Final cut

Yesterday as we were visiting an exhibition in Paris ( Nature et Ideal in the Grand Palais) we saw a painting by Poussin that had been cut in two pieces and put back together. There are numerous stories of paintings cut, sliced, almost turned into puzzles.
Last year I did a copy of a section of  the famous"Les Noces de Canaa" by Veronese , exhibited in the Louvre.
The designer I did this for picked up the subject, we discussed together about the section we would pick up, the size and she also asked me to change the women faces a little bit.
I made the one at the top slighly more juvenile and I borrowed another portrait from Veronese to replace the one at the bottom of the composition.
Here is what I had done.

Casein on canvas ( approx. 175x120cm)

I shipped it over to London and a few weeks later the designer called me and said that she really loved the painting but...

it was too big for the wall where she had decided to hang it up.

She asked me to divide it into three smaller paintings ...saving the two ladies and the servant.

I tried to pick up the better proportions for these new artworks, ordered the stretcher bars , sliced up the big one and made three paintings with one ...

Here they are in my studio in the morning light ...

and here is each of them

It was not the first time I had worked from this extraordinary painting of the venetian master.

This is another copy of a section that is slightly higher in the original composition. On this one I had changed the male figure at the top.

Casein on canvas ( coarse linen, approx 95x180cm)

This one is a detail of the lower part , fascinating...water into wine...

Casein on gessoed canvas ( rabbit skin glue, 70x70cm)

Cakes and Dogs

Ornamentation is fun. I think I have never seen any type of authentic ornamentation that was serious or dull .It always an expression of fantasy, enjoyment, poetry . It can also be a little weird.
Of course,when you work on commission somtimes you cannot let your imagination loosen up in your ornamental compositions...and make them fun .
When I create the collections I exhibit at Maison et Objet I am free to loosen up or even go crazy...
Here is what it looks loke when I have fun.

I picked up an old design, changed it , added stripes, pink flakes upon pink stripes and pasted in images of a recent historical movie...

"Cake" 89x146cm Oil and Casein on canvas

A mix of ornament by Berain and images of "Marie-Antoinette" by S.Coppola.

Before/After . Le Salon Bleu

Here is another before/after series of pictures of a room of my book "Demeures peintes".
This room, as the Old library, is in the XVIIth century castle located near Lyon. At floor level , two nice living rooms open their doors on the terrace and the garden. The light is beautiful during the winter but the photographer and I  were too busy to find time to go on site and shoot the pictures.
We finally made them in July, the light is beautiful too but it does not go very into the rooms.
The Salon Bleu was originally covered with different wall papers.

Most of them were dating back to the end of the XIXth century and were of littel interest. Only the vases over the doors, probably dating back to the early 1800's were protected. The beams on the ceiling and different parts of the walls have been painted in various shades of blue.

All these colors have been weathered by the light and I imagined to try and find some kind of average blue for my paintings.

After some researches and hesitations I decided to create a neo-classical ornament that I thought was consistent with the style of the vases.
It is , technically, one of the most simple rooms presented in the book but certainly one of the most charming.
It was a pleasure for Yves and I to take the pictures. We only had two hours of ideal lighting to do so but everything was well prepared and went smooth.

Here is finally one of the pictures I took in December when the work was just completed ...freezing cold outside ( and inside ) , three inches of snow and a gorgeous light.

One of a kind

Everything you paint by hand is unique. Some pieces are more unique than others though.
Here are pictures of a painting I could not duplicate even if I tried hard.
My family and I spent holidays in Greenport ( Long Island/NY) a few years ago.
At the time , I was exhibiting a series of  paintings in a friend's art gallery and I was there to teach a short workshop.
I was taking photographs on the beach when I found an old , worn and weathered red board. I picked it up and brought it back to the gallery.
I really liked its colors and texture. It reminded me of these swedish red barns my wife and I love.
A few days later I used it as a support for a small painting of a local seascape.
It has been bought by a person who lives nearby...

Acrylic on board ( approx. 23x100cm)

Please have a look.III

Please check out the last post on Belgian Pearls. If ever you do not know about this blog I am sure you will  love it as much as I do!!
I am very proud to see one of my paintings in this blog and in the  marvellous setting of "Une Ame en plus".
Here are pictures of this grisaille.

I also created a second view and made  a diptych for another client.

Each panel measures approximately 125x190cm. Inspired by landscapes of Pierre Patel ( casein on paper glued up on canvas).

Thank you AD.

