David Sinclair Ormond

Surdoux
22 cm x 27 cm
Oil on canvas board

Well, here you go.  Here's my latest painting.  It was a beautiful (scorching hot) summer day above the village of Surdoux.  You know it's hot when you're in the shade and your oil paints begin to liquify more than normal.  As I'm becoming more proficient in my handling of my medium (oil paints) I'm always trying to simplify things so that I can concentrate on what is important to me:  the essence of a location, colour and texture!

     I'm pretty happy with this one, but I feel as though I was a little too relaxed and that I went a little too far with the simplification.  It is a really difficult balance between capturing the important details and simplifying the details that aren't important.  Details such as the ants crawling on the grass in the foreground can be ignored for example.

    I could have spent a little more time on certain parts of this one, but what the hell maybe not - it's pretty damn good.  In all fairness to myself, my nicely shaded painting position was quickly becoming under assault from the advancing sun:  I had no choice, but to paint quickly...and paint quickly I did!