A ‘Cow-bus’ in Gex, France: a Digital Painting

DweezelJazz — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:33:23 +0000

Jasmine (our African Grey parrot) and I used to go for long walks in the Gex countryside. We saw all sorts of things and took loads of photos, which have since become a source of reference shots for paintings for the Gex book. Well, I took the photos and did the walking, and Jazzy sat and climbed around in her backpack cage on my back, eating and looking around.

During one of our jaunts we came across some cows being transported to the fields for grazing. During the winter the cows around Gex are kept in or near the barn, and during the late spring and summer they’re brought out to the pastures. ‘Cow-Bus’, (13″ x 10″) seems a good name for this painting.

It was fun painting this. Jazzy and I had a great time out that day. It was so pretty everywhere, spring was vibrant with bright new flowers, butterflies, bees, insects buzzing everywhere, fresh air, and sunshine.

Jazzy was chatting away as usual, making impressive hawk sounds and generally commenting on things. She liked to chat, sometimes she chatted in a continuous flow of non-stop, almost unintelligible words. One time we were sitting at a bench and she was doing this. Someone got out of a parked car and crossed the street to ask if I had a radio on, and then discovered Jasmine. Of course, Jazzy was delighted because then she was admired and soon someone else came and she had a crowd talking to her. From then on, whenever she chatted like that (which was much of the time) we called her chatter: ‘radio Jasmine’.

Here you can see a more close-up view of the tractor window. There’s quite a bit of detail in this painting.

I’ve decided that I like detail, and perhaps more of a graphic-type look, rather than an overt so-called ‘painterly’ look, which often seems to translate to a more sophisticated look. I’ve had quite some difficulty trying to understand what style paintings I want to create, because I admire many different styles. But I think I do best with a simpler expression, and it has been such a good feeling, almost a relief, to discover this.

This painting was painted using Corel Painter 11.

Summer Fields In The Pays de Gex, France

DweezelJazz — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 07:00:00 +0000

The wheat in the Pays de Gex, France, is a shimmering gold color that’s very lovely to look at in the summer.With the heavy rains here recently many of the fields have been damaged.Everywhere in the valley right now there are tractors coming and going from the fields.Many can be seen at work in the fields even today, on a Sunday.Where there aren’t tractors, there’s often a clear trail left behind of where they have been.There are vineyards……fields of sunflowers……and corn.With the cool weather the poppies have lasted a long time.In places, the corn is growing tall.It’s all very picturesque with Mt. Blanc in the distance.

DweezelJazz Art Blog » tractors

A ‘Cow-bus’ in Gex, France: a Digital Painting

Summer Fields In The Pays de Gex, France