Reflections in the mountains (acrylic)

Mountain reflections, acrylic, 12" x 9"

Tried the same scene that I did in watercolor before. Ended up doing quite a lot of fiddling as there are more smaller details than in the two previous acrylics and I'm still using mostly a palette knife. Well, acrylic is much more forgiving than watercolor and the goal is to have fun.

Mountain views in acrylic

Rila mountain, acrylic 12" x 9"

Hillside shrubs, acrylic 12" x 9"
(based on Gerald Ashcroft's tutorial)

I want to thank my friend, Dina, for making me sign for a painting workshop last weekend. It was at the McMichael's gallery so we also saw the Tommy Thompson exhibition. That unlocked something in me and I couldn't stop thinking about painting. 

For courage, I went through a tutorial by an Australian artist Gerald Ashcroft, whose loose style attracted me. Following it, I did the second landscape with only four colors and a painting knife. Then I applied the same technique to the top view from the Rila mountains in Bulgaria. Each painting took me about two hours and I truly enjoyed doing them.

Reflections in the mountain

Mountain - study

 A hake brush and three colors...

Panoramic landscapes

Potato field, watercolor 30 x 22 cm

 A few loosely painted landscapes inspired by views of the valley between the Rila and Vitosha mountains in Bulgaria.

Panorama, watercolor 30 x 22 cm

The valley, watercolor 30 x 22 cm

The Rose Valley

Rose Valley, watercolor sketch

The Rose Valley is the name of a region in Bulgaria, at the foothills of the Balkan mountains. The valley is famous for its rose-growing fields. This is a centuries old industry that makes Bulgaria one of the major producers of rose oil.

This year I happened to visit this region during the rose picking season, when the fields were in their full glory. I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the landscape with lush green valleys, surrounded by rolling hills and framed by the high peaks of the Balkan in the background.

These are a few sketches I did on location, while enjoying the lovely spring weather.

Balkan Mountains, watercolor sketch

Panitsite Valley, watercolor sketch

Kalofer, watercolor sketch

Pelargonium, watercolor sketch

Mountain landscape

Rodopa Mountains, watercolor 40 x 30 cm

Sketches from my vacation

Windmills in Bodrum, watercolor 24 x 17 cm

Here are a few small watercolours and sketches I made while I was spending time with family in Bulgaria. A few of them are from a week-long vacation in Turkey. It was a nice break. Unfortunately, too short, as all vacations...

In the bay of Bodrum, watercolor 24 x 17 cm

The bay of Bodrum, watercolor sketch

The Bodrum castle, watercolor 24 x 17 cm

Wild flowers, watercolor 23 x 30 cm

Bulgarian mountain view, watercolor 30 x 23 cm

Sunset, watercolor 27 x 17 cm

Vitosha, watercolor sketch

Painting Fast

Corfu, watercolor 30 x 23 cm

Maliovitsa, watercolor 30 x 23 cm

The free time over the holidays helped me find some peace of mind for painting. These two are influenced by Roy Simmons' little book on Loose Watercolor, which I found so inspiring, I had to grab the brushes and do some quick paintings. The first one is a view of the city of Corfu from the water. The second is in the Bulgarian Rila mountains. I have painted this view before, with much fussing and fiddling. Now I finished it in about 30 minutes and I like this one much better.

From the sketchbook

A few sketches from Bulgaria.

Tsarevets is a fortified hill where the medieval capital of Bulgaria was located. Not much is left from the buildings and fortifications, but the sight is picturesque nevertheless.

The other two sketches I did very quickly trying to capture a beautiful mountain view, before the rain clouds had gathered.

Tsarevets 1

Tsarevets 2

Iundola

Belmeken

Another walk in Sofia

Cafe by the Theatre, watercolor 38 x 28 cm

Boulevard Ruski in Sofia, watercolor 28 x 38 cm

There are some really beautiful old buildings in Sofia, which I have been noticing more lately. The cafe in the park in front of the National Teatre has this typical European atmosphere, which one cannot find here, in Canada. For some reason, ambiance is not a priority for the cafes and restaurants here. I like the character of the European cities and that's why I enjoy painting these city scenes.

