Category Archives: more artists

More artists: Paul Nash, John Piper, Eric Ravilious

Taking up another recommendation from my tutor to look at for part 3 of the course, I made a quick Google image search on Paul Nash, John Piper and Eric Ravilious. I was very perplexed by the similarity of the images that turned up. My first impression were that they were all depicting landscape in muddy green-grey-brown tones and created a depressed atmosphere, which could not be further away from my idea of “the joy of nature”. Having researched Eric Ravilious earlier for my drawing course, I remembered that he lived in the early 20^th century and was a contemporary of two world wars. I thought, maybe the choice of colours reflected how he felt about the world: An unfriendly place full of enemies. And maybe the other two painters made their works at around the same time?

Paul Nash, The Menin Road (1919)
John Piper, A Cotswold River Valley (1946)
Eric Ravilious, Beachy Head (1939)

And indeed. Paul Nash (1889 – 1946) was almost an exact contemporary of Eric Ravilious (1903 – 1942). John Piper was born at the same time, but lived into his late eighties (1903-1992). All three had been official war artists of British Ministries, and experienced both World Wars.

They painted landscape entirely different from the romantic ideal of healthy, protective nature, and this is very apparent in their choice of colour and elements they chose to depict.

Sources

Paul Nash, The Menin Road (1919): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nash,_Paul_-_The_Menin_Road_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

John Piper, A Cotswold River Valley (1946): http://www.lucy-johnson.com/available-pieces/d/a-cotswold-river-valley-the-coln-at-coln-st-aldwyns-1946/54251

Blog Article on Eric Ravilious, including the painting Beachy Head (1939): http://jamesrussellontheweb.blogspot.com/2011/09/eric-ravilious-at-belle-tout-lighthouse.html

More artists: Lucy Willis

I’m researching this artist following a tutor recommendation from Assignment 2 feedback. She pointed me to Lucy Willis’ interior paintings. My first impression when looking at the overview page of the interiors was they were very well made, much more worked out than my first attempts at interiors. I realized the potential of this theme and into what direction I might develop my own interior paintings.

I chose The Music Room, China (37 x 28 cm), The Kitchen Door (56 x 41 cm), The midday Hour (no size given) and the Striped Armchair (43 x 63.5) for a closer look. Looking at the larger web pictures reveals that they are much less detailed than the thumbnails appear to be, which I like even better. The larger and smaller shapes are clearly painted, and this is something I still have to learn. I think it has to do with decision making while painting. I think I am still very hesitant to just paint shapes and make a decision about its colour and value.

There are also nice colour contrasts, for example the orange and blue in the Kitchen Door painting, and this is another aspect I’d like to develop further in my own works.

I was quite impressed reading Lucy Willis’ biography. Born 1954, she was trained in fine art in Britain and then travelled a lot to paint. She also did projects and many commissioned works, and received several prizes. I found her prison project particularly interesting, where she gave drawing lessons to inmates over a period of one and a half year. As there was no formal enrolment, the group was constantly changing, but there seems to have been a lot going on psychologically for the men after they overcame their initial reluctance. I found this interesting because I thought about going into art therapy to combine art practice and teaching with my psychology background. Reading the article was a good reminder of what art is capable to do.

Looking over her other works, I particularly liked the landscape paintings, and chose River Lussa (38 x 56 cm) and The Drop Gate (28 x 37). They are the ones with the most intense contrast and values from very dark to very light, which I think is why I found them appealing.

After seeing so many works by Lucy Willis, I think that I like her paintings a lot and realize that I’m currently working in a similar, realistic style. But I have some reservations about the paintings I made recently and think that perfectioning the realist style is not my goal. I see it as a necessary stage while developing a more personal and abstract way of painting. I don’t know exactly what I’m aiming for, but it should be more generous and more exciting, less laborious with detail work.

Sources

Lucy Willis interior paintings: http://www.lucywillis.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=22&Itemid=47

More artists: Karen Armitage

After the pointer from my tutor in her feedback to Assignment 1, it is only now that I find the time to include a blog entry for my research on this artist. Karen Armitage is a contemporary British painter. Her works include not only watercolours, but also pastels and oil paintings. I’m including a selection of her works from an art prints site to illustrate my thoughts and findings. The quality of these web images is not very convincing. Better resolutions can be found at Bridgeman Education Library.

