Painting a house in Antibes in aquarelle watercolours

This was a truly great commission! I received it from Chris Davenport of RHF Antibes and initially I almost panicked because there wasn't a better picture available than this one:

But as Chris said that I was allowed some artistic freedom and I realized that it was a great opportunity to do something nice with the foreground - and so I added my favourite flowers...

The drawing was relatively easy - not much detail there, grass was straightforward. The shiny yellow stuff around the painting by the way is masking fluid - helps me stay within the lines...

The front of the house was pretty recognizable, and I made up some garden furniture and a palmtree

The rest of this very sunny house - and a tree

 I hope I have correctly interpreted the darker spots as doors, shutters and windows

 Almost done... a tiny bit of contrast, removing the masking fluid - and off to the client...

House in Antibes

Here's a lovely house in Antibes, a commission of very nice Dutch people. They preferred a small painting and for one I found out that with my way of working, it is not faster than larger size, I just have to use a smaller brush... But I'm proud of the result!

I worked from 3 small photo's, one for the sketch of the basic shapes and the light, and two others for the plants in the foreground... and as always I started with the sky...

If you enlarge this picture you'll see that I painted the hard stone wall with the method I explained in an earlier post - wet drops in very diluted sepia, ochre and burnt sienna tones. They'll dry up with a rim -  which gives a logical and natural effect.

This is the stage in which I always want to stop, the white looks so nice here... but also unfinished and my clients will not be happy as they choose me for my love of detail

Almost finished, only a bit of contrast and I'm done... great project, enjoyed it! and now on to the next one, another house in Antibes!

Wonderful villa in Fayence

Just finished this painting of an impressive villa in Fayence, sold by friends Karin en Leo de Bruine.

I was still in holiday mood (with lots of visitors enjoying the Riviera sun - distracting yours truly) and... forgot about this painting in the planning...  oops!!

So I worked nights with the daylight lamp and luckily still could deliver in time!

Not many pictures of the how-to, lack of time... But in general a painting like this takes two 8 hour days, from stretching the paper to finished stage. And then an extra hour to cut a passepartout (mat) in the right size and attach it... On to the next one with a slightly more relaxed deadline...

Sunny villa in Opio

This week's painting is a fantastic house in Opio, a small  village near Valbonne. Valbonne is one of the most populare villages of the Riviera area, lively throughout the year, with great restaurants, terraces, shops, café's, a market and that true provencal atmosphere...

This villa is situated on walking distance fromValbonne, yet in a quiet area, facing due South with lovely views over the countryside - down to the sea.

Here's the "making-of" of the aquarelle:

The picture of the house - a couple of small things will be "beautified", like the sky, the contrasts and the empty foreground, but in general this is a fine picture to work from

the drawing - and the sky is blue

an extra lavender bush on the right

a couple of plants on the left

the details finished and more contrast added in the shadows to bring out the sunny atmosphere and I'm done!

Les Issambres

And another one hits the dust! This time a commission for a lovely retired couple that bought this wonderful, friendly, sunny house in the village of Les Issambres, also in the departement 'le Var', close to Saint Tropez... The new owners will have it in their home in London to remind them of the view, a nice pool (they have two grandkids that will visit as often as possible to enjoy this!) and the bougainvillea ...

This is how I built up the picture:

here's the photo of the house I had to use, came from their realtors' website and had a very low resolution (little detail) and it doesn't look very 'lived in'

So I started with a sketch from the picture

And then added some nice details, like a table with chairs and a plant

I added flowers, removed the poolcover and painted a pool - with reflection...

And the result... signed, sealed and delivered - the feedback was positive... on to the next one!

House in Les Adrets

The first house-painting of November is a sunny villa in Les Adrets de l'Esterel, a lovely village in the South of France.To be precise, in the departement 'Le Var', part of the Rivièra, especially known for its nature and beautiful red rocks.

The village of Les Adrets has the forested hills of the Esterel Mountains behind it and also offers a panoramic view oni the bay of Cannes and the Iles de Lérins. It is close to the beaches of the coast and the lake de Saint Cassien and that makes it a perfect place to live...

To see how the painting came to be, watch the movie below...

 

A modern house in Valbonne

As the start of a well-filled last quarter I painted the house of a lovely retired couple. They actually "won" this painting as a prize in a lottery - and I loved doing that, it got me started again!

The sky (the only thing that still, after all those years, goes wrong sometimes), the drawing and then starting a small part of the painting - to get a feel for the colours, the shapes, the character of the house...

Very important, the name of the house - Somalo - (Sophie Marie Louise) the owner welded the letters himself, so it has to look like the real thing! Same goes for another sculpture on the wall...

There it is, in the middle (click on the painting to enlarge it). I also added some flowerpots and furniture, and a lot of foliage.

The grass, the lower stone wall (pool below but they didn't want it in their picture) and I've reached the other side...

The finishing touches - and another one done! I hope they like it - I'll be working on the next one, a lovely villa in the Var...