French market painting #2

Here is something of a companion piece to the other Cahors market painting I posted a couple of days ago:

"Legumes du Jour" Oil on Linen, 20x16" (SOLD) ©Jennifer Young

For both this painting and the previous market painting I have again experimented with a single primary palette of just 3 colors (red, yellow, and blue) plus white. I don't normally use a huge palette any way, but sometimes I feel I can become over-reliant on certain colors. Using a very limited palette helps me to feel as if I am taking back in control of my color mixing and really forces me to think more about color relationships. It also pretty much ensures more unified color. My three primaries for these two paintings were cadmium yellow pale, cadmium red medium, and ultramarine blue, and the white was titanium.

Shifting Light on the Dordogne

New painting:

"Shifting Light on the Dordogne" Oil on Linen, 30x40"  ©Jennifer Young

One of the remarkable features about the landscape in this corner of France was the dramatic way the light would shift. You could be driving in a valley covered by enormous, low-lying clouds, and drive over a hill to the next valley filled with brilliant sunshine. If I had to describe in one word the weather of this region (at least in the spring when I was there) it would be "changeable." You basically had to dress in layers ("Wear fleece" was the prudent advice), and be prepared for fog, chill, rain and blazing sun, often throughout the course of one morning.

It could be quite a challenge for the plein air painter, but it did make for some amazing skies and cloud shadows--kind of like the things you see in a nature film that uses time-lapse photography. This is what I was trying to capture in this birds-eye view painting looking down on the Dordogne river and valley. It is one of several stunning vistas I saw from the top of the Chateau de Beynac.

Upcoming Events

Just a quick note to share a couple of upcoming art events. First, I am very excited to learn that I was one of 24 artists selected to participate in the The Paint Annapolis 2009 juried competition in September. Longtime blog readers may recall that I went up and participated in just the quick draw portion last year. But this year will be my first time as a juried participant in a week-long event of this size. The entry juror was the very talented painter Scott Burdick, whose work, his portraits particular, I've long admired. Second, I've been invited to be a featured artist with painter Hilarie Lambert in an upcoming show at City Art Gallery in Greenville, NC. The show will feature works from our European travels, and opens on August 6th. Here is one of my new paintings I've done for the show:

"Market Price" Oil on linen, 16x20" (SOLD) ©Jennifer Young

One of my favorite parts of my trip last year (okay, I have a LOT of favorite parts!) was visiting the incredible market in Cahors. It was a true French market with all the goods--meat, veggies, cheeses, flowers, oils, soaps, and linens--and none of the tourist tchotchkes that you can see in some of the European markets of the well-traveled cities.

I painted a flower stand in this market en plein air, but this is an alternate view from the same day. The flower stand is in the distance, beyond what you see in the foreground- a stand of sausages (saucissons- pronounced somewhat like SO-SEE-SAW). I'm not a meat-eater now, but once upon a time I tasted some country French sausages like these. They were very rich, but pretty darn tasty at the time. I've lost my taste for it now, but it's still fun to say "saucissons"!

Beynac- final (or close to it)

Back from our mini-vacation in Hatteras now, and I've finally taken the Beynac painting off of the easel to work on other things.

"Beynac", Oil on Canvas, 36x48" ©Jennifer Young

This painting shows my view prior to hiking up to the top of the village to tour the chateauat the summit. The village of Beynac would be worth a visit just because it is so storybook pretty. But it is also the home of a magnificently preserved 13th century castle where Richard the Lionheart fought, won, then loss, only to meet his death shortly thereafter. From the top of the Chateau de Beynac one can see out over the beautiful Dordogne valley in all directions. The day I paid a visit to Beynac is definitely one of my favorite and memories of my visit to this most beautiful part of France.

Away for a few

Well, the Beynac painting is kicking my butt. I wasn't happy with the treatment of the sky so I ended up scraping a good portion of it down and reworking it. Much happier now with it and the cliffs and village have developed nicely.

I'd intended to post the dramatic conclusion but Dave is whisking me away for a few days in Hatteras to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary and I ran out of time. I'm leaving the laptop at home (I'm posting this from the car with my Blackberry!) and will post the final when I return.