A dominant theme in Armitage’s works are flowers. I particularly liked the Magnolias, and also the Cyclamens. There’s an airiness in these watercolours that I find very interesting. Some areas are worked out, others are withered and pale. It reminds me of the photographic effect termed depth of field. With a short depth of field, only elements at one particular distance appear sharp in all details, while everything closer and everything further away is increasingly blurred.

What I liked less with these paintings was a tendency of overworking the watercolours to reach perfection. There’s not much to see of an original brushstroke or chance effects inherent to the medium. It is a very controlled approach. It has beautiful results, but they are almost too perfect and this takes away a lot of the liveliness that could be achieved in a painting of flowers.

Interestingly, the oil paintings appear much less overworked, as for example the Myosotis Bleu (2002). It may be a question of the medium. I have learned that watercolour quickly looses the charming immediacy when there’s too much layering and brushwork. Whereas oil paint seems to permit endless reworking without loosing it’s freshness, maybe even the opposite – reworking seems to add depth and lead to the essence of what is supposed to be depicted.

The pastels: I like that they are not detailed and how they include bright colours and strong contrasts, for example the Carpet Factory in Morocco (2000) or the Libary at Thorpeperrow.

I’m quite unsure about my own attempts with using pastels, but when I compare, I feel that I’m heading towards the right direction – overlays to create different colours and tones, but not closing up the paper under a thick layer of pigment, or smudging.

From the watercolours, I’d like to take away how nicely the compositions fill the picture space. The focus is on what the artist found essential, but this is nicely framed in a receding context. The Pansies in a Conservatory are included as a reminder.

Sources

Magnolia Box, an art print site, with quite a selection of Karen Armitage’s works: http://www.magnoliabox.com/artist/2864/Karen_Armitage

More artists: Elizabeth Blackadder

Elizabeth Blackadder was pointed out to me by my tutor in the feedback on Assignment 1. I did some research but then lost track of it due to the relocation to New York. Luckily I later found what I had prepared, so the blog entry comes just a little later than originally intended.

Born in 1931, Elizabeth Blackadder is a Scottish painter and printmaker. My search in Bridgeman Education Library returned many results, mostly watercolour works but also some other techniques, for example oil paintings and woodcuts.

Some of her earlier works looked very modern to me, for example the Still Life with Fish (watercolour, 77.5 x 56 cm, 1972), or the Flowers and Red Table (oil on canvas, 86 x 111 cm, 1969)

There are very delicate watercolour paintings of flowers, for example the Hellebores (1987-88). Sometimes they have extremely fine details, which is revealed when looking from very close (or in large magnification), as in Cat and Flowers (1981).

Like the Cat with Flowers, the Early Spring Anemone (1977) is a compositions that is somewhat lost in space, with its small objects before an essentially empty background. I found more paintings in this style and found them a bit disturbing. It’s as if the objects were too shy to occupy their space. The Camellias (1974) are different: Much more massive, and the objects fill the image space better. I’d have guessed this painting was made later than the Spring Anemones, but the dates indicate the opposite.

I also found a lovely woodcut with Lilies. I’m very interested in printmaking and have experimented a bit with linocuts and simple etchings. So I always like to look at artist’s printwork as well. Via a Google search, I found more prints by Elizabeth Blackadder, for example a lithograph, titled Roman Wall II, Walltown (1960) or the Abessynian Cat, an etching made 2003 at the Glasgow Print Studio.

I also found a really lovely watercolour of a Cat, titled Abessynian Cat Asleep (13.5 x 18.5 cm, 1985). The format is very small, but I double checked and it’s correct. The closeup picture shows the dark pencil underdrawing. I find this interesting because it certainly helped to build up the shapes, yet it does not disturb in the slightest the overall impression. It even adds another dimension which I like.

The link to Elizabeth Blackadders works which I was given for reference by my tutor points to a blog entry which presents an impressive variety in Elizabeth Blackadder’s works. One wouldn’t think that these were all made by the same artist.

The pointer to the Dragon Fruit watercolour was supposed to illustrate the intensity that is possible with watercolours. At the time, I tended to use watercolours in very pale washes, and looking at the painting, I realized that I was missing out much of the appeal of watercolour paintings. I remember that I was quite impressed seeing this painting. It had a good effect – I think that my application of colour has improved, and I’m beginning to get really intense tones and strong contrasts in my paintings. Still some way to go to achieve that kind of delicacy that I see in Blackadder’s (and other’s works), but I’m on my way!

