2001 Paintings from Belle Ile en Mer

I was so inspired by looking at rocks that I decided to learn how to do oil painting. Surprisingly enough, this was something that I had almost entirely managed to avoid while doing a painting major at NAS. It's not that I took any ideological position against oil painting - it's just that it's bloody slow, and I wanted to do and learn as much as I could while I was at art school.





I know the one below looks pretty crappy - but it is a little testament to my tentative attempts at plen aire painting under a blustery Breton wind. clad in parka, balaclava and ski pants I wedged myself into a cliff crevice and tried to resist the gale force winds belting around while I scratched out this image. I did 10 oil skethces on sight and used none of them - and realised that painting needs to be fluid product of the moment where it is being created, and I need to be moving while I'm doing it, not frozen solid trying to grip onto my brush and canvas so they don't go sailing over some cliff.