Dynamic Viewing

I just found out about the dynamic viewing feature introduced by Blogger. You just type the word "view" at the end of the URL in the address bar above and then the blog appears with a drop down menu offering different ways of seeing the posts, including a mosaic or flip cards of thumbnail images from the whole site. This sure beats going through the whole blog page by page to browse the images. Try it. Might not work if you have an older browser.

Here's what the flipcard option looks like:

Sunlight through fog

Here's a link to an article about William Ritschel and his ability to capture the iridescent effect of sunlight through fog, a condition often found on the west coast of the US.
virtual art academy

Fundraiser for Japan

Tsunami painting by Oscar Favre. One of many donated by artists for an  auction raising money for Japan.

Here's a link to the project website:
http://tsunami.cfsl.net/

Neil Pinkett

Neil Pinkett, Crashing Waves, Sennen Quay.

This image of the sea overflowing a seawall reminded me of the horrific scenes of the tsunami in Japan.

Neil Pinkett is from Cornwall, England; another coastal region that has inspired seascape artists.

Neil paints with a knife in order to convey the rugged power of the Cornish landscape.

He is gradually progressing towards bigger works. 

Larger works have more impact and stretch a painter's technique.

You often have to learn to paint with the whole arm and body rather than just the hand.

Generally it's best to start small and gradually work your way up to larger canvases over time.
neilpinkett.co.uk

Josette Nicolle

Top: Affrontement, 80 x 80 cm
Bottom: La Vague Folle

Josette Nicolle is an a painter from Brittany, France. This is a coastline which has inspired many artists for two hundred years or more.

Foam and spray are chaotic but still have form and shadow. Most of it has been suggested with expressionistic brushwork but there are also small areas of precise detail which give the impression of reality. It's not necessary to reproduce photographic detail over the entire canvas. In fact, doing so usually destroys the sense of a real, moving subject.

In the top painting the random nebulousness of the spray is nicely contrasted to the crisp, defined edge of the wave as it runs up the sand.
The medium is acrylic and oil. Acrylics are used in the initial layers of the painting. You can't paint acrylic over oil. Acrylic paint is often used as an underpainting as it's cheaper and much faster drying.

Ron Bolt, Canadian, 1938-

Reposted from in the real art world blog

Juan Martinez Abades

juanmartinezabades.blogspot.com

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.

Javier Torices 1968-

These views of the coasts of Ibiza and Cadiz, by Spanish painter Javier Torices, have been executed in mixed media on board. 

The square format is perfect for interesting cropped-in compositions, close up views of water focussing on the abstract patterns of ripples and reflections. The muted palette brings out striking tonal contrasts which strengthen the design. The contrasts between rough sand or rocks and smooth water, between shimmer and shadow, are particularly effective.
Although work of this level of accuracy is normally based on photographs to some extent, the video on his website shows the painter working both on site and in the studio. In any case there is enough painterliness to make the artist present in the work. Some photorealist painters deliberately seek to remove all trace of themselves from the painting.
These are quite large pieces: 100 x 100cm and 180 x 180 cm.

Javier's website