Chapelle Notre Dame de Bon Secours in Nyons

I was just about to sign off when I decided to take one final look at the gallery, and I'm glad I did! So I have the privilege of being the first to comment on another of your lovely pieces, Thea! It's jst gorgeous. Love the sundrenched atmosphere and the lines that just move the eye naturally around the painting. Your landscapes are getting better by the minute, Thea, congratulations!

Oh Seok Yam, you do so much for my confidence with your lovely comments. I always feel I struggle with landscapes and keep doing them in the hope of getting better, so you have really cheered me up today!

Thea, you have a lovely delicate style, instantly recognisable. I always enjoy seeing your work here.

A winner Thea. I love the whe wall texture next to the chapel - beautifully and sparing rendered.

You have such a lovely style, Thea. You have captured the feel of a bright sunny day. Very well done...

This is so full of sunlight, Thea. A very atmospheric, beautiful, warm painting!

Love those colours and your composition, a beautifully painted scene.

Such delicate work Thea, it's so beautiful and serene.

It is interesting that two of the comments have used the word 'delicate' which isn't something I would normally have said about my paintings as they often are on the splashy and messy side. However, I see exactly what these comments mean as this is painted in a much quieter style than I normally use.I think I did it like that in response to how the feeling of the scene came over to me - sunny, light and timeless. Thank you so much for all these interesting and encouraging comments. I am endlessly fascinated by how people perceive what I paint, so descriptive comments are always a joy.

Well then i will use "delicate" too! A lovely warm pallet, full of just the right contrast of light and shade. You are instantly transported to sunnier days and long warm holidays. I love it.

My first thought on seeing this was that you have been less bold with your colours than normal but after reading your comment I can see why. It is indeed a "delicate" painting and is no less lovely for being painted in a quieter style.

There's not a lot left to be said! Except, of course, that I, too, find these paintings a delight to behold. They really are lovely, Thea, and I look forward to seeing more.

Thea, isn't it interesting how others perceive our work? That's what I like about this site. You see your paintings as splashy and messy but I can't agree with that! I look at them and feel that they are indeed delicate and carefully painted. You know exactly what you are doing and handle the medium so well. I used the word delicate more to describe the lovely pallette that you use. There is nothing brash or garish about your work. It is always lovely, never messy! Perhaps, as you say, "light and timeless" would have been a better description. It is indeed fascinating to recieve opinions and I find comments here so encouraging. It's especially interesting to me when people point out things which hadn't occured to me. Anyway, I do enjoy seeing you work here. Kind regards Louise.

Thank you all for taking the time to add your comments and thoughts. As Louise rightly says, it is fascinating to read these comments and they are so encouraging. I can honestly say that the feedback I get on this gallery has done more to make me want to progress than anything else. Louise - mostly I haven't a clue what I am doing! I never plan a painting, the palette I am going to use or anything else. I just go along reacting to what I think the painting needs and hoping that I am making the right decisions. I do have to paint relatively slowly and carefully as I find one brushstoke in the wrong place can really affect the balance of a painting so I have to think before I put the brush on the paper. I get it wrong all the time, but every time I get it wrong I learn (hopefully!).

Thea, That's the problem with watercolour. As you know,one wrong decision and the painting's ruined for us. However,people don't always notice our mistakes but our eyes are drawn to the errors! Deep down I think we do plan our paintings but don't realise. Alot of it is instinct but we do plan. You know what works and what doesn't and you obviously work carefully. I absolutely agree that this gallery helps us progress. For example, even the Terry& fiona thing pushed me on. I would never have tried a portrait and now I'm so pleased with myself and even my efforts although they're not as good as I'd liked. I've enjoyed our chat!

This is a really interesting debate. I only ever "plan" in my head. I never pencil or paint sketch on the canvas. Once I have decided what I am going to paint, I simply begin; right ! moody sky first, start mixing some colours on the palette AND on the canvas and overpaint as necessary. I'm not sure you can do that with water colours. The only exception is my Waiting for NASA. It was one of the first paintings I did and I needed to get some proportions right because I was copying a photograph in the Daily Telegraph. Any comments on this picture would be much appreciated, even if you hate it ! Thank you Thea for comments on my Column picture. You're very kind.

I think it's all been said and I agree with everyone. I love your palette and loose style . Have you thought of publishing a "Carnet de Voyage"? Your work is way above a lot of things that are being published here in France !!!! and I can easily imagine a super book ! I know exactly what you mean in your comment (15) as I paint in the same way..... always surprised at the end and wondering how I did it ! Thanks for posting, Avie.

Thank you all for adding such interesting and enlightening comments. Avril, I am going back to Provence this year and intend to take a stack of reference photos to keep me going through the dark and dreary winter. After starting off only doing landscapes and never being satisfied with anything I produced, I have realised that the British landscape doesn't inspire me at all. It was only after going back to Provence after many years and taking some photos to paint at home that II realised that this landscape inspired me in spades. What a revelation! I will take my sketch book and see if I can start a record of my visit, as you suggest. Great idea. Like you I am always surprised at how a painting has turned out and this is why I don't think I will ever want to sell a painting as I need them all to look at when doing future paintings - a 'how on earth did I do that' reference library!! Lionel, I am off to look at your NASA painting now. Louise, like you I am glad that I had a second attempt at T & F - I was so disappointed with myself for not being able to produce something half way decent. I am looking forward to seeing all the entries displayed on POL - there have been some super entries.

Love the brightness and sunny aspect of this painting and the terracotta pan tiles are wonderful.

Thea this is as lovely as the rest of your work, really delightful colours, wonderful light and with such a delicate touch! Love it!

This is a beautiful watercolour, great composition and lovely colours, and I agree that it looks "delicate", you have a distinctive style, I like it very much

Thea, I think you start planning a painting from the time you see a subject you like and then when you see the photgraph, this is a really lovely painting, the angle of the shadows and the subtle colours in the shadows make it sing and I think the reason it looks delicate as that it is fresh and clean, the loose treatment of the foreground leads you in nicely and overall it is perfect

Thank you all very much for liking my painting. It is lovely to get comments and thoughts about how you have done and all the advice is put to good use in the next paintings.