Watercolour painting commission - Café, Montbron

The proprietor of this café in the Charente region of France commissioned me to paint this view of his bistrot 'A Tous Les Goûts'.
He supplied me with a photograph of the building from this angle and I added the customers.  I also took the liberty of adding a lot of sunshine which entailed inventing the shadows.  Hopefully I got all the angles for the shadows about right.

Painting people in watercolour 2

Recently completed this painting of three men playing pétanque.

I'm not sure if I like all the empty space on the right of the painting and could crop it square to just focus on the players.

I like the crop but others have suggested that it would be best to leave it as it is with the empty space helping to show the field of play and the setting for the painting. Haven't decided yet.

This painting is the second I've done recently of pétanque players and I still prefer the first which is done in a much simpler style and is perhaps the direction I would like to go in, although I like the way I've done the figures in this latest one too!

Here's the first one from a few months ago.....

Still painting! Commissions galore!

I haven't posted since before the summer and will now try to rectify that with some serious updating.  Summer sales have been good this year and in between going out to exhibit, and commission work, we have been hard at it to replenish our mobile gallery of work.

Our stand at St Mary in July

Fran has been doing several pet portrait commissions, all of dogs, and recently they nearly all seem to be of labradors! Here is one that isn't.  This is Foxy, a German Shepherd, in his younger days.  He is now an old boy and Fran is currently working on a more recent portrait.

Foxy

After our spring exhibition in Angoulême I decided to paint a watercolour of the cathedral.  I actually did two versions of the same painting trying to work in a looser style and with a very limited palette.  The first uses three colours while the second is done with just Winsor Blue(Red Shade) and Burnt Sienna.

Original paintings or prints?

I am looking into the possibilities of selling limited edition prints of some of our original paintings.  As well as being able to get additional mileage out of one of our works, the reduced cost would enable an enthusiast to better afford to own one of our paintings.

Many artists offer this service and I know of some who find that this is a more lucrative market for them.  There are those who will sell prints which they have created from their own home printer, which are not bad in terms of reproduction quality, but are not really good enough to last. I will be using a professional service with Fine Art Guild standard inks and paper to provide a quality print that will be much more durable.

I'm thinking of starting with a painting of a local café which I have painted several times and of which I have sold all the originals. I recently sold the painting below and had considered that one, but have now decided to create a new painting and use that.

Original watercolour painting - Chez Maurice, Montbron, France

Two acrylic paintings - French Towns

Fran completed the first of these paintings in response to an enquiry by a man who lives on this side of the town.  He bought a watercolour of the château at La Rochefoucauld and wondered whether we had any of Montbron.  Fran painted this view from the basse ville by the river and it was sold at the market in Piégut before we even had the chance to exhibit it in Montbron.

Approaching Montbron - Acrylic 30x20 cm

This next painting is the southern approach to our local village of Varaignes in the Dordogne region of France.  Fran painted this to exhibit at the Foire Aux Dindons which is a big turkey festival held in the village every year.  It hasn't been sold yet but we will be exhibiting it again next Sunday at the Christmas Market.

Approaching Varaignes - Acrylic 30x20 cm

Two watercolour paintings - Market Scenes

Every Wednesday morning a huge market is held in the Dordogne town of Piégut.  Throughout the milder months we are there every week with our stand of original paintings and greeting cards. At this time of the year the market becomes smaller and is naturally not so busy.  Our attendance over the next few months will be dependent on the weather but we hope to go at least every other week.  I have taken several photographs around the market and the two following paintings are the latest based on photos taken there.

Market day coffee break - watercolour 30x20 cm

At the vegetable stall - watercolour 30x20 cm

Two watercolour paintings of Gordes, France

The first painting I did of this hilltop village in the Vaucluse region of southern France attracted a good deal of attention and was sold fairly quickly, so I decided to paint another version from the same viewpoint but using different colours.  I still prefer the first version but the second one has a certain appeal, I think.

Watercolour painting 30x20 cm - View of Gordes, France

Watercolour painting 30x20 cm - View of Gordes, France

Big Commission - Four paintings

We have recently completed four paintings which were commissioned by an association of local tourist offices in the Charente who want to use the pictures as cover illustrations for brochures focusing on four towns in the local area.  This is an important commission for us and we are looking forward to seeing the brochures published in time for the summer season.  Two of the towns in question are much visited by tourists on account of their impressive châteaux, and we are hoping that this will generate some business for us.

Two of the paintings are in acrylic, painted by Fran; two in watercolour, painted by me.  Here are the finished paintings.

Villebois-Lavalette

Acrylic by Fran Evans

Torsac

Watercolour by Ian Osborne

Montbron

Acrylic by Fran Evans

La Rochefoucauld

Watercolour by Ian Osborne