Sources

Dragon Fruit watercolour: http://pinkpagodastudio.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/dame-elizabeth-blackadder.html

Roman Wall II, Walltown (1960): http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blackadder-roman-wall-ii-walltown-p06038

Abessynian Cat (etching, 2003): http://www.glasgowprintstudio.co.uk/Shop/DisplayPrint/4?requestType=eArtistPage

Abessynian Cat Asleep: http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20487/lot/65/

More artists: Winslow Homer

I first came across Winslow Homer through another note in the Jackson’s Art Supplies Blog at the occasion of the artist’s birthday. Winslow Homer was an American Painter, he lived 1836-1910. The blog featured a beautiful painting of a peasant working, standing in front of a wheat field in a burning deep yellow orange tone.

Winslow Homer 1865 the-veteran-in-a-new-field

The veteran in a new field, 1865

I briefly looked at some other paintings and read the wikipedia article, but did not find the time to post to my watercolour blog. Maybe this was because in that first encounter, I couldn’t detect a direct relationship to my watercolour practice.

This changed recently when I made a brief tour to the Barnes & Noble Arts and Craft book department, in search of some books on art quilting. I was already on my way out when I saw the book “Winslow Homer Watercolours”, A4 landscape format, presented on a table.

Stunning watercolours inside. The seaside, boats, blue skies, palm trees, women, wildlife nature scenes. Bright and intense colours, watercolour chance effects yet clearly defined shapes. And there is so much light in them. I loved these.

I selected some for inclusion in my blog. There were so many more I liked. Those I selected had something I found important for my current learning. I have been doing this research while working on the Preparation & Practice project of Part 3. A recurring theme is the style in which I apply watercolour – from dense and opaque to very light. I found the dense and compact style not appropriate for watercolours and am in the process of learning how to achieve intense colours, but maintain the fluency and lightness of the medium. Another topic is shape. In Winslow Homers works I found a mixture of defined shapes and areas where the colours flow in an impressionistic manner. Somehow this holds the painting neatly together and contrasts to other artists, for example Emil Nolde, where the flowing of colours in a wet-in-wet technique is clearly dominant.

Scenes in the woods

What I found important

– the clearly defined shapes in front of the more impressionistic and loose background, for example the hunter figures and the edges of their little boat on the water. Or the two boys before the loosely painted greenery, but it is also in the scene with the hunter.
– the inclusion of very dark tones, as these make the lights come out so brightly
– the oak trees, for their depiction of foliage masses in lighter and darker tones without painting leaf details

Water and seaside

The boat on a lake (Sketch for “Hound and Hunter”, 1892): The strong contrast of light and dark on the water surface, clear shapes of the boat, impressionistic and very dark background

Bahamas Hurricane: Captured how powerful the wind torments the palm trees, and the shapes of the houses are so nicely painted: They are set together as clearly defined shapes with softly varied tonal structure. Interesting change of palette colour to intense green tones.

The sailboats (Nassau II): I love how the shapes of bones and cannons are painted, with clear outlines but fluidity of tone within the shape.

The water and sky (Incoming Tide 1883 and Salt Kettle Bermuda, 1899). I find them masterly painted and just want to look and see what I’ll say when it comes to making my own first attempts.

And then

– The new novel (1877): The reclining girl reading a book so focused as if nothing else in the world existed. This intense orange-red before the dark background, and the soft traits in the face.

– A Wall, Nassau: The red flowers of the bush and how they contrast to the soft blue sky in the background. The clean shapes of the wall post tops and the wall contours, with flowing colour variations within the wall shapes.

Concluding remarks

To summarize, I’m totally enthused by these watercolours, as they seem to combine everything I’ve discovered as elements that I like in watercolour paintings: Intensity of colour, fluidity, strong contrasts, clear shapes but not finicky with details. This gives a lot of direction for what I will be aiming for in my own works.

Actually it didn’t surprise my that Winslow Homer was said to be one of the most influential American painters. What surprised me was that I hadn’t known anything about this painter before.

Sources

Winslow Homer Watercolours, by Nicolai Cikovsky Jr. (Ed.), Universe 2013

National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.)
http://www.nga.gov/feature/homer/homerintro.htm

Metropolitan Museum of Art
http://www.metmuseum.org/TOAH/hd/homr/hd_homr.htm
(not the most interesting paintings here)

Complete image gallery of works
http://www.winslow-homer.com/

More artists: John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent was an American painter, he lived from 1856 to 1925. He was born in Florence to American parents, he grew up in Europe and traveled a lot from childhood on. I found him when I was searching for watercolour exhibitions in New York. His watercolours were presented in an exhibition in the Brooklyn Museum last Summer, but unfortunately I missed it. The exhibition showed 93 works by John Singer Sargent, predominantly watercolours created between 1901 and 1911, plus 9 oil paintings.

