takes a good while to warm up.
Somebody else wanted to join me in the warm studio, but at this point, covered in cobwebs, didnt gain entry. But managed to later and left a paw print or two.

I decided that I wanted to work on the 10x8 Gel Press plate as that was a bit larger than what I am used to.  Effectively it is just a wee bit smaller than an A4 sheet of paper as you can see from the image below.

For warming up I just added a few blobs of acrylic paint on the plate and smoothed them out with the brayer and textured the surface with some home made stamps and bubble wrap took a first pull and then added the dragonfly masks and some blue green paint rollered over the top
 

I next planned some landscapes that I had been storing in my "to do" file. And these were the outcome after embellishment

I like instant results so this method suits me well.  One of my favourites is below!

***TOPTIP***

My advice is go for a subject that you love...if you try to create something you do not like it will show in the finished work.

My Bonnie lies over the ocean

I shall be doing a landscape video very soon, so follow me here on this blog and on Gel Press Junkies for the latest updates from me and my Gel Press Creative Team mates..

I hope to launch my website this week so that you can see some Gel Press prints that were created in this session under Recent Work and my other work.

Please feel free to ask questions and leave a comment

Thats it for now

Bix x