First Snow on Mont Ventoux, ©John O’Grady
14.25″ x 16″ oil and wax on panel, requires framing.
SOLD
When I look out of my studio window and stretch a bit, I can see, over the roof tops of Vaison La Romaine to the summit of Mont Ventoux.
Each time I have painted this mountain, clouds feature prominently.
As you know, I am a cloud watcher and looking up to the giant of Provence offers a marvelous spectacle. At times, the mighty Ventoux seems dwarfed by a large cumulus two or three times the mountain’s height.
This painting is a view from the Toulourenc Valley.
The vineyards are a russet colour that catches the evening light as it rakes across the land from right to left.
It’s early winter, the blue mists forming in the valley contrast with the permanence of the mountain. The relationship between this landmark’s solidity and the nebulous, slowly shifting forms puts the magical world around us and our presence in it in some perspective.
I’d love to hear what you think.
Gorgeous painting – love the clouds, colours, everything!
Hello Patricia,
Thanks very much, lovely to hear from you.
I’m loving your recent paintings with clouds John, well done!!!
Thanks a lot Eoin, that’s great to hear
The colors are gorgeous, John, and the contrast between solidity and shifting forms very powerful. I’m intrigued by the curving path that vanishes in the blue darkness, and by the vertical white mark at the mountaintop that draws the eye upward. The latter seems almost to be a trick of vision, it is so slight, and yet it does something to the heart.
Hello Jo,
Thank you very much for your comment. Yes the mark at the top of the mountain does draw the eye in. It is the observatory, it took a little bit of fiddling around to get it ‘slight’and show it at scale and at a distance. Glad to hear that you liked the palette. I am having fun with the wax, lots of possibilities to add texture and atmosphere- work in progress.
… And your work with the wax is so effective here! Exciting to see.
I find this is a very exciting painting John – a visual delight of gorgeous colour, texture and contrasts of solidity and transience. To be able to see that sky and the giant must be a great inspiration. Congratulations!
Thank you Christine, for your comment on the painting. Yes the giant is omnipresent and seen in the landscape for miles around, alongside the immense cumulus clouds.