I'll be Brief...

"Fresh Cut Fields"
7 x 14, Oil on Linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2018
(SOLD)

On my recent painting trip, the focus was the landscape. I spent a great deal of time and effort breaking the landscape down into its simplest elements. I have learned this much from studying with the wonderfully talented Maggie Siner: if you get the foundational aspects of the landscape down correctly, the "details" practically take care of themselves. And on the flip side, if you DON'T get the foundational aspects in place correctly, no amount of tinkering with details can save you.

"Murs Hilltop"
7 x 14, Oil on Linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2018
(Available)

I have written a great deal in this blog about "simplification"--so much, in fact, that the phrase is probably growing tiresome.  I have been thinking of a new way to express this concept, and have come to call it "brevity". I want to convey the landscape with brevity--telling you enough, but not too much. I want to involve the viewer in the painting, so that the

Home from Provence....

"Murs, Beyond the Wheatfields"
12 x 16, Oil on Canvas
(c) Lesley Powell 2018

There is nothing like a total immersion painting experience to re-charge your batteries! I have just returned from three weeks of painting in the south of France. The first week was devoted to a workshop with the immensely gifted painter and teacher, Maggie Siner. The next two weeks were consumed with independent painting--a perfect time to cement some of the lessons from the workshop.

"Fields off Chemin des Pradelles"
12 x 16, Oil on Linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2018

We missed the lavender this year--it had all been harvested by the time we arrived in Provence. But on the bright side, the wheat had also been recently cut. That meant that we got