MacConnal-Mason Gallery

Montague Dawson, A Roll to Loo'ard, 1956

David James, The Morning Tide, 1898

Philip Sadee, Bringing in the Catch, 1879

These works are for sale at the MacConnal-Mason fine art gallery in London:
www.macconnal-mason.com

Reading

Rowland Wheelwright, A Quiet Moment.
Charles Sprague Pearce, Reading by the Shore, c1883-1885
Sir William Orpen, Grace Reading at Howth Bay.

People on the Beach

Elihu Veder, Greek Girls Bathing.
Frederik Hendrik Kaemmerer, A Beach Stroll.
Gabriel-Charles Deneux, Les peintres de retour du Mont Saint-Michel.
Frederick A Bridgman, Seaweed Gatherers.
Thomas Cooper Gotch, The Sand Bar.
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These painters have used figures to great effect in enlivening their beachscapes. Rods and pitchforks carried by the figures add diagonal linear elements. Clothing is also an opportunity to introduce some red or dark accents to contrast with the neutral coloured surf and sand.

Beachcombing

The Sea Hath Its Pearls, by William Henry Margetson, hangs in my local art gallery, the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The AGNSW has a large collection of Victorian art, and is well worth a visit if you are in this neck of the woods.

Note the border of tessellated crabs on the gilded frame.

The round, port-hole-like format suits marine-themed paintings.

Zen Sand

Through it's encounter with Japanese art, in the late nineteenth century, the western seascape began to exhibit characteristics of Zen-inspired painting: simplicity, empty space and quiet, subdued tones.  Norwegian/Danish painter Peder Krøyer captured the luminous emptiness of sandy expanses at Skagen, Denmark, where a community of Danish and Nordic artists gathered, especially during the final decades of the 19th century. Krøyer was the unofficial leader of the group.

A Zen contemplative mood persists in contemporary marines such as this work by the Australian painter Peter Churcher (lower image).

Pattern

Stephen Strickland is based in the Southern US.

Top: Boarder's Beach
Bottom: Packing Up 2, 30 x 30 inches

The visual possibilities of figurative representations repeated over and over to make texture and the puzzle-like effects of positive and negative shapes are significant to me. This configuration made from an aerial view gives me the freedom to see the abstract, two dimensional arrangement of parts to a whole.

- From the artist's website

Happy New Year!

Jeffrey Larson,
16 x 12 inches

Those inexperienced with tonal painting, would probably be afraid to use the very dark tones seen in the figures (the arms and shadows in the blond hair are almost black)  but they are critical to producing, through contrast, the effect of brilliant light reflecting off the foam.

It's a useful exercise to look at the different tones in an image in isolation from each other. You'll be surprisied, maybe even shocked, at how much darker or lighter the isolated tones really are compared to their appearance in the whole image. You can use a piece of opaque paper with a small hole in it, or, with digital images, use the eye-dropper tool in PhotoShop to sample tones and hues.

Jeffrey T Larson - American

Wading, 16 x 12 inches

Loose calligraphic strokes are perfect for capturing elusive reflections in the shallow water.

Laura Knight - English

The Fishing Fleet

The Bathing Pool

Charles William Wyllie 1853-1923

Digging for Bait

Imitator of Thomas Couture

Caught by the Tide, National Gallery, London

William Edward Norton - American 1843-1916

On the Coast of Holland, 42 x 34 inches

Ships' masts provide vertical elements to counter the horizontality of the sea. The vertical element provided by the fisherman is extended by his reflection in the wet sand, and provides a visual link from the bottom of the painting through the boat to the top of the composition.  I've noticed that old master seascape painters often make an opening, or lighter area, in the clouds behind the top of a mast. The light tone contrasts with the dark tone of the mast, creating a focus of interest for the viewer's eye - a kind of full stop at the end of the sentence - and also can suggest an extension of the visual path into the infinite.

The intervals between sets of elements should be varied, to create more visual interest. Avoid painting regular spacings (like the posts in a fence) or the scene will appear unnatural. This rule could be broken if the intention is to create a surreal effect.

Midday Light

Neapolitan Children Bathing, 1879, 267 x 413 cm

Very dark, short shadows give the feeling of bright midday sun.

I had incorrectly attributed this work to the Spanish impressionist Sorolla, but it is actually by the American impressionist John Singer Sargent.

Giovanni Fattori - Italian 1825-1908

The Rotunda at Palmieri

Interesting composition with strip of white sunlit sand.

William Lionel Wyllie

Gathering Driftwood, Holland, 1877

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863 - 1923) - Spanish

Promenade


After the Bath


Mallorca

TF Simon - Czechoslovakian

31x47


70x85cm