Judging - Weatherford Art Association Art Competition - Weatherford, Texas

Texas artist friends, I’m pleased to announce that I will be judging the Weatherford Art Association's 2020 Parker County Peach Festival Art Competition, hosted by the Doss Heritage and Culture Center.

The festival itself has been cancelled as a safety measure, but the art competition is still open. This is an annual event with cash prizes awarded in both adult and student categories.

Click here to learn more and to enter:
https://bit.ly/Peach-Festival-Art-Show-Registration

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

Throwback Thursday - "Ready For Dawn" - Rockport, Texas

For #throwbackthursday, here is a memory from a couple of years ago. I'm not sure why, but I always seem to find myself painting boats during the last week of May. 

I found this old shrimper docked in Rockport, Texas. It was already unbearably hot painting during the day, so I decided to try a nocturne, one of only a handful I had painted by this time. The piece went on to win 3rd place at the Outdoor Painters Society's 2018 Plein Air Southwest event.

"Ready For Dawn" • Oil on Panel • 16" x 20" • Available at www.PatrickSaunders.com

Painting photo by Saunders Fine Arts

 

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

Art Review - "La paye des moissonneurs" - Petit Palais, Paris, France

A few months back I shared "Les Halles", a massive painting by Léon Lhermitte at the Petit Palais in Paris, France.

For today's #MuseumTourTuesday, I'd like to share another piece by the same artist viewed during our visit last year to the Musée d'Orsay.

At almost 9 feet in width, this is an impactful work to behold, and a tour de force of drawing skill.

"La paye des moissonneurs"(Paying the Harvesters) • Léon Lhermitte • 1882 • Oil on Canvas • 215 x 272 cm

Although beautifully painted, there is no joy in the piece. The main figure delivers a haunting stare into the distance as the others engage in commerce.

Unlike many other paintings from the same period of workers toiling in picturesque fields, this piece focuses on the transactional aspect of their labors and not their connection with the environment.

I find the compositional layout fascinating with its simple flow through the figures.

We are first drawn to the main figure on the left, seated, facing us. His sickle points us directly to the mother and child, who in turn faces the man behind her counting out coins. The over the shoulder sickle of the man to his right leads us through the next three figures, and then the figure in blue's body moves the eye downward to where his boots intersect with the bails of wheat, which point back to the main figure, restarting the movement.

 "La paye des moissonneurs" Detail • Léon Lhermitte • 1882 • Oil on Canvas • 215 x 272 cm

The main figure's face is painted with a stark sense of reality in his expression. The approach to painting is incredibly confident, with a mix of thick and thin areas of paint.

 "La paye des moissonneurs" Detail • Léon Lhermitte • 1882 • Oil on Canvas • 215 x 272 cm

Lhermitte clearly understands how to convey various textures in all their complexity, from the rough fabric of the shirt to the smooth worn wood of the sickle handle. Everything is painted very matter-of-factly, with no sense of embellishment. This is not an idealized version of the world.

 "La paye des moissonneurs" Detail • Léon Lhermitte • 1882 • Oil on Canvas • 215 x 272 cm

Notice the thick and thin paint within the wheat. The darker areas reveal the texture of the canvas with their washed in color, while the tops of the stalks convey dimensionality with slighter thicker strokes of paint.

Painting photos by Saunders Fine Arts

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

In Progress Portrait Painting

I'm finally getting back to a few pieces that I started earlier in the year but haven't finished due to other obligations.

This painting in progress is of a woman dressed for last year's Dallas Dia De Los Muertos parade. There's something about the juxtaposition of such macabre makeup with a peaceful facial expression. Therein lies the challenge. 

I've already completely repainted the face, as I had not yet captured her sense of playfulness and joy coming through the ghostly makeup.

In Progress • Oil on Linen • 15"x30"

 Reference photo by Saunders Fine Arts

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

May 2020 Newsletter - The Illusion of Light, Color Temperature

Value is very important to form, but when combined with color temperature, your painting can take on new depth, and even emotion.

Sign up for my latest newsletter to read about the importance of color temperature in your work.

