Saturday, August 10, 2013

The flowering rock

Cottage with agapanthus flowers
At around 1950 an American modernist painter called Frank Kleinholz lived on the island of Bréhat for a while with his family. A book of his sketches was published sometime afterwards called île de Bréhat - the flowering rock. The book is long since out of print but I would love to get hold of one. Maybe one of my US friends can help? I can't find it anywhere in the UK!
The flowering rock is a really great description of the island, where there is pink granite and flowers almost everywhere you look! At this time of year the agapanthus and hydrangea flowers are the most obvious, gorgeous abundant blooms of pink and lilac, plus there are roses, lavender, geraniums and marguerites.
We've had a floral kind of day, Lori and I. After a lazy morning we first painted a beautiful cottage hidden amongst it's flowers, and then we came here to île nord to paint 'les agapanthes'. I knew this would be a difficult subject with the house in shadow, looking towards the sun, but it excited me so I had to give it a go. My biggest challenge was to try and get a feeling of translucency with the light glowing through the leaves and flowers. I have to say, I'm fairly satisfied that I did achieve it!
Just so you know, the strange marks in the sky are not on the painting. They are shadows from pieces of grass as I had the board laying on the ground when I took the photograph! Sorry about that!
This oil painting measures about 10" x 12" and is available for purchase as soon as it's dry so if you are interested please message me about it and it could very soon be in your home :-)

12 comments:

  1. Beautiful painting, Haidee! I love the way you do the agapanthus colors. I found the book for you and ordered it. Sounds like you two are having fun.

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  2. Hi....Amazon.com has the book 'The Flowering Rock' both new & used. I really enjoy your paintings, thank you so much for sharing them & your process.

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  3. I found île de Bréhat - the flowering rock softcover for $11.40 plus S&H and hardcover $20.00 plus S&H at BookFinder.com

    http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t1_1&qi=vENWQVhMk5bSaszvVu93ZRwpmUc_9714070009_1:1162:3421&bq=author%3Dfrank%2520kleinholz%26title%3Dile%2520de%2520brehat%2520the%2520flowering%2520rock

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  4. Gorgeouse painting Haidee. I`m glad Bobbi has found your book for you, now I shale search for it. but when you get your book, perhaps you will let me know please. All the best.
    Vic.

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  5. Really love this painting Haidee! The colour of the house jumped out at me immediately. Agapanthus are native to South Africa (where I lived for many years) and grow like crazy there, so I particularly loved them in this painting. Well done! And I do like your new blog front cover; very edgy!

    Kind regards
    Jane (of the P Barker)

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  6. Beautiful work! Love the light in your paintings! :)

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Thank you for your words!

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