I liked the watercolours presented at the exhibition website for their very spontaneous and varied style, for example here the bridge of sighs. I researched a little further and found more beautiful watercolours and oil paintings.

The painting that caught me was the enchanting “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose” (1885-1886). There is a wonderful effect of the warm coloured light of the lanterns against the white dresses of the two girls and the lilies and other flowers. A wonderful painting full of atmosphere. Technically I’m admiring how Sargent painted the blue grass in the foreground. Maybe this is easier to do with oils, since that medium permits to add light colours over a dark background. This compositional element is something with which I struggle when using watercolours. But the light and colour effect of the lanterns might work beautifully in watercolour as well.

I wonder how someone could paint this from memory without using a photograph – is it possible to compose such a painting from just preparatory sketches and memory? Sargent certainly did not have the two girls standing for hours until he’d finish the painting!

I also liked the oil painting “A street in Venice”, which has several sister paintings of street views in Venice. There’s something very modern and timeless in this painting, and again the use of light is very impressive. The narrow pathway between two houses almost unlit, with the two figures in dark tones, are intensely contrasting to the house front in the background in bright sunlight. I find this modern in that it is so casually painted, focussing on the essence and leaving out unneccessary details.

For a closer look on Sargent’s watercolours, I chose “A siesta”, depicting two girls lying in the grass beneath an umbrella, resting. Again I find the treatment of light very impressive – the entirely white top of the umbrella, and the transparent tones of the women’s clothes made me recognize that this is watercolour, not an oil painting.

Finally I selected the Palms watercolour. I like how the palm tops are composed of colours and the characteristic marks of the palm leaves. The palm tops are in a beautiful contrast to the intensely blue background sky. There’s glaring sunlight captured in this painting.

When I compare this to my recent study of greens outside (the Tudor Park studies), I see that Sargent depicted trees convincingly without painting the exact individual leaves. This is something I suspected to work but didn’t dare to try out.

I have an idea of painting the characteristic elements of trees and plants together without actually copying what a camera would produce, by just by painting the features together and then the observer’s brain will combine the elements to see the whole. This would be consistent with a looser style and is one of the paths I’d like to explore further – besides doing detailed studies to train my eye and develop technical skills of accurate representation.

I’m quite happy that I found another American painter to whom I can relate, because I find making the first steps towards exploring American art difficult: There are so many artists, where am I going to begin, and what are my selection criteria? It will probably take some time until I become oriented in the history of American art and my choices become less dependent on chance.

Now if I could also be successful in the original aim of finding watercolour exhibitions in the New York area, that would be great!

Sources
Brooklyn Museum John Singer Sargent exhibition page, with teacher resources to download http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/sargent_watercolors/#

Website with complete works online http://www.johnsingersargent.org/

More artists: Shirley Trevena

I found this artist by following a link on Jackson’s Art Supplies Blog pointing to an article about Pat Tinsley, a British mixed media artist – where the hint on Shirley Trevena as a “Risk-Taking Watercolourist” was. I like risk taking and think it would be good for me, so I followed up and was off my feet about what I saw then.

Shirley Trevena’s a contemporary British watercolour artist in her fifties or sixties I’d guess. Her style is very interesting for me, and I’d love to learn how to use watercolours like this. I love the intensity of the colours and find the compositions very interesting. I spent much time looking at the paintings in the article and also on Shirley Trevena’s website. I can’t even say which of the paintings is my favourite, I like them all. This was just after I had finished my series of green bottle mixing studies and it made me realize how much I still have to learn.

There are also DVDs and books by the artist. I watched the trailers on YouTube, and I think demonstrations like these are really missing in the OCA course materials. It is one thing to read the instruction “be experimental” and something else to watch an artist using colours in an experimental way. I find the videos highly instructive, not because I want to copy someone else’s style but to be inspired from seeing what’s possible with the medium. I had the same impression from looking at the videos presenting Chris Forsey’s work about whom I wrote in an earlier Blog article. I’ll probably treat me a DVDs for Chrismas, because it’s such a pleasure watching, and I think I can learn a lot from them.

Shirley Trevena also participated in the Patchings Festival with a demonstration. It might be a good idea to search for Art Festivals in the New York area, maybe something similar is available over here as well.

