This green door
Posted: October 1, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized 41 CommentsI always return home from a trip with tons of photos and plenty of good intentions — to eventually turn a few of them into watercolours. But then I get busy and move on to the next thing, and the photos (thousands of them by now) just sit on my computer.
Sometimes, though, there are exceptions, like this green door that I couldn’t wait to paint. I saw this in the garden at Restaurant Baudy, in Giverny. There was no time to paint it on location last month, but I loved the colour of the door and the faded yellow and pink stucco wall, so I did a quick watercolour of it this week.
At various times during our afternoon in the garden, there were cooks and serving staff who went in and out of that door, sometimes hanging around long enough to smoke a cigarette or make a call. There was even a man taking a cat for a walk around the yard, leading it by a long wire that looked like a clothesline. Wouldn’t that have made a good sketch?
The colors are wonderful, and evocative of Monet’s garden, too!
Naomi, it was like Monet’s garden without all the crowds!!
That’s a delightful & wonderfully painted scene! Your paintings are always a joy to observe!!!
Sent from my iPhone
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Mary, thanks so much!!
Love it! The next best thing to being there. A Shari Special!
Ahhh, Tony, thanks!!
Beautiful Shari! I was there a year ago this week and took the same photo with nearly the same shadow shapes. You’ve captured the charm of the courtyard so well.
Lisa, that’s amazing! Isn’t that courtyard fantastic?? Hope you are well.
Currently in Porto for 8 nights where it’s a lovely 28-30 C — can’t complain!
Hi Shari
Really interesting colours – looks like one of those subjects that seem to paint themselves and… is fun! 🙂
Cheers, Chris
You’re right about that Chris! It did paint itself and those are always the most fun ones to paint.
It’s charming! I love “mystery” doors and gates. It’s definitely something to remember. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for having a look De. It was a really memorable trip and that spot in particular was a magical place, full of things to draw.
ooh, I love this door
Thanks Beth!!
Love the colors of the door against that pinkish building! Beautiful!!! I’m glad you didn’t let this reference go unpainted.
Thanks Joan! I’m glad too.
This one is my new favorite of yours! It’s gorgeous, absolutely stunning in color and design. Love it❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Bernadette, thank you!!
Beautiful! I’m glad you painted it, why don’t more people use pink on exteriors of buildings? 🙄
Gracie, I love pink buildings too. When we were in Brittany there was a beautiful old one on the water but I never did get to sketch it.
A beautiful painting to accompany wonderful memories. Nice work, as always!
Denise, thanks!!
This is a truly beautiful painting of th
Thanks Alison. I don’t know why your comments are always clipped. Ugh. WordPress, why do you let me down??
Shari,
This is the making of a lovely novel! It just tells a story by being lovely and memorable with cool characters to match. Good on you for saving this one. AK
Thanks! I am wondering about that cat on a string for sure…
Hi Shari
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Ida, your comment was cut off. I am annoyed with WordPress. This seems to happen often and I can’t see what people wrote. Very furstrating! But thank you for writing anyway!!
Hi Shari
Sorry my comment got cut off. Hopefully this one does not.
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div>I was saying how much I love your painting. The colors are exquisite
When I opened this, the painting took my breath away! So beautiful!
Thanks so much Karen. What a wonderful comment to read!
Good morning, Shari:
I fell right away in love with the Green Door painting, bringing back
memories of wonderful holidays in France. Please let me ask how you
mixed the green for the door as a transparent green still is a challenge
in watercolor painting, at least for me.
With best regards from Berlin
Dorothee
Thanks so much Dorothee! The recipe for that green is to use Manganese Blue (for granulation) mixed with some New Gamboge and a bit of yellow ochre. I think that’s all I used…
Shari, this is so beautiful and luminous, we really get a sense of the place. Glowing.
I hate to be “that person” but I’m dying to know what paint you used on the left side door, that granulation is perfection. I’ve been searching for a nice granulating teal color like that, tried QoR cobalt teal but there’s almost no granulation. Your materials list of faves includes Holbein turquoise (which is non-granulating), and Holbein cobalt green, is that what we’re seeing here?
Thanks Kathryn! I like “that person”!
The magical colour that makes that granulation is Manganese Blue!! It was quite wonderful in that mix for shadows and for the door. Of course I mixed it with some yellow to get the door colour. Maybe a bit of New Gamboge and some Yellow Ochre, but not too much.
That’s right, you’re a pigment nerd too! So if this is genuine manganese blue, PB33, it’s been discontinued by almost all but the boutique paintmakers. I haven’t seen any of the hues that have this much beautiful granulation, so I’m hoping that you found one!
Kathryn, I just checked. I have a really old tube of the genuine stuff, and a tube of M. Graham Manganese Blue Hue, but it was the old stuff that I used in this.
I can’t resist weighing in (I’m another “that person” …) in case it might be helpful — I use a lot of Daniel Smith cobalt teal precisely because it granulates in a gorgeous way.
It mingles very impressionistically with other colors, greens, blues, and even pinks such quin rose and quin magenta. Could it be worth trying if manganese blue isn’t available?
Betsy, thank you! Together, we are “those people.” 😀 I do use that DS color a lot (in fact I bought it while taking Shari’s online Desert course, it’s ideal for that agave); it is fantastic in every way that you mentioned. Highly recommended! I just tried the QoR version of the same pigment and it doesn’t have nearly the granulation.
I love this!! The shadows are such a luscious blue!