Image of Provence

I think this is lovely, Thea. Not necessarily "better" or otherwise; it is different. For me, this is escapism at its best - just what I need to admire at present. May I have some more, please?

The fine pen work has given this one a very delicate feel. The soft colour is lovely. Undecided about it you say? Well, it isn't as bold as some of your others and I agree with Lionel's words here. It's a different way of working which can only be a good thing in my opinion otherwise how do we learn and arrive at a style which we're happy with? We'd grind to a halt, become bored and all the fun of creating new pieces of artwork would go. . Well done I say and I'm looking forward to seeing what you paint next!

Thank you very much Lionel and Louise. I agree that this is a bit more whimsical than my usual stuff, but I am still experimenting. I have arrived at a style in my painting I think but have always struggled to get to grips with pen and wash. I think the key is to keep trying out different ways until one clicks. Thank you both for your encouragement which is desperately needed!

... and what is wrong with whimsical? I agree with Louise.

Agreed whimsical when you do it Thea is good, this is very very new for you and that's fine, keep going and see where your choices take you, that seems to be what I am doing and enjoying it very much!

This is lovely, such a delicate touch.

Thank you very much Ros, Gudrun and Karyl for your encouragement - much appreciated.

Clear and sparkling paintingThea!

Don't know why you're not sure about this one, it's a lovely feel good painting!

I love it! It has a soft, floaty feeling going on! No I haven't had a drink!!!!! I find those very thin pens hard to use as they seem very temperamental at the best of times but it has worked very well here. Beautiful :)

Beautiful. Love the vignette composition . (PS On my laptop the white paper appears grey; it could be me but if it's the photo then it would stand out even better on a whiter background for us!! I've often noticed with my own photos.)

Lovely composition, I like the "fading" edges contrasting with the "finished" top left-hand corner. An inspiration to get my paints out again, sometime ! Well done.

A beautiful piece of Provence Thea! The houses shimmer in the sun shine and I just love the way you have let the colours run and the blue of the sky that can be found on the walls. Good and important to try different methods!

Great painting, it works well.

Thank you very much Carole, Debs, Sarah, Avril, James, Satu and Glennis for all your very kind comments. Avril, photographing paper to retain it's white look is really difficult. My photographer husband has explained to me what the problem is but I am camera illiterate and didn't really lock on to what he was on about. I do use very white paper but even that tends to look grey or creamy when reproduced. No idea how to get over this problem. The other issue is that I do take care to produce the best image I can for loading on the gallery but, of course, everyone is looking at all the images on different screens, which are probably all calibrated differently for colour. I bet if you took a survey, we would all be looking at slightly different paintings! As long as we all don't meet and compare screens, I think we should be ok lol!

Thea; I forgot to mention; great to see your work in the July issue of Paint, (page 22). Actually, I recognised your style first of all and then had to search the names to confirm that I had come across a "Thea". Well done!

Do you know the artist D. M. Cable by any chance?

Thank you very much, Lionel. Was that the portrait of my daughter in the Paint mag? If so, it was a terrible reproduction as the colour balance was awful. Usually the mag reproduces work very well but I noticed that all the paintings displayed looked a bit odd that month, which was a shame. I don't know a D M Cable, but my initials are D A Cable. Where did you see D M Cable and was it on a painting?

Just had a look at the SAA Paint website and I think you may be referring to either the painting Sail Away or Gone, But Not Forgotten? I haven't seen Paint mag yet so am guessing in the dark.

Hi Thea. Yes, it was a portrait of a young lady. Not qualified to discuss the colour balance, I'm afraid! The other pic appears in the January 2013 mag and is by D A Cable, (not D M - my mistake), entitled Five a Day. So, it must be one of yours; I recognise the style but not the initials!

Yes, Lionel, the Five-A-Day one is indeed one of mine. The SAA site decided to edit my name for some reason and instead of putting Thea Cable it decided to use my initials? I have sorted it out now so that Thea will appear instead. The other one was my daughter on her wedding day I think. I do submit the odd one for the member's gallery - very low key stuff!

A beautiful piece done with your usual luminous washes and lovely palette, Thea. I can see I'm in for a treat catching up on your paintings!