Sources

Jackson’s Art Blog presenting Shirley Trevena http://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2013/11/29/getting-to-know-risk-taking-watercolourist-shirley-trevena/

Shirley Trevena Web Site http://www.shirleytrevena.com/

Patchings Art Centre, Organizers of the Patchings Festival http://www.patchingsartcentre.co.uk/

Selected paintings by Shirley Trevena, titles in the order of appearance:

– Blue still life with black screens
– Brown jug of magnolias
– Red flowers on a black table
– Red-r red Amaryllis
– Table top with blue vase

Blue still life with black screens

Brown jug of magnolias

Red flowers on a black table

Red red Amaryllis

Table top with blue vase

More artists: William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Bouguereau was mentioned on the Jackson’s Art Supplies Blog, at the occasion of his birthday on 30 November. Bouguereau was a French painter, he lived from 1825 to 1905. He became very successful during his lifetime for his realistic painting style, but fell out of favour later when impressionists became en vogue. I followed up this artist because I was intrigued by the paintings, although I’m having difficulty to tell what fascinated me.

Bouguereau mostly produced oil paintings, with mostly depicting female models. Looking at these it reminded me again of one particular difference between oil painting, or opaque techniques, and watercolour: With opaque techniques, the lighter colours can be put on top of the darker colours. What I find very difficult with watercolours is that one has to analyse in advance where the lightest areas are to leave them out, and go from lighter to darker colours. I often feel the tendency to work into both directions, from light to dark and vice versa, and the general watercolour work rule feels quite restrictive.

The artrenewal.org web site offers high resolution reproductions which are nice for studying how the details are painted. I may not make so much use of this for the watercolour course because of the technical differences, but it’s interesting to study these paintings as if I was in a museum, where I can go very close to the canvas.

I think what captured me here was how these oil paintings exemplified the difference between the two media. It wouldn’t be possible to create this impression of massiveness with watercolours – watercolours (for me) are supposed to be light and transparent, at the same time they can be very intense.

Sources

Complete works online: http://www.bouguereau.org

High-resolution reproductions , eg avant le bain (1900) from http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artwork.php?artworkid=4896&size=huge

Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William-Adolphe_Bouguereau

Extended gallery at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/William-Adolphe_Bouguereau

More artists: Claudia Hutchins-Puechavy and John Salmon

Looking at Claudia Hutchins-Puechavy (USA, contemporary), I was following advice by my tutor who recommended her watercolours as good examples how loose application of watercolour, where the medium has the room to do something on its own, rather than the painter controlling everything.

And yes, this is definitely a direction that I like and would aim to explore further. I selected more still life watercolours by Claudia Hutchins as a reminder of how the intensity and transparency of watercolours can be brought out in a painting.

I also looked at the landscapes. Again I recognize that lightness in approach, and this is something I admire. I also found that my tutor was right that some of my own watercolours had a bit of this lightness, for example my first attempts at sketching the trees in central park – where I abandoned the scene disheartened because I was completely unsatisfied with what I’d done. So on the one hand, I recognized the particular quality of the light approach, on the other hand there was something which did not satisfy me, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Maybe something like “lack of definition” in what was depicted. It puzzled me that I liked the style so much, but at the same time wondered why I found the outcome less convincing.

It was only a few days later that I came a bit closer to understanding why I had reservations. This was when I discovered John Salmon’s watercolours.

John Salmon (UK, contemporary)

I can’t remember what I was actually searching for but I landed on John Salmon’s Website through a link to tips for framing artwork. I saved that link for reference because I found his recommendations very helpful. For example, he recommends leaving decent space around the artwork, like 3 inches on either side of a 7 x 5 inch watercolour, and explains why it’s important to use acid-free boards.

Then I had a closer look at John Salmon’s watercolours, in particular the traditional style landscapes. They are quite small, mostly 7 x 5 inches or 9 x 12 inches. I was intrigued by the beautiful colours, at the same time I couldn’t help finding the paintings kitsch. This puzzled me, because again there was a technique and style I liked, but the outcome did not really convince me.

