Patrick Saunders Fine Arts

Thursday, June 17, 2021

SOLD - "Bars & Bikes, Amsterdam"

My cityscape of the Louis Bar in Amsterdam, which won an Honorable Mention award last month at the 30th Annual Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition at the California Center for the Arts, will soon be on its way to a collector and artist that I met in one of my painting workshops.

It's a great feeling when your work goes to a fellow artist who really appreciates it, and feels as strongly about the piece as you do. Can't ask for better than that.

"Bars & Bikes, Amsterdam" • Oil on Linen • 18" x 24" • Private Collection

Reference and painting photos by Saunders Fine Arts.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Art Review - "The Allen Brothers (Portrait of James and John Lee Allen)" by Henry Raeburn - Kimbell Art Museum

Kimberly and I were able to visit the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, last week. The architecture of the building was incredible, with some of the best lighting I have ever experienced in any museum. For today's #museumtourtuesday, I'd like to feature one of the pieces from this museum's extensive collection.

I have never been a big fan of 18th Century painting, but every time I come across a piece by Henry Raeburn, I am struck by how ahead of his time his work appears. A full century before the bravura brushwork of John Singer Sargent and Joaquín Sorolla, Raeburn was producing similarly decisive and solid images. While his contemporaries, such as Jacques-Louis David and Gilbert Stuart produced dramatic and beautiful work, they lack the same character of paint application. For me, Raeburn is the stepping stone between the boldness of Diego Velázquez and Frans Hals a century before him, and modern realism, where paint in itself becomes a character within the work.

Raeburn never produced preliminary sketches, and instead jumped straight into the painting. This approach produced a spontaneity and boldness in his work. Notice the solid forms, edges and shapes throughout the piece.