neglected but thriving!

.

lovely lovely agaves!



 The ruggedness of the climate and the surrounds of many of the 

hilltop-villages throughout Italy, France, Greece and Spain

lends itself to the planting of Agaves and Yuccas.

the neighbourhood agaves

I have a soft spot for these plants....

strong, tough and resilient, they are able to cope with dry conditions,

heat, cold and neglect .




                            ...... remind you of anyone?   :)




 in pots on balconies,

beside rocky clifftop tourist paths,

and growing wild beneath crumbling stone walls,

the agave is an international survivor.






Tide's Out
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt

 

I love the spiky, architectural shape of this plant...

it pops up in many of my 'Hilltop Village' paintings....







Tide's Out
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H132x132cm
H52x52ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2009
xxxx





I have even been inspired to research its shape and that

of similar drought loving plants in the local landscape....

but have you ever seen anything this magnificent?

Agave Attenuata  in flower

I saw this stunner a few minutes  from my studio.

also called 'the foxtail agave'

 .....the plant from ground to tip would have been about 6 metres long.....





but I've since discovered that this agave flowering was not a happy event....

agaves are monocarpic....

meaning they die after flowering.

no wonder I couldn't find this gorgeous beast to rephotograph a couple of months later!

I hope the elderly owner of this plant took some photos.....




maybe I'll print these and pop them in his mailbox.....it might be gone but it's not forgotten!






                                                            Jo x











.

The Olive Basket

I love olives!

in the yard at my studio I have an olive tree.

its bounty has been a little irregular over the past three years, but with the rain we've enjoyed these past months this tree is so laden with olives it's branches are almost touching the ground.

 last season I tried the 'salt' method....unsuccessfully I might add....so now, as these change colour and turn that beautiful purply-black,  I 'm looking forward to experimenting with a different technique to bottle these beauties.

 Any ideas anyone?



The Old Olive Grove
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt



The Old Olive Grove
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H122x137cm
H48x54ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2006
sold




....I'm told it's easy, but everyone seems to use a different method and different recipe!





The Olive Basket
Jo-Ann Hunt
detail







The Olive Basket
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush'
H122x122cm
H48x48ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2010
sold

 





if you have a foolproof technique....and it doesn't fool me....I'll give you some!



                                                                                     Jo x

Hey Mum check this out! ..meow!



The Waterfront Chapel
Jo-Ann Hunt
 detail





I've decided to start an occasional segment called 'Hey Mum check this out"..... or HMCTO for short!

....it will showcase some of the amazing stuff my offspring bring to my attention.

these little gems have probably been seen by millions of you already, but I'm sure there's the occasional odd-bod like me, lagging behind, who will find this amusing/amazing/fabulous or just downright uplifting.

 so here's to the genius  and wonder of our fellow-travellers on this planet.... just wow!

Escolania de Montserrat, a Catalan Boy's Choir 

just imagine hearing this choir rehearsing here....

The Waterfront Chapel
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H122x137cm
H48x54ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2007
sold

 ....their glorious voices echoing through the alleyways and stone arcades.

                                                  ....just purr-fect!!

Jo x

Vintage Memories and Vespas

Have always wanted one of these... though in my mind I'm tootling around the cobbled back streets of Italy , shopping basket filled with olives, some cheese, fresh crunchy bread...... skirt flapping...and not battling the traffic and the maniacs on the streets at home!





Vintage Memories
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt



detail



Vintage Memories
Jo-Ann Hunt
 'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
61x61cm
24x24ins
Acrylic on Canvas
sold







                                                   Jo x

Wash Day .......Encore

at my house everyday is 'wash day'!

I had no idea but I have been painting laundry since 2005!



....true!.....



and thankfully there are a lot of Art Collectors out there who must share my subconscious delight with the sight of a line of clean washing, flapping in the breeze, absorbing the smell of the sun.....( how is that possible?.... washing does have that 'breathe-in-deep-and-fresh-smell-of-the-sunshine'...doesn't it??)



I'll show you just a few more paintings from my series "Travels with my Paintbrush'....









'The Balcony Gardens'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush'Series
H122x122cm
H48x48ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2006
sold










'The Blue Check Cloth'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush'Series
H76x76cm
H30x30ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2009
sold








'Wash Day'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H96x122cm
H36x48ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2010
sold



'Wash Day'
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt

....and that, as they say, is just the 'tip of the laundry pile!'



                          ....now that's an awful lot of laundry!




                                           Jo x

Sox and Stockings



Wash Day in the Cinque Terra

It seems I have a fixation with washing!



but come with me here.....if it was you.... hanging washing from the windows  of a home like this....




 

'Sox and Stockings'
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt

 


a warm breeze....


a hint of spring coming.....


with this view....