Sofia

These are two scenes from Sofia, the city where I grew up. The park in front of the main building of the Sofia University is done by a sketch that I did on site a few years ago. I added more figures to liven up the scene. The other one is based on a photo. 

I am so eager to do city scenes now, knowing how to simplify and complete them in less than an hour. I'm going through my photos from previous trips and picking scenes with nice light and shadows.

Spring at the University, watercolor on Arches rough 38 x 28 cm

The Military Club, watercolor on Arches CP 28 x 38 cm

Berries and buildings

Berries, watercolor 24 x 21 cm

Berries, watercolor 24 x 21 cm

I picked these berries during a walk the other day and while the streets scenes below were not "cooperating", I painted the berries just for pleasure.

Back in January I found out that Alavaro Castagnet would be giving a workshop in the fall close to Toronto. This must be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I signed up immediately. I admire Catagnet's style. Back when I started painting, his works showed me that watercolors can be as vibrant and colorful as any other medium, and even more beautiful. I have been excited for months. But as the workshop approaches, I get more and more anxious. Am I going to be up to the tasks? Am I taking up the spot of someone better who would have benefited much more from the experience? Well, there's no going back now. It is next week and I have to try to make the most of it!  

Maybe after that I will be able to paint the cars in these boulevard scenes in a less childish way...

The boulevard, watercolor 38 x 28 cm

Hotel Bulgaria, watercolor 38 x 28 cm

10-minute watercolors

A view in the Rodopi mountains in Bulgaria

Rainy sunset at the lake

I have been reading, and re-reading, the little booklet "10-Minute Watercolors" by Hazel Soan. A real gem! The underlining idea is to learn to simplify your subjects so that you can capture their essence in a very few brushstrokes. Great skill especially for painting en plain air. Not being able to simplify is one of my big problems. Limiting my time makes me plan better and look only at the main and important things in the view. The other trick is using a very limited palette - no more that three colors. This saves time too and also leads to more harmonious colors. I didn't quite fit in the 10 minutes, especially with the first sketch, but I finished it relatively fast and stopped myself from going back and fiddling with little details.

The top one I did with prussian blue, alizarin crimson and yellow ochre; the other one is just prussian blue.

Erma gorge

My internet connection lately has been so bad, I cannot even access some blogs and can hardly open others. At least I can still view and post on mine.

This is a view of the gorge of the small Erma river, located about an hour drive west of Sofia. It was a lovely trip to a picturesque site.

Sketches from Sofia

A couple of small sketches from Sofia - the Bulgarian capital. These may be the base for larger pieces later on.

The gilded domes of the cathedral church Alexander Nevski

Sofia University

Still the sea...

Black Sea

I found an old photo from a camping vacation at the Bulgarian sea shore. It must have been a late afternoon. The sky is filled with large clouds, whose colors range from yellow and pink to the darkest gray. I tried to reproduce that sky a couple of times. The above is not a true representation, but is the one that turned out more interesting.

Snow covered moraines

Vitosha, the mountain raising above the Bulgarian capital city Sofia, has many moraine fields. The rocks have been shaped and rounded by the elements for thousands of years. Hiking through the moraines can be a challenge, or fun, depending on the attitude.
The photographs I used, attracted me with the smooth shapes of the snow-covered rocks and the interesting light and shadow effects.

Blanket of snow

Needless to say, it is snowing outside again. Looks beautiful. As it is weekend nobody rushes to shovel, so the white cover is smooth and pretty.
This view is not from today, I am not so lucky to have such a view from my window. I've been thinking for a long time to try painting snow-covered spruce trees. I did this as a test, without a pencil drawing and it didn't turn out too bad.

Winter sunset

I think that in one of my previous postings I insulted Winter, and it took a revenge by dumping piles of snow today. So I decided to try and rectify the situation by painting another winter landscape. I used a photo with interesting afternoon light, by my favorite photographer, with whom I happen to be related. I wanted to do a free and loose interpretation of the view. First I did the smaller one below, where I fussed and fiddled too much. I like better how the one above turned out.

Maliovitsa (Мальовица)

The path towards the mountain hut in a May morning. There was still a lot of snow above the hut, so we could not go much further. Normally it takes several hours to reach the peak, where on a clear day the view is magnificent.