Marc Dalessio | Page 3 | Recent Paintings and General Musings on Art

December 4, 2019 by Marc Dalessio

Plein Air Paintings from France (2019)

In a recent post I wrote about landscape painting in the Gers region of France. Here are the paintings from the rest of our summer trip. We bounced around quite a bit of the country as we had to be here and there for workshops and to work towards future exhibitions.

After the Gers, we traveled over to Bordeaux for a few days, then down to the coast between Sète and Agde for a week on the beach.

Plein air painting of a street in Bordeaux, France — Rue de Pessac, Bordeaux. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of Allées de Tourny in Bordeaux — Allées de Tourny, Bordeaux. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Place des Quinconces, Bordeaux. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Place Amédée-Larrieu in Bordeaux. — Place Amédée-Larrieu, Bordeaux. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of Agde in Southwestern France. — Agde. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of Sete in Southwestern France. — Sète. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of the Canal du Midi. — The Canal du Midi. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of a chapel in France. — Chapel near the Thau. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of boats in Sète. — Les Copains, Sète. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of the canals in Sete. — Afternoon light, Sète. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of Mèze, France. — Mèze, on the shore of the Thau. 20 x0 30 cm, oil on panel.

After the Gers, we traveled over to Bordeaux for a few days, then down to the coast between Sète and Agde for a week on the beach. Next we had to head up north for a workshop near Laon, so we stopped for a few days in the Loire Valley.

Oil painting of the cathedral in Tours. — The Cathedral, Tours. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of Amboise, France. — Passing Storm, Amboise. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of the Château de Chenonceau — Château de Chenonceau. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of Blois, France. — Blois. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

In Laon we had a workshop, so I didn’t get much of my own work done. We were on a beautiful property though, so I tried to paint as often as I could.

Oil painting of a pond in Northern France. — The Side of a Pond, Fourdrain. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of cows in northern France. — Cows in the Sun, Fourdrain. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of buildings through trees. — The Farm Buildings, Fourdrain. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of a pond in France. — Lily Pond. 35 x 25 cm, oil on panel.

After Laon we had a couple of days to kill so we headed over to Normandy to paint in Honfleur. I’m always trying to find places where my favorite artists worked, and Boudin, Seago, Jongkind and Monet (among others) all painted in and around the small port there.

Oil painting of the port at Honfleur, France. — Honfleur. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of Honfleur, France. — Morning, Honfleur. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Painting of boats in Honfleur. — Boats, Midday, Honfleur. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air oil painting of Honfleur. — Evening Light, Honfleur. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

From Normandy we drove back down to the Dordogne, to paint local scenes for the V&A gallery in Sarlat-la-Canéda.

Oil painting of the Dordogne river from Domme. — The Dordogne from Domme. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of Sarlat, France. — Sarlat-la-Canéda. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.

Oil study of the Dordogne river. — Water Study, the Dordogne. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of Beynac. — Beynac from the Dordogne. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of a child on a swing. — Child on a Swing. 25 x 22 cm, oil on panel.

These are most of the paintings but the full summer’s oeuvre was posted at the time to my Instagram account.

Overall it was a great trip. The painting locations across France are varied and stunning, the food was amazing, and the people were wonderful and welcoming. We’ll be back again in the summer of 2020 as we have an exhibition and a couple of workshops.

November 4, 2019 by Marc Dalessio

Portrait Painting Video

I’ve recently posted a demo video of laying-in a portrait in oils using the sight-size method. I hope you enjoy it.

These days my videos go first to my Patreon supporters for three months. After three months I release them to the public on my YouTube channel.

If you get something out of these videos, please consider supported my equipment budget through Patreon. I make all these videos myself.

September 3, 2019 by Marc Dalessio

Landscape Painting in The Gers

Plein air landscape painting of a field of sunflowers below Plieux in the Gers. — Sunflower Field below Plieux. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

I’ve just returned from a number of weeks painting landscapes across France. The other paintings will be posted in the coming weeks, but I wanted to single out the work from the Gers region as it’s not an area that I’ve ever heard mentioned for landscape painting. Which is a shame, because it’s pretty great.

Plein air landscape painting of fields and rolling hills in the Gers. — Rolling Hills of the Gers. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

We were hosted by the Plieux Art Association, which organizes workshops and exhibitions in the small village of Plieux, about 15 minutes from the town of Lectoure. The workshops are terrific as the location is beautiful and the hostess is an amazing cook. The students stay in various lodgings in the village. On this course, everyone was French and I had to teach in French.

Plein air painnting of the village of Plieux in the Gers. — The Village of Plieux. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

The area around Lectoure is one of the best I’ve seen for plein air painting. It’s all rolling hills, with a choice of valley and hill size, so the artists can pick longer or shorter views. It’s mostly smaller farming, so it’s not one endless field, but many smaller ones with varying crops. There isn’t much livestock, so no fences to keep artists out. A lot of the fields are either wheat or sunflowers, two very popular subjects with artists. Unfortunately we missed wheat season, as the harvest is in June.

Plein air painting of hay bales in the Gers. — Hay Bales, the Gers. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

All of France has great trees for landscape painting. They clearly get enough water, and haven’t cut the larger ones down. The Gers is no exception.

The towns as well are really picturesque. Not overly pretty, but not marred by too much new construction. They also don’t get the crazy tourism you see elsewhere in Europe these days, so it’s mostly locals, and you don’t have to pay for parking.

