Indiana Painting Workshop - Pet Portrait Demonstration - Day Three

A fun pet portrait demonstration I did this morning from a photograph on day three of my Indiana painting workshop. 

Can you tell that I love painting pets more than anything else?

"Gracie the Basset Hound Portrait Demo" • 12"x16" • Oil on Linen • 1.5 • SOLD

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2019. 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.
 

Saint Louis Art Museum - Henry Ossawa Tanner, Edouard Vuillard, Willard Leroy Metcalf, and William Merritt Chase

My final post on our recent visit to the Saint Louis Art Museum. 

It doesn’t matter how often I go to a particular museum - I always find something new that strikes me.

Photos by Saunders Fine Arts.

Henry Ossawa Tanner "Gateway, Tangier" • c.1912 • Oil on Canvas

I was lucky enough to see a retrospective exhibit of Henry Ossawa Tanner’s work in Kansas City about twenty years ago, and he has always been one of my favorite painters for his ability to capture the effects of light. 

What’s striking about this piece is the fact that he portrays the almost blinding effect of the light shining through the gate without pushing the values significantly darker in the shadow areas. No part of the painting goes dark enough so as to obscure the color, and Tanner uses the color temperature to differentiate between light and shadow.

Henry Ossawa Tanner "Gateway, Tangier" Detail • c.1912 • Oil on Canvas

The paint texture combined with the broad areas of paint create a kind of tapestry pattern within Tanner’s paintings.

Henry Ossawa Tanner "Gateway, Tangier" Detail • c.1912 • Oil on Canvas

Notice the simplicity with which both figures are handled, and yet the one on the left is pushed further into obscurity by keeping the temperatures close in contrast. 

Edouard Vuillard "Ker-Xavier Roussel Reading" • c.1904  • Oil on Cardboard

While Tanner’s paintings have an overall pattern quality to them, Edouard Vuillard’s paintings fascinate me for their individual areas of alternating pattern. These patterns celebrate the textural quality of the paint and give a representational painting a somewhat abstract feel.

The central figure of the painting is initially lost within this cacophony of patterns.  

Edouard Vuillard "The Fireplace" • 1901 • Oil on Paper Mounted on Canvas

This piece, also by Vuillard, takes it even further, by cropping the main figure and making the painting a more decorative work. The patterns and shapes are what ultimately matter, not the subject.

Edouard Vuillard "The Fireplace" Detail • 1901 • Oil on Paper Mounted on Canvas

Even the figure is simply a collection of shapes containing patterns of paint, but none of them strong enough to hold our attention away from the fireplace. 

Edouard Vuillard "The Fireplace" Detail • 1901 • Oil on Paper Mounted on Canvas

 The elements above the fireplace also create an area of pattern without any strong edges to overly define any particular object. 

Edouard Vuillard "The Fireplace" Detail • 1901 • Oil on Paper Mounted on Canvas

The fire becomes the focal point of the painting due to its more intense color and the fact that it is framed by the contrasting values of the fireplace. 
 

Willard Leroy Metcalf "Old Homestead Connecticut" • c.1914  • Oil on Canvas

This painting by Willard Leroy Metcalf also uses pattern, but unlike Vuillard, the representational quality of the subject depicted outweighs the abstract nature of the paint. Metcalf’s paint application adds an overall interest to all areas of the painting.
 

William Merritt Chase "The Tenth Street Studio" • 1880 • Oil on Canvas

This is a very famous painting by the master William Merrit Chase. What strikes me is the overall busy nature and overlapping patterns of the painting, and yet Chase compensates for this by using the simplest contrast of all to draw our eye to the central figure – the black and white of the dog adjacent to the dress.

William Merritt Chase "The Tenth Street Studio" Detail • 1880 • Oil on Canvas

I must admit that I’m most partial to the dog.

 
© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2019. 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.
 




 

Saint Louis Art Museum - Anders Zorn and Sir William Orpen

Here are a few more paintings from our trip to the Saint Louis Art Museum. The museum has a number of important pieces by some of my favorite artists. 

Photos by Saunders Fine Arts.

St. Louis was lucky enough to have the great Anders Leonard Zorn visit and paint several commissions there in the 1890s.

What I love most about Zorn’s work is his ability to say so much with so little. There is not a wasted stroke in this painting.

Anders Leonard Zorn "Lucy Turner Joy" • 1897 • Oil on Canvas

Notice the simplicity in the hair, the almost non-painted ear, not a single tiny detail throughout the face, and yet she is perfectly rendered.

Anders Leonard Zorn "Lucy Turner Joy" Detail  • 1897 • Oil on Canvas

Notice the simplicity in the hair, the almost non-painted ear, not a single tiny detail throughout the face, and yet she is perfectly rendered.

Anders Leonard Zorn "Lucy Turner Joy" Detail  • 1897 • Oil on Canvas

The hand is painted with absolute perfection. Those few key strokes depicting the shadows in the fingers give all of the form needed.

Anders Leonard Zorn "Lucy Turner Joy" Detail  • 1897 • Oil on Canvas

Even the dress is just barely painted. A few key marks to suggest the textural details, and of significant note, the slight shadow bringing the dress away from the body.

