l'air de rien: Perfume

30 March 2026

Perfume

Evening Prayer Brunswick Heads, 27 March 2026, oil on canvas board, 30 X 25 cm

As we move into the Fall here in Australia, the typical rains at this time of year have stopped and started for a few days at a time allowing me to get to the beach. I miss the steady progress of sessions.

Over the past few weeks I've found myself slightly lost in some rather uninteresting studies because I couldn't get enough traction going before the rains arrived. At the moment I cannot get out there as the colourful 'bloom' is ruined by the light of a waxing moon in its last phases before before becoming full. Woe is me, but just for a few more days.

But I did have some fun this past week on a few things that I enjoyed making. I may actually be at the end of this motif unless I can come up with something new. I might just explore the skies bypassing the sea entirely.... Below is a cropped detail of one from a few evenings ago. I like its painterly aspect yet somehow I also feel there's still something missing. But I'm not sure, so like a cancer specialist might advise me: "Let's monitor it, and see where we're at in a month or so".

Because I'm really more interested in the delicate colour nuances that float loosely in the sky, I might need to try a new tact. There are moments just before dusk shuts off the light when remnants of pale colours seem to hang in the air like perfume, and it's this that excites me.

Yes, the sea mimics the warmth of all those yellows and pinks overhead, but for me at this point it's almost an unnecessary appendage to the painting. I feel that I include it out of Noblesse oblige, so, I'll monitor the situation till I figure it out.

I loved painting this picture (top) but it photograph well because sadly the i-phone doesn't seem to like the colour yellow very much. As a consequence paintings with lots of yellow come out uneven and washed out. This happens with my Canon and Leica too. Cameras just don't like yellow. Go figure.

In actual fact it looks far better in real life than in the photo above. But it came quickly and while I was painting it I really enjoyed myself.

This one just below came afterwards when the lights fades and there is but a hint of colour left in the sky.