Well it's mid September already and that can mean only one thing...my annual trip to France is here!! In what has become an annual indulgence we will be returning to France to paint in Paris and sunny Provence... including Nice and the Cote D'Azur which will be a first! The Provencale town of Uzes is also on the itinerary and final stop will be the Alsatian town of Colmar on the border of Germany. Can't wait!
In what will be another first, the little paintings I do along the way will be available for purchase as I paint them...so if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram please keep an eye out for the daily paintings. Painting on the road is always a challenge... slow drying paint, weather, ridiculously distracting scenery...with all these factors I will have to stay focussed and organized. For the first time we will also be travelling the entire trip by train, so who knows... I may even be tempted to paint the gorgeous French countryside as it is rushing by! In other news I am thrilled that this year I am again a finalist in the NSW Parliament Plein Air Prize with my painting of Echo Point. In the meantime my Secret Sydney series continues for my show in November, smattered with a few of my remembered landscapes of Bathurst. Please enjoy some of this month's work below and I will catch up with you all when I return from France!
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With my Sydney show now just over three months away I am working hard to make it all happen! What started as an occasional day trip to the harbour city has now become a fortnightly ritual...packing up my paints, booking some accommodation on Airbnb, and then uncovering the Sydney foreshore one beautiful bay at a time.
Although I grew up in Sydney I am discovering some little pockets I never knew about before...such as the beautiful Lavender Bay where I have just painted Wendy Whiteley's Secret Garden. Apart from favourites such as Mosman and Bradleys Head I have also set up my easel in Balmain and picturesque Lady Martins beach at Point Piper. If you have any suggestions for more of Sydney's hidden gems, please let me know! Just a quick note for those who have been asking about my show at L1 Studios earlier this month... I am thrilled to say it was my most successful show yet with a total of 16 paintings finding new homes over the weekend. It was fantastic to catch up with my Melbourne friends from last year and as well meet some of my newest supporters who have been following me on social media.
Sincere thanks to everyone who was able to come, and despite having no voice for the entire weekend (Melbourne weather or nerves...I still don't know!) I somehow managed to make some great new friends. I am definitely coming back to Melbourne next year, and for those that weren't able to make it, there are still some great paintings left in my catalogue here www.richardclaremont.com/melbourne-catalogue Here's some photos from the show! For those who have been asking, the catalogue with all the latest work for my upcoming show is now available here:
http://www.richardclaremont.com/melbourne-catalogue.html For purchase enquiries please respond directly to this email. If you live in the Melbourne area, I would love to see you at the show...starts Saturday! It's been a hectic month here in the studio preparing for my Melbourne show. If you live in the Melbourne area I would love you to save these dates: This show will go for just one weekend (sorry folks, but hiring a venue like this is expensive!) There will be a full online catalogue available towards the end of next week for those who can't make the show. This year I spent a memorable week in Victoria on the Bellarine Peninsula. I had come to paint the glorious sunny skies and autumn weather but what I experienced was actually quite different…a week of moody shifting skies, storms, fleeting light and scudding clouds. In this series I was forced to review the way I see the landscape, to push myself into territory I had not been before…a world of low horizons and big skies. I am thrilled to return to L1 Studios for my only show in Victoria for the year. I welcome old and new friends to again celebrate with a glass of wine on Saturday afternoon, July 8th at 2pm…the show goes for just one weekend (July 8-9) so please put this one in your diary now! Hope to see you all there… Meanwhile here's a sneak peek at some of the work that will be available for purchase: Quote I have been pondering this month: "Don't call it a dream. Call it a plan." Well this year's spectacular skies continue! As I continue to paint for my Melbourne show in July I am constantly amazed by the variety of skies on display every night...pink, rosy clouds...stormy Paynes grey wispy clouds...dramatic upswirling pavilions of light. Glorious!
