XUNICEF News and Views

Away on any journey, I always bring paints, paper and brushes hoping to indulge in plein air landscape sketching.

I had been curious for sometime when friends would post their daily “Wordie” result on social media. I eventually found that the game was part of a suite of brain teasers from The New York Times. I haven’t subscribed, but I play a set of four tests first thing in the morning as a new ritual. A new daily package of challenges arrives sometime overnight and is waiting for me on my iPhone app.

My twin and I set off on a trip around Provence. We soon realized that the “must see” towns were still all jumping with tourists in late September. We changed plans and headed to the hills – literally! From landing in Nice we arrived in Tourrettes-sur-Loup, perched on a rock-face. I started painting immediately, conscious that the lavenders, pastel-blue shutters, creamy stone walls, cloudless, ultramarine-blue skies could make a painting look “too pretty”. And yet everything was too pretty! Both palettes I’d brought needed paring down, bright surfaces had to have corresponding shadow colours to pull off the bright sunlit glow. Steep steps up to the front door in Tourrettes-sur-Loup, where we stayed From Tourrettes we traveled via Grasse, of perfume fame, with enchanting pedestrian streets signaled by high-hung pink umbrellas.  A galaxy of pink hung umbrellas mark the pedestrian routes in picturesque Grasse Then on to the Luberon where chocolate-box, small hamlets abounded. On the w...

 I taught myself to paint. So the answer is yes. Or is it? Painting at Lago Di Misurina I painted with a friend up in the Dolomites in February this year. I had extra paper and paintbrushes, shared colours and water. He didn’t know he’d end up spending the morning painting but the day was glorious and the landscape around Lago di Misurina magnificent. We sat at a café table for a couple of hours, pizza and spritz spurring us along. He produced a fairly competent painting, albeit guided by me. Step-by-step: first a light pencil drawing to get the composition right; then the addition of blue for sky, bringing down the colour to an almost white horizon, and dabbling in small clouds with a tissue which he found fun; then a battle ensues in the palette to find the greys and browns of the mountain sides, but with a little wax suggesting the steep angle of the slopes; and finally, mastering how to make the rocks stand out, with shadows on surfaces not receiving direct sunlight. He po...

Ever since I began collecting paintings, and even more so now as an artist, I’ve been aware of how important framing is to a work of art. My paintings look “all grown up” in the right frame and I’ve been blessed by having two experienced framers here in Venice to help me choose the correct frame to enhance each work, and sometimes to push me to be bolder in choice. I’ve also collaborated “at distance” with framers in their workshops, and as far afield as Los Angeles via video calls together with clients. This gives collectors greater confidence that the artwork will look perfect. The more exhibitions I’m involved in, the more conscious I am also on how to choose to hang a set of paintings for a show. I’ve also traveled to hang paintings in restaurants that I’ve done the interior design for, or site-specific works in homes of collectors. Watching how curators put shows together is fascinating and instructive. Some hangings are dramatic; others simple, while I find some miss the mark com...

Some of you may have seen my artwork, but few know how I apply paint to a surface. Most artists use a variety of brushes – hair or synthetic – to create the effects they want. There are dozens of sizes and shapes available but actually I carry only two trusted brushes when I go outside plein air figurative painting in the countryside. In my studio I have a wide variety of tools to paint with, and being highly experimental, I will often get away from the ‘painterly’ techniques and instead make marks with spatulas. They are credit card size (8.5 x 5.5 cms.), and most of my supplies come in the form of electronic hotel door keys or subscription tokens. Applying watercolour, acrylic or chalk paint to the flexible spatula allows me to create broad strokes with precise pressure. Paint residue builds up on them and dries, and I can reuse the spatula multiple times. A couple of photographs show how I use a spatula to apply paint. Can you guess which famous painter uses a spatula to paint with?...

Peter Delahaye was fascinated by a photograph taken by Karin Hulshof and went on to build a project and a joint exhibition with Karin.  Be sure to watch the fascinating documentary at the end of this presentation! Note that Peter will be running a watercolour landscape course of five-days from 26 September to 2 October 2022 in Trujillo, Estremadura, Spain. Anyone interested in joining should contact Peter via peterldelahaye@hotmail.com for further details. Poster of the Exhibition Original photograph taken by Karin Hulshof Rendition by Peter Delahaye Rendition by Peter Delahaye Rendition by Peter Delahaye The Documentary

I arrived in Venice the day after I retired. Close Venetian friends had already warned “You won’t last six months” and earlier that year had nudged me to look at rental property in Treviso, 30 kilometers inland. “Venetians are insular” they said. “You’ll find it hard to make friends. The officialdom is a nightmare, even for Italians let alone foreigners”.

  During our first lockdown in Italy, I strove to find a new spurt of creativity and was very productive from March to August 2020. My painting studio is within my home in Venice so with a fixed 200 metre limit to venture from home, meaning outdoor painting was impossible, I stayed focused on artwork. I even surprised myself at how much energy and creativity I had. I realized how important creativity is for mental health. Understanding that a second virus wave would take place, I sought something completely new for the next lockdown phase. I decided to try portraiture for the first time. Obviously having live models in the studio was out of the question so I worked from selected good photos and soon had enough requests to keep painting. I've never been to art school so learning a new discipline, using the difficult medium of watercolour, was a challenge. A good light drawing was essential initially to get all the proportions of the face correct. Learning how light affects skin ton...