Anders Leonard Zorn "Halsey Cooley Ives" • 1894-95  • Oil on Canvas

Halsey Cooley Ives was the first director of the Saint Louis Art Museum, and was painted while Zorn visited the city.

Much like the previous portrait of Lucy, this is a study in simplicity. Notice the thick strokes of paint on the top of the head, and yet the values are so close that this buildup of paint does not distract from the face. 

Anders Leonard Zorn "Halsey Cooley Ives" Detail • 1894-95  • Oil on Canvas

Another perfectly painted hand by Zorn. The paint in the ring is significantly thicker than on the surrounding fingers, causing it to catch the light of the room when one views the painting in person.
 

Sir William Orpen "Self-Portrait" • 1913  • Oil on Canvas

In contrast to the portraits by Zorn, here is a self portrait by Sir William Orpen. 

I had not seen this painting in my previous visits to the museum. The color is striking in comparison to Zorn’s more muted tones, and the bravura brushwork of Zorn is cast aside for a much more rendered approach.   

Sir William Orpen "Self-Portrait" Detail • 1913  • Oil on Canvas

While the top brush is solid and opaque, it appears that the lower four brushes were added after the background image was complete as they are transparent. Orpen may have decided that the vector line of one brush alone was not enough to connect the paint materials to the figure. 


© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2019. 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.

The Saint Louis Art Museum - Gari Melchers and Lovis Corinth

Kimberly and I visited the Saint Louis Art Museum this week. 

This is the first time I have been back since the expansion, and I was thrilled to see a number of paintings on display that I hadn’t seen in years.

All photos by Saunders Fine Arts.

Gari Julius Melchers "Vespers" • c.1910 • Oil on Canvas

This piece takes huge risks when it comes to composition, and the result is an image that keeps your eyes moving and exploring the larger story.

The path that I find myself following starts with the stained glass window on the left. My eyes are drawn to the scale, moving from left to right, but I am then quickly drawn to the second stained glass window overlaid with the light fixture. The weight of the light pushes my view downwards towards the figures in the lower right, but my eyes do not linger here, as the foreground figure is severely cropped. The strong horizontal lines of the pews in the background finally bring my eyes to the figures on the left, which I believe are ultimately the focal point of the piece, and from here, the journey moves again to the stained glass and starts the process again, moving in a circular composition.

All the while, the bright spots of light near the center of the painting act almost as the center hub around which every other element revolves.

Gari Julius Melchers "Vespers" Detail • c.1910 • Oil on Canvas

Notice the beautiful thick strokes of bright yellow and white paint indicating light spilling from some unseen window, most likely on the opposite wall of the church.

Gari Julius Melchers "Vespers" Detail • c.1910 • Oil on Canvas

The darker values in the light fixture bring our attention into the foreground, taking our focus away from the window.

Gari Julius Melchers "Vespers" Detail • c.1910 • Oil on Canvas

This group of figures serves to bring our view downwards from the windows. The cropping of the foreground figure, the direction of the missal she is holding, and the lines of the pews all send our eyes to the left, where we eventually land on the central figures.

Gari Julius Melchers "Vespers" Detail • c.1910 • Oil on Canvas

I believe these figures are the true final focal point of the painting. The foreground figures hold the strongest value contrast of any within the painting, and the background figure's dress contains the brightest color. More than that, the foreground figure’s head is lifted towards the altar not seen in the painting. She is the only participant who directly interacts with what we the viewers know must be occurring beyond the confines of the image.

Lovis Corinth "Nana, Female Nude" • 1911 • Oil on Canvas

Here is a painting I have not seen in decades, but it is one of the most influential in my development as an artist for its use of paint quality. It’s a piece where the application and texture of the paint itself has as much character and movement as the figure depicted.

This is one that must be seen in person to fully appreciate the beauty of the brushwork. For the most part, Corinth's brushstrokes follow the form of the figure, which can often result in a very contrived effect, but he handles this perfectly, using the direction of the strokes to enhance the movement within the painting and give the strong sense of a fleeting moment in time.

Lovis Corinth "Nana, Female Nude" Detail • 1911 • Oil on Canvas

 
The paint in the face of the figure is as thick as any Lucien Freud piece, but without the grotesque nature of a Freud. The angle of the head could easily have become unflattering in most situations, but here it gives the sense that the model refuses to engage with us, the viewers.

Lovis Corinth "Nana, Female Nude" Detail • 1911 • Oil on Canvas

The hand has so much weight to it created by the deep shadows as it grips the thigh.

Lovis Corinth "Nana, Female Nude" Detail • 1911 • Oil on Canvas

All of the strokes within the thigh follow the form of the figure. The paint thickens and the temperature of the flesh changes from warm to cool, culminating in the cold pink highlight on the knee, which brings it forward in space.

Lovis Corinth "Nana, Female Nude" Detail • 1911 • Oil on Canvas

The background also has a strong sense of paint texture and pattern, which balances the overall texture within the figure.

Lovis Corinth "Nana, Female Nude" Detail • 1911 • Oil on Canvas

The strong textures in the cloth overlaying the chair also help to connect the figure with the background surroundings.

Lovis Corinth "Nana, Female Nude" Detail • 1911 • Oil on Canvas

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2019. 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.