John Salmon provides videos of how he paints some of the little landscapes, and I found these very interesting to watch and learn, for example

For a wet-in-wet technique, soaking the paper and letting it dry a bit until the shine is gone.
To my amazement, the colours mixed nicely on the paper, they didn’t bleed nor produce water flowers (which happens to me all the time)
Colour intensity was just right – beginning with lighter tones and getting gradually more intense and using darker tones. Again, mysteriously enough, the darker colours didn’t bleed into the lighter colours, although they were applied wet-in-wet.
Using really big water containers, like 2 l bucket with low rim – they look like inexpensive potato salad buckets. I love inexpensive equipment! And this is much more appropriate than the small water glasses I use
He has a sponge next to the area which is used for taking up excess water from the brush
He uses a rigger for smaller branches of the trees! That’s something I should adopt but haven’t so far. For example, I realized in my Carl Schurtz Park painting that my brush was too big for the fine branches, but it didn’t occur to me that I might use a finer brush…

Now here are some examples for the traditional landscapes. I really like the play of colours, the fading of tones towards the backgrounds, the irregular shapes of the trees, and how organic these paintings look like.

It was while watching the videos that I began to understand why I also had some problems with them.

– Composition. Most of the landscape compositions seem to have been built on the “Some light at the end of the tunnel”-principle. There’s a central, round or oval light area which represents the light, far distance, and it is framed by trees and bushwork which gets darker and darker towards the edges of the painting. This creates something like a tunnel view, with the foreground like a dark ring around the mid-ground in lighter colours and the light background.

The compositional principle is nice to bring out the technique, but it tends to become monotonous and one has the feeling that all paintings are the same, even if the motif and colours change.

– Representation. Then there were the trees – watching the videos I became aware that John Salmon knows “how to paint trees” – the pattern of thicker stems with thinner branches and finer side branches. He just paints them so quickly, without hesitation, and they look indeed like trees. I realized that by contrast, I don’t know how to paint trees – when I look at a tree, I see a confusing wildness of branches running in all directions, and the strong contrasts of dark branches against a lighter background (at least in autumn when there’s not too much foliage).

When I try to paint this, I typically loose correspondence to the branch I was painting as soon as my eyes switch from the tree onto the paper and back to the tree. The difference is amazing – John Salmon’s trees look like trees, but they resemble each other very much. By contrast, my trees don’t look very much like trees…

So if I were to make a recommendation, I’d say John Salmon’s oeuvre would benefit if he’d develop towards tree individuation, to get more overall diversity in his trees and also in his compositions. And for my trees, I think I should
– use a finer brush for the finer branches, or take care to be more delicate when using a big brush
– maybe try to keep my eyes on the branch while painting, and switching views only to make the start for the next branch – this might help to get the branches as recognizable shapes. I’m not sure, will have to practice and try out.

I’m discussing John Salmon’s watercolours together with those of Claudia Hutchins, because they provided me with an idea what I found lacking in Claudia Hutchins watercolours. I knew hers were not kitsch, and I liked her loose and energetic style, but in comparison with John Salmon’s paintings I found her colours at times too faint and the shapes not worked out enough.

In particular, this is something on which I’d improve on in my own watercolours: Increase colour intensity, yet have some more definition in the shapes and “fill the paper” like John Salmon does.

Sources

Claudia Hutchins artist website http://claudiahutchins.com/

John Salmon artist website (see traditional watercolours) http://johnsalmonwatercolours.co.uk/

More artists: Contemporary American watercolour paintings

It may seem strange, but I’m in New York since 6 months and somehow have great difficulties finding exhibitions to visit and artists to study. One hurdle to visiting exhibitions is the price tag: Museum admission is 20$ on average, and student tariff typically only for US full time students. There’s friday with “pay what you want” admission, but this means waiting in long lines at the entrance and really crowded places. I became a Whitney Museum member when I visited the Edward Hopper Exhibition, this costs $80 but includes free admission to all exhibitions for an entire year. Unfortunately it’s only for this single museum, and current exhibitions seem to focus on modern American art in which I’m less interested. I’ll certainly explore the permanent exhibition in more depth in the weeks and months to come, but it means that I’ll have to do some research where I might view more traditional style artwork.

I already started to search Google for “American Painters” and have done some research on Georgia O’Keeffe in the context of my drawing blog, but I’m definitely lacking orientation in American art. So I had the idea of looking particularly for “American watercolour artists” to see what would come up. This was also with the intention of connecting to the place where I live now, and overcoming my own “Europe-centeredness”.