Click here for my newsletter:
http://bit.ly/PSFA-Newsletter-Sign-up

“Tapestry”
 • Oil on Linen 
• 12"x16” 
• Available at www.PatrickSaunders.com

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

Art Review - "Celebration at the Moulin Rouge", Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France

Maybe it's a side effect of social distancing, but lately I've found myself drawn to paintings that depict large numbers of figures interacting.

For #museumtourtuesday, I'd like to share one such painting by Giovanni Boldini that Kimberly and I viewed last August at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

"Celebration at the Moulin Rouge” • Giovanni Boldini • Circa 1889 • Oil on Canvas
• 96.8 cm x 104.7 cm

Boldini beautifully balances the one on one interactions of the figures in the painting with the overall cacophony of the scene. I find myself drawn to three distinct areas in the painting - the women with the red scarf, the woman in the purple scarf and the woman in white who looks directly at us. This creates a perfect triangular composition, but there are so many other details to be explored, I find that my eyes cannot rest.

"Celebration at the Moulin Rouge” Detail

The first area I'm drawn to is this couple. The red in her scarf matches the red of the background, grabbing my attention, but I find that my eye does not linger here as her face is mostly in shadow.

"Celebration at the Moulin Rouge” Detail

By contrast, this woman's face is lit and painted with more detail. The purple of the scarf also presents a contrast with the red background. Another interesting contrast throughout the painting is the cartoon like rendering of the men by comparison.

"Celebration at the Moulin Rouge” Detail

Finally, there is the woman in white, who gazes almost directly at us. She's not as clearly defined as the woman in the purple scarf, but her gaze captures the eye and leads us directly back to the original couple to her lower right. Also notice the woman with the red tie to the left. Small details like this sprinkled throughout the painting keep the viewer exploring the entire canvas.

Painting photos by Saunders Fine Arts.


© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

"Tapestry" - Floral Painting

Here's my latest floral. I was inspired by the rich floral works of Maria Oakey Dewing and by a Jules Bastien-Lepage piece, "Joan of Arc", at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

While my subject matter is completely disconnected from that of Bastien-Lepage, which was not a floral, I found something fascinating in the tapestry like richness to his work, featuring varies textures and patterns throughout the painting.

Sometimes an inspiration leads to something completely different.

“Tapestry”
 • Oil on Linen 
• 12"x16” 
• Available at www.PatrickSaunders.com

Painting photo by Saunders Fine Arts.


© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

Operation Night Watch - Rijks Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Last August, Kimberly and I were able to witness Operation Night Watch in progress at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

This ongoing project uses advanced imaging techniques to scan Rembrandt Van Reijn's Night Watch in its entirety, recording not only what it looks like today - down to individual brushstrokes, but what changes have occurred over time.

Part of their work is now available online, where you can view the largest and most detailed photograph ever taken of Night Watch, and even zoom in on individual brushstrokes. It's a fascinating peak into Rembrandt's painting process.
 

You can view the scalable image here: 
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/most-detailed-ever-photograph-of-the-night-watch-goes-online

"Night Watch, Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq" • Rembrandt van Rijn • 1642 • Oil on Canvas • 379.5cm x 453.5cm

Here is the scan in progress. The painting is scanned millimeter by millimeter using an X-ray fluorescence scanner, detecting the various chemical elements in the paint, such as calcium, iron, potassium and cobalt. From these scans, the pigments used by the artist can be deduced.

Photo by Saunders Fine Arts

This is the level of detail you can view the painting at with the newly available image. The eye featured here is that of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, one of the central figures of the painting, dressed in black with a red sash.

"Night Watch, Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq" Detail • Rembrandt van Rijn • 1642 • Oil on Canvas • 379.5cm x 453.5cm

Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, whose eye was shown close up in the previous image, is featured on the left.

"Night Watch, Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq" Detail • Rembrandt van Rijn • 1642 • Oil on Canvas • 379.5cm x 453.5cm

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

"Swan Descending, A Staircase" - 2020 Olmsted Plein Air Invitational, Atlanta, Georgia

I just finished up my latest painting for the Olmsted Plein Air Invitational. Last year, I had the privilege of painting the dining room of the Swan House at the Atlanta History Center. This year, I chose to paint the grand staircase that greets visitors as they enter the mansion.

