View From The Terrace

Oh yes Thea...I am most impressed. I actually think this is the best thing you have done. Pease tell me you sat on the terrace feeling the sun on your back , smelling the jasmine...or whatever, with a lovely glass of Pernod to hand, and you looked and saw and painted it in situ??????????? You did didn't you ??????

re reading your blurb...YOU DID ...and wasn't it fun. I really think it shows . Your work , your composition , your way. BRAVO . .

I did - I did, Sylvia!! Actually, I had a nice cup of tea by my side (how British) as I don't drink, but it was very pleasant sitting there painting while the grandchildren played in the pool beside me. The view is actually across the bay to St Tropez - one of the best places in the world and so beautiful.. The only problem was that I did the painting and then hated it and felt terribly disappointed with myself. Just shows that stepping back from work for sometimes a considerable period of time can alter your perception of it. Anyway, thank you for your appreciation which is much valued.

you have done well here Thea with what must have been a very complex scene. I also have found old work and thought it looked better than I remembered it.. I suppose we are never satisfied with what we do at the time!

This is just delightful Thea, so well drawn and a lovely memory of your holiday. I agree with Sylvia, because it's so full of life and energy, I also feel that it's one of your best.

Thank your very much, Louise, and for pushing me to post it! P.S. How come the minute I post something the MP's come out of the woodwork in droves?? Must be something I said, lol!

Thank you Stephen. The scene was complex and I felt I had got confused with it at the time, but now I am more relaxed about it. I wonder, do we ever get to the point where we step back from a painting and feel complete satisfaction - I suspect this is an unrealistic pipe dream.

It's a perfect reminder of your holiday - and a greater panorama than I should personally want to paint, because of the difficulty of getting all the proportions and placements of buildings right (I'm assuming you did, you notice!).

Errrr - must 'fess up that it is about as accurate as someone like me could manage. It's not bad but I did have to leave some bits out otherwise I would have been there for days trying to capture it all. It was a pretty big scene for me to attempt at well. Anyway, thank you very much Robert for your nice comment.

By the way Thea (accuracy is for pedants, anyway!) the multiple postings that were here have just disappeared one after the other - it made looking at the gallery quite a dizzying experience ... every time I came back to it, it had changed. Are you sure we didn't imagine it?

Ah - I see the MP has done the decent thing.

I thought that as well, Robert. The MP had posted 12 works, 7 of which were photos of an art group in various poses?? Also the art work was touted for sale. Talk about getting it totally wrong, lol!

The lady was a bit naughty as she was advertising as well. Aybe she will come back and post properly. I agree with Robert thet accuracy is for pedants. Thats what I like about this pic is its Atmosphere and impessionism. It would make a great card.

That's what I like about this one, it isn't an accurate drawing of the place, it's a joyful impression with bags of atmosphere.

Clever gal! You have taken on what I can only imagine was a very complex and busy scene and transformed it into the most delghtful, lively and happy memory. Not only that, your pen work is great, nothing stiff about it, very relaxed.

I'll try and do a bit more plein air Sylvia and Louise, promise - but can I wait until Spring? Thank you very much Fiona, for your very kind comment. You know how I am struggling with pen and wash at the moment and I had this one down as a real duck - but life is full of surprises apparently!

Lovely watercolour and it is of an area much bigger than you would have dared to paint at one time, just shows how you have pushed your boundaries, love all the terracotta roofs and how much of it you have left white as well with just your pen lines showing to indicate what is there, this is indeed a really lovely work Thea and despite the size of the area it is a super example of less is more, there is as much left white as there is painted, super super work x

Thank you very much, Ros for such a nice comment and interesting observations. I do like my white paper - you noticed!

You look and sound like you had a wonderful holiday, hense the brilliant picture.

Love this Thea. Full of colour and life.....

It's really lovely and very fresh and fluid. Nice colours too Thea.

Thank you very much Avril, Karyl and Mark for such encouragement. I did have a lovely holiday and it is my favourite part of the world - so many Ferrari's and huge yachts. Simon Cowell's Slipstream sailed into St Tropez when we were there and we were entertained to see Sinetta pedalling away on her exercise bike on the deck! We were just the poor relations though!

How true it is that 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' I'm glad you had the sense to put this in a drawer and not the bin!! This has a real zing and zest to it!

Thank you very much, Debs - you are quite right in this instance - leaving the painting lurking in the depths of the drawer in my studio seems to have made it buck it's ideas up and it has emerged looking a lot better!

Beautiful painting Thea, lovely reminder of your holiday, great work as always

What a lovely and delightful watercolour of a beautiful place Thea! It has got a great feeling of space, sun and good time. Drawn and painted freely just for the enjoyment.

Thank you, Satu. I certainly didn't expect so many positive comment for a piece of work which I had written off as rubbish. Either people are being extremely kind or I have no idea how to assess what I produce. Bit of both I suspect.

It's only because it's not your usual style that you thought it's not good but I can assure you that it is a lovely painting.

I love the colours in this and the scene is just wonderful. I have no idea why you didn't like it but it really is just perfect.

Absolutely delightful, Thea! It has such great immediacy and vitality, and I love the sunny atmosphere. Just gorgeous!

I admire you for even attempting such a complicated scene Thea, I would never have been brave enough to try it in a million years but you have pulled it off superbly. A very happy, colourful and sunny painting.

Thank you very much Satu,Dawn, Seok and Val for such lovely and encouraging comments. I actually nearly threw this one away but I am now rather glad I didn't!

I love your bright and delightfu gallery Thea. this one is my favourite.