This series is beginning to challenge me artistically as well as I find I am developing an array of techniques not used before...most notably, underpainting...layering has not been a feature of my recent work as I favour a more spontaneous "all or nothing" approach, but I'm discovering the advantages of constructing a painting in nuanced degrees where I can change direction mid painting. Quote I am pondering this month: "What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?" Settling into life as a full time artist continues and I am discovering the value of leading a balanced healthy lifestyle. In between sessions of painting I am enjoying swimming at my local beach every day, cycling into town for an afternoon coffee, and having a lot more time for family. Important I think! So easy for creatives to lose that sense of perspective...I always return refreshed and inspired by my outings, brimming with new painting directions and ideas about life in general. My current mantra is simple..."good things happen when you go out"... Meanwhile here's some of the offerings from my studio this month. Thanks for stopping by! :) Greetings friends! Apologies for the gap since my last newsletter...it would be an understatement to say I've been busy but one of my resolutions this year is to be up to date and...organised!!!
For those that missed my big announcement on social media...I have now retired from my position as a postman of some 29 years to focus full time on my art. Yes! Long overdue, and a decision that would have been easier if I no longer liked being a postie (which wasn't the case at all, I loved it!) but I really just don't have time for it any more. With a growing demand for teaching workshops, helping artists with career development consulting, travel plans and an ever increasing painting schedule...there will be more than enough to keep life engaging and interesting! Meanwhile on the painting front...thanks to the amazing generosity of one of my collectors who lent me her holiday house for a week, I have spent a wonderful time painting in the Barwon Heads region of Victoria. Moody, tumultuous skies and pounding surf made for a painting series which I think may prove to be one of my best yet! I am currently working on upscaling several plein air studies I painted in some howling wind under threatening skies. These paintings will be in a solo exhibition I am planning for Melbourne on July 8 - 9 at L1 Studios. Starting on Saturday I will be having a few pieces on show in Mosman, based on my various jaunts around the Mosman/Cremorne area. Anyway thanks so much for tuning in and reading this far...hope to have more news soon! Meanwhile here are some of the paintings from the Barwon Heads week below... That's right people, my one and only exhibition this year in Sydney and I've saved it right until the end of the year! This will be my third and final show at Depot which sadly is closing right after my exhibition.
"Paris and Other Postcodes" December 12-17 Depot Gallery, 2 Danks St Waterloo Opening night Tuesday December 13th, 6-8pm If you live in Sydney it would be fantastic to catch up at the show...for those who live in other areas there will be an online catalogue available so please check my website www.richardclaremont.com just prior to commencement of the show. I am super excited about this show which will be an overview of everywhere I've been this year...as the title suggests...from the cobbled stairways of Montmartre to the suburban streets of Wollongong. There will be a smattering of Bathurst landscapes combined with some south coast seascapes...the common theme being my experiences as a travelling plein air painter and my colourful interpretation of the landscape. This year I have travelled far and wide with my little paintbox...capturing Paris street scenes, views of Lake Annecy, and even strapping it onto my motorbike for a quick sketch while I'm out delivering the mail! Ranging from compact to extra large, this body of work represents some of my best yet I think...I can't wait for the cumulative effect of seeing it all up on the gallery walls where it will take on a life of its own and tell its own story. If you have been waiting to purchase one of my paintings this will be a great time right prior to Christmas...I really think there will be something here for everyone. Meanwhile here's some of the locations that have inspired the show. Hope to see you in December! In what is becoming an annual indulgence, I again had the opportunity to tour the wonderful country of France...staying in Paris for 10 days then heading to Provence via Lake Annecy. In Paris we stayed in Montmartre and Marais...getting the best of two entirely different Paris experiences! I love the history of Montmartre, walking the same streets in which Picasso and Braque strolled whilst discussing the birth of Cubism, imagining Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec clinking glasses of absinthe in the cafe Le Consulat.
Our days in Annecy were filled with lakeside strolls, swimming in the beautifully warm water of the lake and watching some of the most spectacular sunsets I've seen! Once again we returned to the little town of Lourmarin in Provence, staying at a farmhouse which is beginning to feel like our home away from home. Walking into town along the country lanes I really got a feel for the wonderfully syrupy golden light that you get in Provence in the afternoon...much fuel for some more paintings which I intend to create in my studio over the coming months. Here's some paintings from the trip: |
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