Archive for the ‘Current work’ Category
The South of France is as Beautiful as You’ve Been Told (cont.)
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
The dominant colors of summer in the South of France are purple-ish and orange-ish, courtesy of lavender and poppies. I can’t think of fields of plants in America that could compete for powerful color. I feel privileged to have been there.
Added to the extreme color of poppies and lavenders is the fact that everything in France is beautiful. The French seem not to suffer with the American impulse to replace amazing ancient—okay, in America, somewhat old— buildings with some modern crap designed by contractors, not architects. The French are happy to put beautiful modern furniture inside a building which actually is ancient. Or to put a modern, architect-designed structure next to buildings in a medieval town. But there seems no wholesale destruction of the really old in the name of modernity.
And through it all the farmers continue to grow poppies and lavender, for which I am very grateful.
Tags: landscape painting, oil painting, plein air
Posted in Current work, oil painting | 1 Comment »
The South of France Is as Beautiful as You’ve Been Told
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
We had the good fortune this summer to go to the south of France. English friends who moved to the small town of Ales seven years ago invited us to stay in their guest house. Not having to pay for hotels for most of our stay in France was a big help, of course, but that fact enabled us to be more than tourists. We got to see how people like us live in a foreign country. Plus, our friends were very generous with their time, and were happy to be our tour guides.
Where they live is on the edge of Provence, which makes their lives much less hassled. Ever since the publication of A Year in Provence, Provence has been over-run with visitors. Although our trips took us through Provence, enjoying the incomparable beauty of the landscape, for the most part we were only occasionally in the swell of tourists. I’m happy to say that because we speak French pretty well, we were never taken for Americans. One time we were asked if we were Polish or Swedish.
Tags: landscape painting, oil painting, plein air
Posted in About my artwork, Current work, oil painting | No Comments »
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Hello.
I'm Stephen Springer Davis
I'm a pretty much self-taught and pretty much unknown artist and designer living near Philadelphia. The plan is to tell you about my artwork, why I do it, maybe how I do it, and also about other artists who've inspired me along the way.
My definition of the term "painting" will remain intentionally broad so I can talk about anything that interests me.
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