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

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

Summer has arrived! 

 And with it sunshine and plenty of poppies.  Which for the Centenary year of the first world war, seems appropriate.  Find here a link to the reason why the poppy was the designated flower of remembrance.History of the Poppy

With that in mind I set to work a couple of weeks ago on my Gelli Printing not really knowing where I was going, but achieved something I had long been hoping to do and that was a series of paintings/prints of poppy field to mark the anniversary of the first world war.  The fact that it happened this year was perfect.  So here are two of my Centenary Field series, yet to be completed.

More on Gelli Plate printing further down!

Lest we Forget                                                    Ghosts of Summer

Art Holidays

Our first tutored week of the season has just been completed and what a week we had.

Stephie Butler was our tutor who specialises in human portraiture, but more recently in wild cats 

and other animals.  Everyone learnt and achieved so

by G. Grayland

 much in this week and I think came away thrilled with their results.  We too were very happy that everyone had a lovely time and that the sun finally graced us with its presence.  Although the sun was out, work still had to be done in the Studio but we found plenty of time to go out and about and do some sight seeing too!

As this area is so steeped in Medieval history we
we all went to St Loup which is just off the Road of the Plantagenet Kings.  We also went to Parthenay which is famous to be the route of St. James (or St. Jacques in Frances) who was the Pilgrim who walked the route to Compestello - click here for more information. And to finish off the week we went to Thouars for the weekly market. So how could we not go out.

But whilst we were all working in the Studio here are some of the samples of works that were achieved.  For more photos of work and from our week please visit  Here you will also  find albums from our previous holidays and more photos of Bandouille itself.  You are free to use these photos as reference if you so wish.

And here are some that I managed to do. Mainly after Stephie left as I was flitting from Studio to kitchen all the time.  But these are only the first run and works in progress as I learnt so much from just doing these the once and learning from my mistakes.  Mainly I go to heavy with the painting so will have to pull back a bit.  But in saying that its more the little techniques on the way that have been the most useful and that I can implement into my own style, rather than develop the style of the artist.  As I feel that I will always be far bolder than Stephies lovely gentle way of painting.  Ho hum!

These two lovely portraits were gifted to us by Stephie and we are thrilled to have her work here at Bandouille.

With that said...Stephie will be back next year.  Please add your name to the waiting list through our contact page on our website www.francepaintingholiday.com   Spaces are limited 

In the meantime......We still have spaces for Eugen Chisnicean and for Jane Minter.  For our schedule, view previous post or go to our website. Only a couple spaces left, so you need to be quick!

Gelli Plate Printing

USEFUL TIP!

When making your plate (instructions on previous post) place large piece of clingfilm into the mould...This makes it 100 times easier to remove than without. Also if you like the crinkly effect of clingfilm in your artwork, you can use the underside too.  It needs to be large as it seems to want to shrink due to the warmth of the mix.

Here I have used a  polystyrene sausage container.  Look out for interesting sized or shaped containers from Supermarkets. Also keep an eye on textured bases of containers too.  I confess that I have bought these kind of items just because I needed the mould....shhh!

WARNING!!!!!!!  Do not leave in the sun or even in a room that is too warm....the plate melts....I know!!

Since discovering this technique I do have mixed responses, which are easily divided.  The men think I have totally lost the plot and the women LOVE IT!

This includes Stephie who, as she and our other guests had an extra day, got me to demonstrate how this method works.  And guess what....they were hooked.  They had great fun! And produced loads and loads and loads.  So much in fact, my supply of paint has totally disappeared and its a good job Drew has gone back to the UK to pick up extra supplies. 

Here are a few prints from a batch that I did at the same time as the poppies above.  It shows how you can change course in your ideas as you are going along.

I am really excited by this method of "painting" and have just ordered a sencil cutting tool off Amazon to make my own stencils and masks.  I will let you all know how that is working out and post some results at a later date!!!.  

I am thinking of running an Art journalling week next year to include Gelli Plate printing.  Again, if you are interested please contact us on the link above.

BANDOUILLE

First though, some sad news.....Chippy our wonderful baby duckling that grew up to be our cheeky duck has, it seems, been taken by Mr. Fox.  He has not been seen for over two weeks now and we know he was too greedy to stay away for any other reason. As our other ducks are all sitting on nest we hope before he disappeared he was able to fertilise the females.  Maybe we will have many little chippies here...Will let you know......RIP Chippy x.

As to what is happening now, life goes on as normal at Bandouille.  Gardening, when possible and making quirky things like Elder Cordial (I have just bottled 4 litres of it) and my first batch has gone really fizzy and is delish! Planting and harvesting whatever I can find.  Sneaking into the studio to do some "stuff" inbetween cleaning.

So everyone, hope you like the catch up and speak to you soon.  And yep, I know the posts dont get any shorter....but you have caught up now!  Thats my excuse and I am sticking to it!

Bx