Boats at Anchor by John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent loved to paint the luminous effect of the water bouncing off of the hulls of boats in a harbor. He would get in a small boat and paint at almost water level boats in harbors from around the world. His works were executed in bold, strong colors with varying degrees of light colors to distinguish the hulls of the boats. He liked to paint on white paper, leaving portions of it showing for the extreme highlights. The diagonals of this scene draw you upward and inward from left to right and the large area of light color in the hulls are offset by strong dark contrasts in the water and the bridge. I particularly like the color mix of warm and cool, strong and light and also the bold brush strokes.

Winslow Homer and Watercolor

Winslow Homer was an oil painter, but he was also known for being one of the best watercolor artists of all time. This watercolor, Boys and Kitten, was done on a summer working vacation in Gloucester, Mass. It is one of my favorites. His brushwork was fluid and the colors saturated, no doubt influenced by his career in illustration.
The subject matter of many of his paintings over the summer of 1873, that of children as they played, was one that he only touched on when painting with oils. His watercolors in Gloucester were also different from his previous work, the brush strokes are more free, less finished, with sharp patterns and distinctive light and shadows. This painting in particular almost divides the light from dark in half, with the left side being  mostly light, the right, mostly dark, but the shadow pointing toward the subject matter.
He also started to use white gouache to separate the lights and darks. In fact, he applied opaque color in many of the watercolors of this period, building up from dark to light as if working with oil colors. It's a very interesting technique.

Photo from the book, American Traditions in Watercolor, The Worcester Art Museum Collection

Andrew Wyeth's "The Rope"

When Andrew Wyeth moved to Maine, his work reflected the rustic, quiet and simple life of farming and open fields. His subjects were the instruments of the land and his neighbors Christina and Alvaro Olson, who were brother and sister. Alvaro was a fisherman and loved the sea, but when his father was too ill from arthritis to farm, Alvaro came home to take care of him and his crippled sister, Christina. Alvaro hated farming.

Wyeth’s paintings always tell a story. They pull you in emotionally to a scene, and invite interpretation. The Rope is a painting that on many emotional levels tells the story of Alvaro’s life and the unfortunate decision that took him away from fishing and the sea. Items from his life as a fisherman juxtapose with his life on the farm. The picture shows the dory stored in the haymow, a chicken crate that looks like a lobster trap sits on top, and nearby, a scythe sits on top of the clamming hod. The rope resembles a noose but also the pulley lines of a lobster boat.
Wyeth used a number of basic techniques when painting. He employed Sgraffito to some areas, scratching out top color to get at the paint underneath, and used his finger to smudge paint in others. This gave his paintings a raw look that emulated the hard farmer’s life. When Alvaro’s father died, and a year later, Alvaro and his sister died, Wyeth stopped painting the Olson farm. He said, “Without Alvaro and Christina, it’s just an object, nothing more-interesting perhaps, but not emotionally interesting.”

John Trumbull and Artistic License

I was watching an HBO movie on John Adams over the weekend. At one point, the movie showed a scene where John Trumbull presented the painting that he did of the signing of the Declaration of Independence to John Adams. I think that he was expecting a positive response, however, he was disappointed. Adams pointed out that when the Declaration of Independence was signed, there was no assembly of men to witness the event. Signers came and went individually or in small groups, almost surreptitiously. So, Adams was a bit put out that Trumbull took artistic license with this. After all, he was a stickler for detail and historical accuracy.
It is a good example of an artist taking artistic license with history, and in my opinion, it went too far. I am all for adding or deleting items that might improve a composition, but in this case because paintings were historic depictions of events during this time in history, it implied false information about the event to the American people.
John Trumbull was an American artist during the time of the Revolutionary war. He painted many scenes of wartime activities and statesmen and was known for his historical paintings.
This painting is hanging in the Rotunda of the US capitol.