The American Watercolour Society

My first resource to explore was at the American Watercolour Society (AWS). Established in 1866, they’re holding an annual contest which is open for international contributors. The 147th Annual international exhibition will be in New York at the Salmagundi Club, New York City from April 1 – April 20, 2014, and I’ll certainly go visiting! As a note for myself: The exhibition CD is also available on microfiche and can be viewed in the New York Public Library, in Midtown: The New York Public Library, 42nd Street & Fifth Avenue, Room 106M, New York, New York 10018 (Phone: 212-930-0839)

After some browsing through the website, I finally discovered the 2013 selection online and the listing of 32 watercolour artists who have been awarded a price. Although I had the impression that most of the works were more or less naturalistic and realistic representation was a highly valued, the jury selected winners in a variety of styles. There are naturalistic, photorealistic, abstract, naïve and experimental works among the selection. I was glad about this because it makes me feel that there’s room for explorations into different directions in my own practice, I don’t have to focus on trying to paint as (photo-) realistic as possible.

It was very interesting to look through the works and observing my own responses. I liked some more and some less, but found they were all on a very high technical skill level. I selected five as my favourites, and from the remainder five more which evoked positive as well as negative responses, which I found helpful to locate myself in art space.

The image sizes on the website presentation were given without dimensions, so I was constantly wondering whether the typical size of 30 x 27 for paintings referred to cm (roughly A4 size) or inches (large format of around 75 x 67 cm). The Watercolour Society is a US association, so the dimension would naturally be inches, but I really don’t know whether I can assume that all these watercolours were in such large formats.

My five favourites

I cannot tell which one of the would be number 1, they are all very particular and I like them for different reasons.

Sandeep Chhatraband, Maharashtra India, Lamini Road (30 x 27)

I like this one for its colours and the lively atmosphere it creates. There are very fade blue tones in the distance and colour intensity increases towards the foreground. The street lights in their diminishing sizes also give hints about the space dimensions. The artist lives in India and this painting makes India come alive to me. At the same time, I find the painting style very British and would guess the painter had a British watercolour teacher or has studied art in Britain.

I was fascinated by the effect of the few orange, red and intense blue spots in the otherwise grey-brown tonality. I also like the sketchiness of the marks for details of houses, people and other objects. It looks like a very intuitive and fast painting and I admire this. Compared to my own work, I’m only beginning to discover the effects of watercolour and realize how much visual analysis is required to achieve the effect I want. I’d like to take on board how things are not pronounced in all their explicit detail, but suggested by little marks that bring across the pattern of light and shade.

George James, Costa Mesa CA, The Story of Mira (30 x 27)

This looks like several paintings in one, maybe it was a study from life with several views of the figure on the same sheet of paper. I like the sketchyness and imperfection and the transpareny of the colour layers. The soft rose and beige tones correspond well to the feminity of the figure, without going towards kitsch. I’d guess the painter has a background in professional illustration, because the style reminds me of what I’ve seen elsewhere in graphic design books.

John Salminen, Duluth MN, April in Central Park (36 x 36)

It’s difficult to tell the time of day in this painting, because there are so many dark colours, nevertheless there’s also a very intense light. I like the broken colours and again the sketchiness. The figures are separated by light contours from the background, this is something I’d like to master and incorporate in my own paintings. I also like how the trees are depicted. I think I mostly chose this one for its colours and living in New York, I can connect to New York locations as painting motifs. There’s also something about the atmosphere, people enjoying themselves in the city park.

Frank Webb, Pittsburgh PA, Boatyard (28 x 36)

I found this painting particularly interesting because of the simplicity of its forms. Certainly the original motif was full of complex tiny details and these have been cleared into basic forms of boats and the two people. I also like how the colours are mixing on the paper. I think this is a little masterpiece, capturing the idea of seaside and intense glazing sunlight. What I would like to take home is the simplifying view on complex objects.

Antonio Masi, Garden City NJ, Morning’s Work (40 x 26)

I love this one for the motif and again for the sketchyness in representation. I think this is depicting one of the huge steel bridges connecting the Manhattan Island to its neighborhood. Some of them are also subway transportation lines and I was enormously impressed by the heavy construction and the amount of steel used to build them. They must date from the Eiffelturm aera and for me, heavy steel construction is something very typical for New York. Then the yellow cabs which can be seen everywhere, they are almost as numerous as private cars in Manhattan. I like the colour contrast between the dark blue steel construction and the road against the yellow cabs and their red lights. I also like the sense of movement created by the blurriness of the upper railroad construction beams. So I think this is a very New Yorkish painting because it captures that speedy urban life thing.