'Sox and Stockings'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H122x138cm
H48x54ins
Acrylic on Canvas
xxxx

.



the smell of a good pasta sauce on the stove.....mmmmm....



what's not to love about laundry!!













 ....you can tell the apron never gets washed!!

Jo x

Market Day Rhythms



'Market Day Rhythms'
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt






I love discovering the different pace to life in different parts of the globe.

but a market has a similar pace and tempo wherever it's situated....

...the set-up in the early hours....

...the business-like, brisk beat of the first shoppers homing in on the best produce....

...the hub-bub and noisiness of the mid-morning crowd....

more casual....

 more chatty....

with socialising and purchasing taking equal priority....

and then the pack-up, down-shutters....

trolleys and vans departing....

...all quiet now....

...until next time....

when the rhythm of the market is played again.










'Market Day Rhythms'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H107x122cm
H42x48ins
Acrylic on Canvas
sold





....this is making me hungry!




                                                                                    Jo x



Ancient Villages



'Village Ancien'
detail'
Jo-Ann Hunt







Hilltop villages delight me.


I love the way they improbably cling to the most impossible of cliff faces,
and the higgledy-piggledy, almost playful nature of their construction.




since 2005 I've painted these medieval towns....with one foot based in reality, and one foot in my imagination.



I love to imagine the lives of the people that live in these homes.... a birdcage on a balcony....put outside to sing in the sunshine....soccer socks and shorts  on the line to dry....



it's a fascination that continues to intrigue me, and this 'Series'.... 'Travels with my Paintbrush' ....
is one that I return to every year.



for me , there's always one more village, one more balcony.....



always more 'Travelling with my Paintbrush' to do !


Jo x






'Village Ancien'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Seies
H132x132cm
H52x52ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2007
sold



From 'Vision' to Canvas...

My painting process begins with assembling all sorts of visual ideas.



often I know what 'look' I want for the painting....
if it's to be abstracted, intimate, detailed, monochromatic, bold, calming....etc



then I start 'to gather'....
like a Satin Bower Bird ....
collecting all sorts of 'stuff' to inspire me, to flesh out my ideas.
I love this part! 



visual stimuli, visual inspiration, visual 'stuff'.
stuff such as photos....

  

and sketches from my sketchbooks.

 then I do some more sketches of the details...

for the overall composition, I may do a series of rough....VERY rough.... thumbnails....

then I mess around with some colour schemes....'mess' being the operative word here!

then.... 'prep' over....

I just dive right in....








'The Trattoria'
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt






'The Trattoria'
Jo-ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H102x102cm
H40x40ins
Acrylic on Canvas
sold





 before the 'vision' evaporates!








for more on the fabulous Bower Bird,  just click here..... with Sir David.....

and here, for some funny, very determined 'pilfering' in the Top End.



enjoy.....

Jo  x

A Progression

hmmm ....that was easy......I did it......I've 'imbedded' videos......go me!!...that will come in handy when I get a new camera!

note to Blogger and the 'help community'.....you guys rock!

Bassano del Grappa

now to get back to this post.....





I paint in 'Series'.... different themes, different ideas....
I follow them through until I need to stop/ change direction/something else draws me away.





I figure if it was OK for Picasso to have his different periods......his Blue Period, Rose Period, Cubism and more.....
and for Brett Whiteley.....
you can't argue with perfection....
then it is OK for me.






some series are a closed book.....finished....won't return to that one....
for example.....my  'Music of the Mind' Series.....








'Song of Venice.... The Grand Canal'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Music of the Mind' Series
H12x138cm
H44x54ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2005
sold







some series have a series within themselves....like a mother ship with smaller versions of itself berthed ( birthed?) to its perimeters.... eg: 'The Child Within ' Series...
'the Child Within...John and Betty '
'the Child Within.... Myths and Legends'

'The Red Pedal Car'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'The Child Within....John And Betty ' Series
H125x125cm
H49x49ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2003
sold




 

'The Sisters'
Jo-Ann Hunt
Commission Portrait
'The Child Within' Series
H122x107cm
H48x42ins
Acrylic on Canvas
 2005
sold



'Soul Mates'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'The Child Within...Myths and Legends ' Series
H140x140cm
H55x55ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2010
xxxx

....they  change over the years....they evolve....
and you should see what theme in this series I'm working on now!
......(but not today!)




and then there is the series that I always seem to have time for....
there's always more to say....
more to paint....

that series is 'Travels with my Paintbrush'....

'The Farmhouse beyond the Vines'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H93x78cm
H36x30ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2005
sold



'The Olive Pickers'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H112x138cm
H44x54ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2005
sold









'Paradise Found'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H132x132cm
H52x52ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2007
sold




series..... a sequence, string, progression....
my way of working....
why deny yourself all that fun when you can paint it all!
....just one series after another...
there's always another!

Jo x