I have finally found a moment to photograph the finished barn wall!
1. The whole wall.
2. Detail of the barn/garage door.
3. View from the right.
Life is rather manic right now, as the silly season of exhibitions starts on Thursday (gulp!) with the art fair at Château de Monbazillac. I belong to 2 art associations, one is Les Métiers d’Arts en Pays de Bergerac, ( that title is far too long in my opinion), we are about 67 artists,sculptors,potters woodworkers etc.; the other is ASASA, with about 14 artists,sculptors etc. The idea is that we exhibit together, and ease the burden of sitting in as guardian at the space, sorting posters, publicity, and all the other stuff that is involved in mounting an exhibition. Exhibiting solo, which I do as well, is a lonely ordeal of finding the venue, framing and hanging the works, designing and organising posters, preparing the food and wine for the opening, invitations……. well the list goes on! Actually painting the works lies at the bottom of the list; however, that’s the pleasurable thing!
In this profession (as in most self-employed ones ) you are required to be a one-man-band, you have to be artist, framer, researcher, publicist, marketing officer, salesman, caterer, cleaner ( the venues aren’t always clean, and that includes the loos), all the things, in fact, they do not teach you at art college! My dear friend Marilyn is a godsend , she helps with all of that , and I don’t know what I would do without her. Thank you so much Marilyn!
The Salon des Arts expo is a significant annual event to take part in, for it is where I publicise my trompe l’œil work, and exhibit my smaller paintings. Here are a few, that I have completed recently, and which I will be showing.
The photos don’t show the scale, so I have shown the measurements.
Boots 1. Oil on canvas 20×50 Inspired by the trompe l’œil I did in January.
Glass of wine. Oil on board 10×15 ( you may notice it is half full, it was full when I started painting it! ).
Home-made bread. 16×24 Oil on board
Leeks. 20×60 Oil on canvas.
Nest. 18×24 oil on board
Boots 2. 18×24 Oil on board
Lemon.10×15 Oil on board
lizkingsangster 
This is a magnificent achievement, and I send heartiest congratulations. The client must be cock-a-hoop. If it were mine I’d be out there all the time staring into the distance of your painted landscape, wondering how I could just break through and step into it. Is that a hoopoe I spy on the cornice, standing sentinel?
Well done Liz. It’s glorious.
Love
C xxx
Thanks Clive, you are kind! Yes it’s a hoopoe, and there is another one down on the broken pillar.xL
Brilliant mural! I especially love how you integrated (hid!) the garage door. Good luck with the showing/selling of your smaller, equally impressive works. Cheers! AM
Thanks for your encouraging words Anita, its good of you to visit!
Liz, I can’t believe how wonderful the barn wall looks now! You have turned it into a magnificent work of art and a view to die for. I particularly love the way it integrates so naturally with the landscaped garden. As Clive says, it does look like you could just walk straight into it – into another magical world!
Marilyn
Thanks M, I will take you to visit it sometime!
Gosh, the barn wall is just breathtaking, bravo Liz. A lovely post to then drop down to those beautiful smaller scale paintings – all the best with the exhibition, sounds like a busy time, but busy in a good way 🙂
Thanks, Phil, for taking the time to comment. I’m glad you like the barn wall, I enjoyed painting it. It’s a long time since I painted a proper “backdrop”.
Amazing barn wall – however did you get it done so quickly?! Sorry I shan’t be able to see the paintings in real life but good luck with the expo and I hope they sell well xx
Thanks,Sally! It didn’t seem quick when I was painting it with all that running back and forth! Paintings wise -even if I don’t sell well, it’s always nice meeting up with the other artists, generally they are a nice bunch and it’s all good for publicity.xL
Hi Liz
I hope you’re both well and loving early summer in all it’s beauty. I just wanted to say how fab the barn wall you’ve painted is. So are your pics for the exhibition. You are such an amazing artist. Hope to see you one day soon. We’re off to Scotland to stay with Gordon and Stella on Saturday and we’re staying in the new house. How gorgeous is that.
Lots of love to you both.
Vivvy xx
Hi Vivvy, lucky you. You must let me know what the house is like! Watch out for those midges! xL
The barn wall is brilliant Liz. How do you protect the image against weathering in the short term? Presumably in the long term some weathering adds to the effect. I should think barn owners across the country will be firing off emails requiring your services asap by the hundreds. Would it work in UK or does it need to be baked by the mediterranean sun for a few weeks to embed it in the material of the wall?
XX John
Hi again John, the image has 2 coats of clear acrylic protection, manufactured specially for exterior surfaces. The paints nowadays are incredibly effective and robust, even though they are water-based. I don’t know if you remember the Kenyan landscape I painted 23 years ago, on the side of a barn here, when these products were still in their infancy? Well, that is still clinging to its wall, slightly faded now though. The paints I used then seem milder than now, but they were effective (they are not recommended for exterior use now, a classic case of the goalposts being moved!) Anyway in answer to your question, they should work in the UK I think , as they are manufactured in Germany.
As one of the barn wall clients I can only say that it IS wonderful – and that numerous visitors have admired it – and that it has withstood all that the weather has thrown at it to date without any detectable change!
Hello Peter, thanks for the comment and info, I’m glad to know it is withstanding our Dordogne weather extremes!