Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Underwater Marine




Four Leaping Sailfish and Halfbeak, 24 x 43 inches.
Bonefish, Four Bones up with the Tide.


Another sub-genre of marine art is the underwater marine.  
The American artist and illustrator Stanley Meltzoff (1917-2006) was a master of this type of scene, skillfully combining wild-life painting and underwater seascape. He was probably the originator of this genre.

Stanley Meltzoff - Picture Maker


stanleymeltzoff.com

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Women On Deck




















Emanuel Phillips Fox, Australian, The Ferry.
Julius LeBlanc Stewart, American, On the Yacht Namouna, Venice. 
Raoul Du Gardier, White Calm, Telfair Museum.

This is a kind of sub-genre of nautical painting that seems to have been popular in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It had plenty of scope for interesting compositions combining figures, cloth, linear elements (both curving and straight) and seascape.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

A Peaceful Christmas

James Tissot, Christ Asleep During the Storm
Not sure of the medium here. Could be gouache or watercolor, or a combination.


Tissot (French, 1836–1902) is best known for his depictions of fashionable Parisian women (as in the centre image: HMAS Culcutta, painted in 1877, which looks like an oil), but in his later years he turned to illustrating scenes from the Old and New Testament.


The Hull of a Battle Ship (bottom image) definitely looks like an oil.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Decisive Brushstrokes

These plein air studies, by David Simons, work well because the artist has chosen subjects which are simple yet contain interesting shapes and relationships.
Good plein air painting is characterised by decisive brushstrokes - as few as possible to convey the scene - varied to produce interesting patterns. Brushstrokes should follow the form of an object.
Both studies are 16 x 20 inches.




Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Bird's Eye View


The Golden Rose, oil on paper on panel, 2007, 36 x 3ft 12 inches


Farseekers - Journey, oil on paper mounted on masonite, 27 x 32 inches










These illustrations by the New York based artist, Donato Giancola, are striking in their use of aerial perspectives. Though the works are quite large, Giancola has chosen paper mounted on panel for his support. 
When working in fine detail, paper is a good option as it provides a smooth surface unobtainable with canvas without lots of priming, sanded between coats. Paper, however, needs to be mounted on a panel or canvas support, with an archival glue, to prevent buckling and damage. 

Artist's website



Sunday, November 28, 2010

Nacreous Color

 Top: 15.5 x 39.5 inches 

The Circle of the Sea









The American painter (Thomas) Alexander Harrison 1853 - 1930, was best known for his marines. In The Circle of the Sea, he has captured the nacreous (pearly) effect of evening light.

Harrison rented a ramshackle cottage near the Brittany town of Beg-Meil, and each evening raced to the dunes to watch the sun set over the ocean. In late-summer 1896, he was joined there by struggling writer Marcel Proust and composer Reynaldo Hahn. He opened their eyes to how light plays on water:

"We have seen the sea successively turn blood red, purple, nacreous with silver, gold, white, emerald green, and yesterday we were dazzled by an entirely pink sea specked with blue sails."

Hahn is considered the inspiration for the title character in Proust's attempted first novel Jean Santeuil, but another character, "C", seems to be based on Harrison, along with aspects of the character Elstir, the painter in Remembrance of Things Past.

His brother, L. Birge Harrison (1854 -1929), also a painter, particularly successful in snow scenes, was a pupil of the École des Beaux Arts, Paris, under Cabanel and Carolus-Duran. Another brother, Butler Harrison (d. 1886), was a figure painter.