Color and Aerial Perspective in the Sky

The sky itself, the lightest element in a picture, has different gradations, which causes variations in color and value from its highest point to the horizon. The reason for this is that the atmosphere for the sky at its highest point is the shortest distance with the clearest view. At the horizon, since the distance is longer, there are more “sheets” of atmospheric particles made up of gases between our eyes and the horizon. Like the colors of a rainbow, the zenith is a violet blue, as your eye turns toward the horizon, it changes to a truer blue, then a green-blue, a yellowish green, and finally a small strip of smoky warm rose nearest to the horizon, all the while lightening in value.  

An exception to this is sunrise and sunset, where the horizon takes on more oranges, reds, and purples because of the sun.

The above picture is an exaggeration of the color changes in the sky under sunny conditions.

Aerial Perspective

Aerial Perspective is the change in appearance on items brought on by atmospheric conditions and its effect on color distinction, contrast, value, and hue. The atmosphere is made up of varying densities of gases composed of water particles that are perpetually suspended, similar to a mist. These gases act like slices of films rather than a solid body that collect in layers between our eyes and the distant horizon. The more slices of films between us and the horizon, the more it will affect the hue, contrast, and strength of the items in the distance.  It is said that all colors become cooler as they recede from the eye, except white.  Cooler means that colors take on more blue as the distance increases.
For blue to increase, some colors must decrease. The first hue to decrease is yellow. Yellow alone and in mixtures such as brown, green, and orange, decreases as the distance increase, while violets and blues increase in intensity. For very long distances, such as those found in the mountains and large open spaces of the western United States, after the loss of yellow, reds will then also decrease and blues will finally prevail. Along with the change of hues, all things will become lighter in value as they recede from the eye.  
What this means to an artist is that care should be taken to paint the nearer scenery darkest and most powerful in color and have more yellow and red, while items near the horizon should be painted in lighter values, and contain more blue, and less yellow, and desaturated reds. Edges should be softer, contrasts less distinctive. Whites, the exception, get warmer and darker as they recede.

This is my painting of Camden, Maine, from the park overlooking the harbor. The nearest trees were bright with autumn colors, but as the landscape recedes, the colors become lighter and the yellows start to disappear. The far horizon colors are purples and blues, devoid of all yellow.

Artist Reception, Woodbridge Library

On Saturday, December 11, I had an artist reception at the Woodbridge Town Library, in Woodbridge, CT. It was a nice day, and I suspect that there were a lot of people out shopping for Christmas. I brought cupcakes, cheese and crackers, and drinks. A steady stream of visitors came by to see the 21-piece collection of paintings and to visit, so it was a nice time. I took advantage of the time to explain my art to some interested viewers, and I think that they appreciated it.

It’s important to educate the public about art and about your style and process. For example, I prefer to stretch and prepare my own canvas and linen, and my own boards. It takes time, but it is worth it to me. My style has evolved to become modern impressionist, influenced by some modern painters in the New England area and by European and American art of the 19th and 20th centuries.

While it is certainly a challenge, I also prefer to paint outdoors whenever possible, en plein air. There’s just nothing like the aroma of a soft summer breeze over a wild country field, the deep earthy dampness and pine scent of a New England woods, and the fresh ocean breeze rushing in to the shore. It really sets the mood for a painting and I think that my paintings are more successful when I am able to be on location. Sure, you have to deal with strong winds, sudden rain, and frigid temperatures sometimes, but you can also experience the warm, gorgeous sunny days that make you never want to stop painting.

While I didn’t make a sale at my reception, I did get a tip about a gallery to check out in a nearby town. A trip to the gallery on Sunday proved to be promising. I will go back on another day and speak with the owner about representing my art.

I consider it a successful reception, all in all. It was fun visiting with people and talking about art, and I was able to get some helpful feedback about my work and my progress. The library will continue to exhibit my paintings until December 30th in their beautiful meeting room. If you are in the area, come by and see it.