Treelogy I

When I started exhibiting at Maison et Objet I also presented landscapes "of my own".
The technique is the one I still use for my collections ( casein on very absornabt backgrounds). These landscapes are all inspired from Provence , specially the northern parts of this region ( Drome , Luberon, Alpilles). I always had an aesthetic fascination for these landscapes. Three tree species are characteristic of these areas : Cypresses, Pine trees and Olive trees , in french I named it the "mediterraneen trilogy" , in english it could simply become the "treelogy"...

An Olive tree near Vers-Pont-du-Gard (50x50cm casein)

Olive grove in Lourmarin (50x60cm casein)

In the same area (50x50cm casein)

Tree near Avignon (70x70cm carylic)

Olive grove in Lourmarin (60x92cm casein)

Again, in the exact same place , I love it so much I made 7 or 8 paintings there. ( 50x50cm casein)

In Tuscany(60x92cm casein)

Lourmarin one more time ( 60x92cm)

New Collection at Maison & Objet.

Here are a few pictures of our booth at Maison & Objet. The show was from last Friday to this Tuesday.
The attendance was very good and I think that the collection , as well as the way we presented it was appreciated.
It is a continuation of the style of presentation of the last booth .This time we have put the focus on trying to show all these paintings in a more harmnious way.
The previous booth was our first attempt in this direction and we had noticed that the presentation lacked unity and balance.
This new collection was created as a whole . Each piece had a specific "spot" in the booth .
It is hard to provide a good visibility to everything in such a small space.
The last day I decided to change the arrangement a little bit and we sold one the pieces that people had not really  "seen" so far.

I have tried many different ligthing systems , this one is certainly the cheapest, the most effective and one of my clients wants to market it ...less is more!

Ceiling project

The decoration of the ceiling of the large living room in Villa Claudinon was quite a challenge. As I knew I would show this piece in "Demeures peintes" my first idea was to "show off" as much as I could and I thought that a ceiling with figures would be great fro this!

Therefore I started studying different classical models in order to understand the way they are composed. I detected various formulas and I started to sketch my own based of figures I planned to borrow mostly from the end of the XIXth century ( as this is the time period during which the villa was erected). I did a few pen sketch and a color study. At some point I also tried to visualise it on Photoshop , and I forgot about it for a while. 

When I got back to it my vision had changed and I decided to propose something totally different to my client. I worked on a first ornamental composition... 

and eventually found some good documentation on Christophe Huet's ceiling in the Chateau de Champs sur Marne.

Full size drawing of the central pattern

View of the ceiling in the room.

During the installation.

The finished piece.

The second version of ornate ceiling was the one I showed my client for approval and this is the one that features in the book.

I love ceilngs with figures but I prefer the baroque ones. I think that if I had continued on my first idea I could have gotten trapped into a style with which I am not enough connected. I guess this second choice was the most appropriate, for my client, for this beautiful place and for me.

Liz

I created the first version of this painting for Maison & Objet a year and a half ago and sold it.
I called it "Liz" as the center os actually a detail (blown up many times) of a portrait of Elisabeth d'Autriche by  Clouet , one of the best painters of french Renaissance.
I put it on my website and it was picked by one of the french designers I work for (Martine di  Matteo , owner of ComceptM) last spring for the decoration of one of the many  appartments she renovates and decorates in the "Marais" in Paris.

An old door typical of this XVIIth century area, right next to the jobsite.

I made the new version slitghtly bigger than the original ( 150x150 instead of 130x130cm) and painted it with the same mix of casein for ornament / oils for the hand and jewellery.

I particularly liked the fact that Martine picked up a "big" painting for a "small" room. Instead of dwarfing the room it gives it a very special character.

I changed the colors of the central "motif"in order to harmonize them with the curtains and cushions of the bedroom.

Please have a look.

My friend and colleague Lynne Rutter has been kind enough to publish a post about my book on her blog.
I would like to thank her for this, for her kind ( and flattering) words.
She is one of the best decorative painters out there, with a sharp eye, a perfect taste. I like the way she writes, her irony and humor. She sent me a bunch of questions and I answered as if I was talking to her.
She has also corrected my english . I like reading good english , even more so when I can pretend it is mine.
Please have a look : http://www.ornamentalist.net/2010/12/pascal-amblard-demeures-peintes.html

Detail of a painting featuring in the "Gallery" section of "Demeures Peintes"

A New Day.

We have just been watching a very interesting program with Stephen Hawking telling us about his understanding of our universe from "Big Bang" to the miilions of centuries ahead of us.
Life is a miracle, second after second, beauty is around us and inside of us .
It is so obvious that we do not seem to see it    ...   let us face it.

Picture taken by Pascale , a couple of weeks ago in the garden.

This is it for mysticism, next post will be "back to painting".


Happy New Year .