Plein air painting of market day in Lectoure. — Market Day, Lectoure. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of French flags on Bastille Day. — Bastille Day Flags on the City Hall, Plieux. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air landscape painting of the castle in Plieux. — The Castle, Plieux. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of the chateau de Pellehaut. — Chateau de Pellehaut. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Nocturne painting of the church in Plieux. — Plieux Nocturne. 25 x 20 cm, oil on panel.

View of Plieux. — Plieux. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Landscape painting of fields near Chiroulet, Gers, France. — Vineyard and Sunflowers, Chiroulet. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of a pigeonnier in Plieux. — Pigeonnier, Plieux. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of a concert. — Concert. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

I also did a few larger plein air landscapes:

Plein air landscape of hay bales in France. — Hay Bales, the Gers. 70 x 90 cm, oil on linen.

Sunflower Field, Plieux. 70 x 90 cm, oil on linen.

Plein air painting of wood stacks near Lectoure. — Wood Stacks. 90 x 110 cm, oil on linen.

All of these paintings are for an exhibition next July at the Plieux Art Association. I hope to see you there.

Update: For higher resolution images, please see my Flickr Album.

June 23, 2019 by Marc Dalessio

Aligned Photos and Sight-size

Photograph of plein air painting on Shelter Island — Painting on Shelter Island, circa 2011.

The first time I saw a plein air painting incorporated into the surrounding landscape in that way was many years ago when someone took a photo of a painting I was working on outside (above). This person lined up some of the major lines in the painting with the lines in nature behind the panel and thought it was very clever. At the time I was mildly annoyed with the image as I thought it would confuse people into thinking that it somehow related to sight-size.

As it turned out, I was right.

A few years later when we all started carrying decent quality cameras around in our telephones, I started regularly posting my paintings to social media directly from the field. Usually I took a photo of my painting with the actual scene on one side, so students who follow me could see my decisions by comparing the two. On a few occasions though, something would happen where my view would be obscured when I was finished and I would take the photo with the painting covering the scene. I would also align some of the lines so that the painting and the background appeared to merge.

One example of this is the painting below, where a tour group arrived and parked themselves in the path just behind my panel. As it was lunchtime, and I didn’t want to wait for them to leave, I used the painting to block them from the view.

This has nothing to do with sight-size though. In the photo above, you can see how the painted bulge of the tree (1) is completely different in size from the actual shape in nature (2). This is because, in order to get the lines to line up, I’ve had to pull the camera back away from the painting. When I did the painting my viewpoint would have been closer, and the two shapes would have been the same size. (See my sight-size video on YouTube for further clarification).

All I’ve really done is moved the camera until some of the major lines in my painting align with the same lines in the actual scene. I even had to tilt the camera away from the panel a bit to get it to work.

This has been a bit long-winded, but I just wanted to say that these aligned photos have nothing to do with sight-size. Any artist working outside can do them, with any technique or medium. Having compressed, naturalistic values will help with the illusion, but I’ve seen some wonderful examples of very stylized work doing the same trick. Just move the camera until a few important shapes line up with the view behind.

October 17, 2018 by Marc Dalessio

Paintings of Portugal

Plein air painting of cliffs near Peniche, Portugal.

Cliffs near Peniche. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

We spent our September this year plein air painting in Portugal. It was the first time I had visited the country and we started from the north near Apulia, and worked our way south to the Algarve. We had great weather, with the exception of some fog on the coast. The food was terrific (and inexpensive) and the people were all really friendly.

Outside of the cities, Portugal and California look very similar. From the ubiquitous eucalyptus trees, to the cliffs looking down on an ocean teaming with surfers, to the rolling hills with golden grass and cork trees (which look like California live oaks), to the traditional whitewashed architecture which is similar to the Spanish colonial buildings, there were many times when I did a double-take to remember where I was. The light, like in California, is especially beautiful.

Plein air landscape painting of villas in Sintra, Portugal.

Villas in Sintra. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of a street in Evora, Alentejo, Portugal.

Bougainvillea, Évora. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of buildings in Porto, Portugal.

Porto, the Waterfront. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of market stalls in Porto, Portugal.

Market Stalls, Porto. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of a park in Coimbra, Portugal.

Pavilion in a Park, Coimbra. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Painting of a street in Aveiro, Portugal.

Street in Aveiro. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of a church in the Alentejo, Portugal.

Igreja de São Brissos, Alentejo, 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of a street in Lisbon, Portugal.

Street in Lisbon. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

The light in the Algarve is stunning. Since the coast faces south, the sun is above the water most of the day. The area is more built-up than other coastal areas that we visited, but there were a lot of wonderful views.

Plein air painting of the Praia de Dona Ana in Lagos, Portugal.

Praia de Dona Ana #1. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of the Praia de Dona Ana, Lagos, the Algarve.

Praia de Dona Ana #2. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of the praia do Tonel, Sagres, Portugal.

Praia do Tonel, Sagres. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of sunset in the Algarve.

Evening Light, Algarve. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of Praia do Camilo near Lagos, Portugal.

Praia do Camilo. 35 x 25 cm, oil on panel.

As pretty as Lisbon and Porto are, we didn’t spend a lot of time in the bigger cities as we were traveling with a dog and the smaller towns and countryside were more manageable.