'July' by Pol Limbourg (Summer Landscape #1)

I'm returning to the representation of the seasons and months of the year in paintings of landscapes.  In part, I do this because I very much enjoy records of the land at different times of the year but also as encouragement to landscape painters to create more paintings recording the land in specific seasons and months.

This is Juillet (July) in the body of work known as Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry created by the flemish painters, the Limbourg Brothers working for John, Duc de Berry (1340-1416) the third son of King John II of France. It's been identified as the work of Paul (or Pol) Limbourg.

Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry Folio 7, verso: July
illumination on vellum
Height: 22.5 cm (8.9 in). Width: 13.6 cm (5.4 in)
Musée Condé, Chantilly, France

This particular painting is painted as a miniature illumination on vellum (note the size) and was created sometime between between 1412 and 1416.

 It shows sheep being sheered - using big sheep shears - and grain being harvested using a sickle.  The sky is of course blue and the clouds are high and sparse as one often gets in mid summer.  A translation of a description in French (now updated as per Alyson's comment) reads as follows

"The labours of the month of July show the harvest and shearing of sheep. Two characters mow the wheat, each using a volant and a stick. A volant is a long, open sickle with the handle at the corner of the flat of the blade. With the help of the stick, they separate a bunch of wheat stems which they then cut with a pass of the blade. The harvesters advance by going around the outside of the parcel of land, working towards the centre. One of the harvesters has a whetstone on his belt. Two other characters, one of whom is a woman, use shears to cut the wool of sheep. With the exception of the imaginary mountains, the landscape shows, in the foreground, the Boivre River where it flows into the Clain, near the palace of the Count of Poitiers."

In the background is the Palace of Poitiers - which was rebuilt by Jean I, duc de Berry between 1384-86.

Links:

• The Limbourg Brothers - and "September" 18 Sep 2012
• "October" - Limbourg Brothers (Autumn Landscape #11) 24 Oct 2012
• March: Peasants at Work on a Feudal Estate by Limbourg brothers 27 Mar 2012

Bill Guffey's plein air painting kit

Following on from the last post about an artist's plein air equipment. here's Bill Guffey's kit which he explains in this post - My Plein Air Equipment on his blog Bill Guffey.

See a larger version in Bill's post

You can see larger images of the kit on his post - just click an image in his post to see the larger version.

I hope this gives you an idea of what, how and why I pack what I do to go paint in the great outdoors. If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll see if I can answer them for you.

Bill is a Kentucky artist who paints in oils.  He's a member of the American Impressionist Society and an associate member of the Oil Painters of America. You can see Bill's paintings on his website http://bnguffey.com/

He founded the Virtual Paintout blog for those painting from views seen via Google Paintout.

Links to more posts on this blog about Bill Guffey:

• Bill Guffey and Virtual Paintout on Canadian TV 27 Aug 2010
• 'Virtual Paintout' wins The Best Art Blog Project Virtual Challenge Cup 07 Jan 2011
• Bill Guffey paints a winter landscape plein air (video) 30 Jan 2011
• Plein air painting demo by Bill Guffey 27 Oct 2011

Rick Delanty's plein air kit

I love looking at the kit people take out with them - and am even more impressed when they do an annotated drawing for us all of what it entails. Below is the kit of one artist and at the end is an invitation for you to show me what your kit looks like.

Below is the annotated drawing of a photo of the plein air kit of Rick Delanty. Rick says

taking only what you need into the field is a challenge!

Annotated drawing of Rick Delanty's plein air kit

and this is the photo of the kit proper

Rick Delanty's plein air kit

You can see Rick's paintings at Rick J. Delanty Fine Art.  For 32 years. Rick taught high school drawing and painting at San Clemente High in San Clemente CA.  He retired in 2006 and became a full time landscape painter.  Artists who have influenced him include Monet, Winslow Homer, Van Gogh, James Whistler, and contemporary landscape painters April Gornik and Neil Welliver. Rick is a member of the California Art Club, the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, and Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA). His blog is called The Color of God.

Below you can see Rick Delanty painting in California.

Rick Delanty plein air painting

Show me your plein air kit

If you've got a well organised kit and would like to share your choices and approach to plein air kit assembly with other artists on this blog, send me a URL link to a blog post or website page which include an annotated drawing (or photo) of what you take with you when you go painting landscapes plein air!  Any explanation for your choices is also welcome.

This is how to contact me.