I have sent several copies of my book, Demeures peintes, to different french magazines in January . The people of Architectural Digest have been the first to show their interest.
Their photographer has come to my booth at Maison et Objet and made a series of pictures, As the theme of their article ( three other artists featture in it) was "Interior Landscapes" they wanted to have me sit in front of one of the two landscapes I was exhibiting.
I was smiling, the gemtle photographer told me not to smile. Then I understood that he probably wanted me to look like a real artist. I tried my best. I am not sure I made it though...Anyway, I think that my ego was liking it a little.

So, here it is, my first time in a top shelf decoration magazine.

Gold Fever. Part III.

My friend Malek, the gilder, took a few pictures of the showroom of Atelier Louis XIV before the different pieces of furniture were brought in...here they are.

We had seen the ceiling project and were wondering how it would work with the walls and the rest of the room and honestly it does work. It might look a little over the top , but this is exactly what my client wanted and it definitely adds a lot to this small room.
Next time I can swnig by the showroom I will take pictures with all the interior decoration ...I am really looking forward seeing it complete.

Classes. 2011 Program

My teaching schedule is set for this year, here is the program :

I have the pleasure, for the first time, to announce a class in Antwerp, organised by my friends Chantal and Jan of Ideefiks. ( June 2/3/4)  SOLD OUT
I will teach a decorative panel that I had developped for a class at the Mural School three years ago and taught again last year at Nadai Studios.

It is a very "dense" panel for three days but so far most of the students I have had in this class have made it.

In July, I am also invited ,for the first time ,to teach a class at the renowned IDAL convention taking place this year in Hampton,Virginia.(July 20/24)

This is a a two day class during which we will paint a charming landscape inspired from pictures I took in the beautiful village of Menerbes ( Luberon).  SOLD OUT

I will  then, for the 14th time ( my God!!!!)  teach at my friends, Lotta and Mats,  Palm Fine Arts's beautiful studio in Norkopping (Sweden) in August.

We will paint a landscape study during the first day. It will be based on this painting I did a few years ago. This is another Provence village called Bonnieux. I do have a passion for these places and I love painting them again and again...teaching them again and again.

This 

 other view will keep us busy for the rest of the week.

I will then teach in another incredible place in California : Big Oak Arts, owned and run by my friend Sheri Hoeger . Please visit her website and have a look at all the things she and her husband Hugh do. The program will very soon be defined.

Finally Sean Crosby and I plan to teach a class in Florida , at the very end of November . (program and schedule defined soon also). 

Please have a look.II

Artisphere/IDAL people have been kind enough to post an excerpt of "Demeures Peintes". It is about the living room of the house I decorated in Fontainebleau . You will see a few more pictures and this will give you an idea of what the texts in this book sound like.

Before/After .The old library.

I plan to post a series of before/after pictures of some rooms featuring in "Demeures peintes".

This one shows the library of the XVIIth century castle in the second chapter.

I discovered it, at the end of the winter,when I first visited this mansion. I remember being both surprised and puzzled. I did not imagine such a room in this relatively severe looking old building and I wondered what I could do there. I mean , how I could understand this weird mix of post-Renaissance and late XIXth century  and do something with it.

There were pieces or elements I could relate to and like and some others I really disliked.

After the visit I started researching in my personnal documentation and figured out that the overall design was very Italian Renaissance but that some elements were totally alien.

Then,for quite some time, I had to wait for the authorisation of the local historical buildings architect to work in this castle.

After looking at my work he finally decided I was the man of the situation and I could really start thinking about this room.

There is apparently no historical record about the italian painters who decorated this castle in the XVIIth century.Some were quite popular in this area at the time . Frescoes are still visible in one of the towers.

My guess is that these guys created and painted the overall composition for the library and that it has been restored and repainted later .

There are other artworks in the castle, like these painted ceilings in the dining room and the kitchen.

They have probably been painted by a french artist of the XVIIIth century who was quite famous (locally) at the time and who decorated some rooms of the city hall in Lyon. These ceilings are "classified" at the national historical monuments inventory. I observed them closely but could not relate them to the paintings of the library.

There are also more minor paintings in some rooms of the library level.

I would say that these might have been done during the 30s or 40s and I think that the painters who did this are the ones who restored  or repainted the library.

Now that my little inquiry had given me some clues ( but the truth is that I really do not know) I could add my little tune to this old and strange harmony.

Yves and I spent this whole summer afternoon taking pictures and at the end of the day the gold of the old books was still shimmering in the sun.