Other works

Linda Baker, Charleston SC, Afternoon Breeze (22 x 22)

I found this painting interesting because of the motif. In the context of the Subject Choices Exercise, I had been reflecting on what is essential about the afternoon light and how a painting with “afternoon” in the title should capture something of this. My own photograph had been taken after noon, but the lighting did not really convey this.
Now this painting has something of the quality I thought about when referring to afternoon light. It might have been a late afternoon on a sunny day, and it is captured in the colours and the shapes of the light and shade areas.

Christine Krupinski, Fairfax VA, Lemons, Limes, and a Glass Bowl (30 x 22)

This painting made me speechless and perplexed because of the perfect photorealistic depiction. It is nothing I’m aspiring to master but I’m nevertheless intrigued that there are people who are actually able to paint an arrangement as if they were creating a photograph. My reservations with this are related to the question of where the personal voice and the particular artistic perception are. As I understand it, the idea of making art implies bringing out something personal and as such is different from the goal of replicating what a camera is able to do. So I’d rather not develop into this direction.

William Vrscak, Pittsburgh PA, The Alley (22 x 22)

This is a motif I like, it looks like a small town scene somewhere in the middle west of the United States, on a hot summer day. Technically I found the colour changes in the washes very interesting. For example, the green trees in the foreground and how they incorporate very light to very dark green tones. But also the different violet tones of the buildings to the right. As opposed to the street scene in India, the details of elements are painted rather than suggested.
After looking for some time at the painting, I realized that this must have been made from a photo which was slightly tilted to one side, because the vertical lines are not perpendicular to the ground. I’m quite sure that had the artist painted on the spot, the verticals would have been correct. I’m intrigued why the artist did not correct for the tilt in his photo source. It reminds me of one of the problematic aspects of using photos as a source for painting.

Elaine Bowers, Sacramento CA, Delta Reflections (22.25 x 22.25)

This picture caught me with its intense green tones and the unusual view from very high. The painting was probably also based on a photo source rather than just sketches and memory, maybe pictures shot from a helicopter or sailplane. The painting is very realistic and evokes personal memories of other vies from above on the pattern of fields, forests and occasional rivers.
I have some objections against the composition, because the section of the viewpoint feels too small. There’s nothing of the width of natural views on landscape in it – the vast sky, the extension of earth towards the horizon, the extreme loss of detail and colour intensity at the far distance. The image focus is on the S-curve of the river and accurate representation of colours, details and shades including the sky and tree reflections on the water surface, but for me, something very essential to landscape painting is missing.

Janet Campbell, Bloomingburg NY, Session Break (13.5 x 20)

I chose this one because I found the colour areas interesting, the contrast between the dark violet background tones and the yellow-orange upper clothing of the figure. I also like how how the white background contrasts to the upper silhouette of the figure.
I was wondering about the technique that was used for the linear elements of stool legs, it looks a bit like a resist technique. This must be an interesting painting to view in real.

Concluding remarks

I wasn’t aware of it while making the selection of my favourites, but I now realize that there is a common denominator in that I seem to value sketchiness and suggestion to create a realistic impression with a distinct atmosphere, rather than attempts of mastering skills of photorealism with watercolours. I’m also attracted by interesting colour compositions that can depart from what was actually in the scene. I value this research because it provides some orientation for my own watercolours, and I think it will influence how I approach the second painting in the exercise on subject choices. My first painting for that series was guided by my aim to depict at least moderately realistic the scene with the house, and I feel that I may have overworked the painting a bit so the freshness of the watercolour medium got lost. That said, I still like it for its colourfulness and the motif. It’s rather that I’d like to shift the emphasis towards a lighter approach with details worked out differently – maybe a bit sketchier, maybe with the “few layer” approach instead of the “work until you get it right” approach. This is not a problem of course instructions or tutor advice – I think both support the lighter and bolder approach. It is more a matter of overcoming my own tendency of being to tense with the motif and its details.

With these thoughts about some contemporary American (and international) watercolours I will pause the research for now. I’m glad that I found this resource as a first approach to contemporary American watercolour artists. My Google search brought up many more interesting links and I think I’ll get back to these and explore some more as time permits. Maybe I’ll also research the my five favourites or some of the others in more depth to see how the selected work for the 2013 contest relates to the artists’ other works.

References

The American Watercolour Society: http://www.americanwatercolorsociety.org/

2013 selection online, listing of 32 watercolour artists who have been awarded a price: http://www.americanwatercolorsociety.org/a_awards.php?year=2013

OCA Watercolour 1

Original

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