An old shutter, Arles. by Avril Soldani

Another great piece Avril. I like your blues and the old metal is so well painted.

Super!! Avril you are the queen of the rust and manganese

so well observed

An utterly beautiful shade of blue. Your work is always such a treat to look at.

Not at all, Avril - the bits and pieces make this painting interesting and lovely. As Lesley says, the shade of blue is lovely, and the peeling paint and rust, so well rendered, define your inimitable style!

Thanks for your lovely comments which as you know I appreciate immensly. Criticism when you see things that aren't right is welcome too!

Love the blue tone, beautifully done.. Avil, everything in this painting is not only right, it is great....

So glad you posted this, Avril, as I was getting withdrawal symptoms from not seeing one of your wonderful rust and peeling paint paintings for a while! The blue is this painting is absolutely delicious (what is it?) That sort of icy blue and rust colour are such a foil for each other that they delight the eye. Beautifully observed snapshot of life.

So glad you all like the blue. There are three or four glazes each one a bit different! Started off with Cobalt and a touch of Manganese, then cobalt with some permanent mauve and if I remember rightly ! Delft blue with a touch of perm mauve ! All were very watery washes so it needed several..... safer to work the colour up gradually.

Wonderfully painted as always, I want to start picking at that peeling paintwork.

Instantly recognisable and as beautiful as always. I've never seen a manufacturer produce a colour called Delft Blue. Who is the maker please?

Thanks Val and Diana. Delft blue is in the Horadam range of watercolours made by Schmincke. I have three sample colours that were given to me!

What a great gallery, wonderful works, I do love , would love to have this much ability. French scenes superbly rendered. I live in the loire, 49, 30 km from Saumur to the north, here we have the river Loire which I have begun to paint. Lovely experience to browes your work, thank you. Best regards Chris

Lovely work, as always, Avril. Jx

You make some thing simple look extraordinary...well done.

What a lovely, delicate painting Avril. The blue is so unusual and so beautiful. Not at all too many bits and pieces, just right. I have started to look at old doors and rust with a different eye. Took one photo for you in Portugal.

Lovely Avril, perfect trompe l'oeil. You really ought to publish a collection. Thanks for your good wishes for Friday. I'll let you know how it pans out!

I was on holiday for more than 2 weeks, so I missed this one: wonderful with very delicate and subtle use of blue. Last year, there was also a promotion of Horadam-Schmincke in a shop in Bruges: 3 free samples (Delft blue, Ruby red and Vanadium yellow). I sometimes use the blue for mediteranion skies!