Buoux

buoux (oil on board, 25cm x 32cm)

This is one of  a series that I am working on, exploring the beautiful rock formations near the village of Buoux.  There is long tradition of painting subjects such as this going back to the beginning of the 19th century and beyond.  Corot and others who were part of the Barbizon school used to go out into the forest at Fontainebleu where there are distinctive rock formations that have an organic feel.  See also, later in the 19th century, Cezanne's painting "Rocks in a Forest".  I also really like Michael Andrews paintings of Ayres Rock.  There is a stillness, and an absence of narrative, that leads to a simple contemplation of form.

Les Cordiers

Orchard at Les Cordiers (oil on board 32cm x  25cm)

This is a painting made of a part of a much larger painting, using some drawings and etchings that  I made of this place as supplementary  material.  It's about 200 meters from where I am sitting.  I love cloud shadows, they make me aware of the huge volumes that I am trying to deal with in landscape paintings.  You can see the reddish ground peeping through in places - it seems to really activate the greens.