Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Judd Waugh


Tropic Seas, 13.5 x 20 inches


The Caribbean, 30 x 39 cm


Deluge, 48 x 60 inches


Crashing Surf, 25 x 30 inches

Surf and Rocks, 32 x 49 inches


At High Tide, 20 x 24 inches


The Inlet, 18 x 24 inches


The Sea, oil on board, 36 x 49 inches


The Rocky Point, 25 x 30 inches


Crashing Surf, 16 x 20 inches


Breaking Waves, 36.2 x 50.8 cm


Golden Dawn, 40 x 50 inches

Judd Waugh was the most successful painter of seascapes, of his period, in America, and naturally has been much emulated by other artists. Such scenes in the hands of lesser artists have often degenerated into cliche or kitsch. His work needs to be seen in the context of his time.

Franklin Dullin Briscoe 1844-1903


The Cat Boat, 7 x 10 inches

The poetic elegance of simplicity in both image and frame.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Judd Waugh


Full of the Moon


West Shore Provincetown


Late Afternoon 25 x 30 inches


The Great Deep

Resounding Surf, 38 x 48 inches


The Caribbean, 13 x 19 inches

Paul Schulenburg - American


12 x 12 inches

12 x 12 inches

Winslow Homer - American


Long Branch, New Jersey


Eastern Point, Prout's Neck


Cannon Rock


Beach Scene

Two aspects of the seascape: the dark and threatening, and the sunny and playful

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Chris Blossom - American, 1956


32 x 48 inches framed


Reaching for Monhegan, 21 x 25 inches


Schooner Monitor


Heading Out Big


Transfer the Pilot, 22 x 26 inches framed


Lowenstoft Beam Trawler Anthea, 23 x 31 inches





Monday, March 23, 2009

Julian Ashton - English Australian 1851-1942


The Wave, 95 x 274 cm
Art Gallery of NSW
Subtle pink in the sky sets off the emerald green wave.

Rick Amor - Australian 1948-


Seascape


Fire Across the Bay

It's an interesting idea to complement the water element with fire.


Journey, 2007, 116 x 130 cm

Journey is now on display in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. A photo doesn't give much indication of what it's like standing in front of this large, highly glazed painting. It reminded me of old European paintings that have darkened with age and become deep, mysterious and like the twilight world of dreams.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Frederick Judd Waugh - American


Sunrise on Monhegan, 25 x 30 inches


Pounding Surf, 34 x 46 inches


Heavy Waves, 25 x 30 inches

William C Ehrig - American 1892-1969


Emerald Sea, 27 x 37 inches
Composition based on subtle zig-zag movement.

Warren W Sheppard - American 1858-1937


Morning, Strait of Messina, 30 x 55.5 inches

Peter Arguimbau 1951-


Catboat Afternoon, NA, 20 x 35 inches

David Bareford - American 1947-


Brant Point, 24 x 36 inches
With the sunlight at the right angle, water can appear white.

30 x 40 inches
The curves and diagonals of sails, and their reflections or shadows in the water, add greatly to the visual interest of a seascape. Though small, the yellow sails in the distance draw the eye into the painting because they appear as a warm accent on a predominantly cool-coloured image.
.
Outbound, 12 x 24 inches
The bright red in the top half of the painting really sings because of the neutral greens in the lower half. Too bright a green would compete with the red rather than setting it off. The red triangle is such a powerful eye magnet that no other visual interest is required in the top half of the image - The blank, cloudless sky is the right choice.


Montague Dawson - British 1895-1973



Atlantic Packet Albion, 24 x 44 inches

Establishing dark darks and light lights in the tonal range of a painting gives it visual crispness and impact.
A figure or a focus of visual interest (in this case the dark dark on the bow of the ship) is often placed on the right side of a composition, as the eye tends to scan a painting from left to right, which means that an object on the right tends to have greater visual weight. If the ship had been positioned on the left it would give the work a slightly more abrupt and perhaps less pleasing effect. Of course, compositional rules were made to be cleverly broken. The dark dark feature is also located in a golden mean "sweet spot".

Charles R Patterson - American 1878-1958


The Passage Makers, 21 x 26
Two objects on either side of a painting can create a disunified image, but the birds at the top help tie it together.
(See also Manet's beach scene)

Donald Curley - Canadian


Running the Grand Banks, 23 x 35 inches

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Thomas Paquette - American


Cliffs at St. Nons, Pembrokeshire, 9 x 10 inches

Paquette also paints with gouache (an opaque watercolour medium that dries very quickly and does not allow much blending) This seems to have influenced his oil technique. In the work above, areas of of colour are applied almost as a mosaic.
The painting below has the subtlety of a watercolour.

Sky Befalling Skye 2,
38 x 66 inches, oil on linen

Nicholas Chevalier


Cook Straits, New Zealand, c 1884


Tunnel Rock, Cape Schanck, Victoria, 1860s,
30.6 x 47 cm


Pulpit Rock, Cape Schanck, Victoria, 31 x 46.3 cm

The two scenes of the Victorian coast are currently on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Chevalier was a Swiss painter and explorer, born in Russia, who worked in England and Australia.