Category Archives: Provence Paintings

Season of Plenty (Provence painting complete)

Posted on August 5, 2011 by jennifereyoung| Leave a comment

Just a quick post to follow up on the  W.I.P. I shared on Wednesday…Here is the painting, now complete (more or less).

 provence painting of lavender and vineyards by Jennifer Young
“Season of Plenty”
Oil on linen, 16×20″
To purchase, please contact me.

There is some glare in the photo so I may need to attempt a reshoot this weekend. Nevertheless I think it gives a pretty good indication of the final. I managed to maintain my single primary palette to completion, just to prove I could do it. But I am not sure if this color- limiting exercise was to the benefit of the painting, so I will set it aside for a few days and think it over before making any adjustments.





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Posted in Art supplies, Experimental work, French Landscapes, Painting Technique, Provence Paintings

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Provence lavender lay-in (W.I.P.)

Posted on August 3, 2011 by jennifereyoung| Leave a comment

This has been my first real opportunity to paint in over a week. It has been really hot, muggy weather lately, so I’ve decided to stay close to the studio and scour some of my old photo archives for landscape subject matter. In doing so, I came upon some of my images of an area of Provence that I visited in lavender season almost 10 years ago (!) called La Drome Provencal. Here’s a 16×20″ composition I’ve mapped out:

Provence lavender landscape painting by Jennifer Young

I have more to flesh out in terms of both shadow/highlight and detail, but I’ve started with a basic block-in to nail down my composition.  Up to now, I’ve used the same color palette as the previous painting I posted of Lake Como. But when I started to lay in the lavender I had the overwhelming temptation to reach for a cooler, more transparent red (like alizarin crimson) to add some brilliance. I have held off up to now.

What I aim to see is if I can acheive  the proper color relationships in the painting without having to resort to any other colors than the three primaries I’ve chosen. Alizarin Crimson (permanent) has long been my default red when I paint in a single primary palette. While it is a beautiful transparent color, I sometimes feel it is almost too garish in my mixtures.

So I feel it is worthwhile to try and acheive a luminous, vibrant quality to my paintings without having to resort to over-the-top color. Being somewhat of a color slut, this is not an easy challenge for me! We’ll see if I can hold out to the bitter (better?) end!





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Posted in Art supplies, Art Travels, French Landscapes, Painting Technique, Provence Paintings

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French doorways and windows

Posted on May 27, 2009 by jennifereyoung| 2 Comments

If anyone were to look at the hundreds of travel photos I’ve taken, they’d soon see I have a thing for French and Italian doors and windows. Especially in the rural villages, the French and Italians seem to have a thing for them too. They are always so lovingly adorned with fresh flowers and tiny gardens– along the steps and window sills, and even climbing up the wall.

Since I won’t be going to Europe this year (  :-(  ), I thought I’d celebrate my delight for this charming tradition by armchair traveling (easel traveling?) with a little series on the subject. Here are the first two, both of southern France, both measuring 8×6″ (and both soon to be uploaded to my website. Meanwhile, contact me for additional details.)

french village painting of windows and flowers

“Shadow Play,” Oil on canvas

French painting village doorway with roses

“Garland Welcome”, Oil on canvas

I may use some of these small works as studies to develop larger pieces. Others may not translate and will remain as little vignettes. Working small is often a nice way to figure out compositional considerations and problem-solve in other areas before tackling something larger, without such great investment of paint and canvas. You’d think with such small paintings,  the time investment would be less as well, though unfortunately that ain’t necessarily so!





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Posted in Art Travels, Garden paintings, Provence Paintings

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Save the date- New PBS art series on “Landscapes through Time”

Posted on May 6, 2008 by jennifereyoung| 3 Comments

While trolling through the Slow Travel forums for my upcoming trip to France, I stumbled across this tip on a new upcoming PBS art series on landscape painting hosted by artist David Dunlop.  Here’s an excerpt from the PBS website:

“LANDSCAPES THROUGH TIME WITH DAVID DUNLOP — a lively and entertaining new 13-part PBS series shot in HD — offers viewers the opportunity to travel with noted painter and lecturer David Dunlop to magical, historic locations in the United States and France as he follows the lives and artistic paths of celebrated artists such as Turner and Monet. Dunlop journeys to the locations these artists visited and learns how they transformed their vision into a familiar painting. “

PBS always does a wonderful job with its art series, so I hope this one broadcasts in my area. It’s set to air in June, which will be just on the heels of having returned from my own France landscape painting trip. You can read all about the program  here, but you’ll probably have to just check back in at viewing schedule  as they only list schedules 13 days out.





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Posted in Art History, Art Travels, French Landscapes, Plein Air Painting, Provence Paintings, The artist's life

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Plein air in my neighborhood: “Color Surprise”

Posted on May 1, 2008 by jennifereyoung| 4 Comments

In the evenings, my husband and I love walking through our Bellevue neighborhood, and we try to do it most days that our schedules and the weather will allow. There are a lot of avid gardeners in our ‘hood, and in spring it seems like every nook and corner has a touch of color.

The other evening we took a back alley detour and came upon this scene. It was striking in the light of dusk as the building and the irises were backlit. I came back in the morning to see if I still found interest, and I did. It was a different light, to be sure. But there was a certain pattern that played across the path and fence that I liked enough to do this little pochade.   

plein air garden painting by Jennifer Young
“Color Surprise”
Oil on Canvas, 6×8″
Click here for more info.

If you’ve looked around my website you might notice that I have a thing for sheds. I guess I like the simplicity of the form, and the interesting texture of the walls and rooftops (the more decrepit the better.) I’ve sure painted my share of the French Provencial versions; called “cabaneaux” en Francais.

Call me crazy but I also have a thing for certain alleys. They can be kind of a “grab bag” though– I don’t always see (or smell) the most pleasant things. But sometimes when people let their private gardens spill over into the walkways I can find quite a surprise of color.





Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
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Posted in Art of the American South, Garden paintings, Plein Air Painting, Provence Paintings, Southern Landscapes, The artist's life

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