I was drawn to the scene not only because of the flowing lines of the staircase, but also the dueling sources of cool natural light from the windows and warm interior lights that create interesting contrasts throughout the room.

While the staircase dominates the room and the painting, there are so many textures and details that it was a very difficult balance to achieve.

"Swan Descending, A Staircase" • Oil on Linen • 18"x24"
• Available soon at www.olmstedpleinair.com

Painting photo by Saunders Fine Arts.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

Olmsted Plein Air Invitational - Painting Detail

Here's a sneak peak of a piece I'm finishing up today for the Olmsted Plein Air Invitational. 

This has been a tough one, with a lot of intense drawing that has to be just right in order for it to come together. I'd say I've been tearing my hair out, but that's just wishful thinking.

Stay tuned. I'll post the final painting next week.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

Throwback Thursday - "Chelsea Quilt" - Chelsea, Manhattan

For #ThrowbackThursday, here is another 2006 piece from my New York series, painted when we lived in Chelsea. 

Last week I shared our dramatic view of the Empire State Building, but just panning down, there was this more intimate scene of a simple fire escape. 

Everywhere you look, the city has such a great sense of color and texture, making even the most mundane subjects look beautiful. 

"Chelsea Quilt" • Oil on Board • 12.5"x18.5" • Private Collection

Painting photo by Saunders Fine Arts

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

Art Review - N.C. Wyeth, Brandywine River Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

For #museumtourtuesday, I’m sharing my two favorite paintings from our visit to the Brandywine River Museum of Art last June. The museum was holding a special N.C. Wyeth exhibition, and it was interesting to able to view the evolution of his work.

The two pieces here are from early in his career, shortly after leaving the school of his mentor, Howard Pyle. While Wyeth's paintings from over a decade later, such as illustrations depicting Arthurian legends, Robinson Crusoe and Robin Hood are far more well known, my personal opinion is that these works are far more sublime.

Painting photos by Saunders Fine Arts.

"Montana" The Last Stand • McClure's Magazine, cover illustration • N.C. Wyeth • 1906
• Oil on Canvas • 50 1/8" x 34”

This piece is a tour de force of design, skillfully employing a combination of value and color temperature contrasts to enhance the drama and impact of the figure. Notice how the figure is slightly darker in value than the remainder of the shadowed area. Our eyes travel down the figure to the strong vector of the rifle, revealing the downward trailing smoke from the barrel. This leads us to the spent shell casings on the ground, revealing that the battle may already be over.

"Montana" The Last Stand Detail • McClure's Magazine, cover illustration • N.C. Wyeth • 1906
• Oil on Canvas • 50 1/8" x 34”

The figure is far more realistically rendered and proportioned than many works created during the height of Wyeth's career, lacking the exaggeration of forms and gesture. Notice the detail of the just expelled shell casing flying through the air.

"In the Crystal Depths" Detail • N.C. Wyeth • 1906 • Oil on Canvas • 38" x 26"

While this piece employs the same design division of warm lights versus cool shadows, here, Wyeth does not draw our attention directly to the figure by outlining the form. Instead, the main figure and the canoe recede into the darks, to be discovered by the viewer. Even the flow of the river is more prominent than the figure. We are voyeurs of a much more somber and quiet moment, in contrast to the sudden violence of the previous painting.

"In the Crystal Depths" Detail • N.C. Wyeth • 1906 • Oil on Canvas • 38" x 26"

The figure and canoe are beautifully painted in very thin paint. This minimalist paint texture adds to the subtlety of the central figure. In contrast, notice the thicker paint in the light areas to the right.

"In the Crystal Depths" Detail • N.C. Wyeth • 1906 • Oil on Canvas • 38" x 26"

Here you can see just how thinly the paint has been applied, with only a few slightly juicier dabs of paint on the forehead, shoulder and red ties of the hair braids.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

MORE REVIEWS - Patrick Saunders "The Dog Portrait In Oils" Pet Portrait Instructional Video

The reviews of "𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗴 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝗜𝗻 𝗢𝗶𝗹𝘀", my first instructional painting video, keep rolling in, and I’m thrilled that so many people are enjoying it and finding it helpful.

You can read the reviews of my pet portrait video, and rent it here: https://bit.ly/Patrick-Saunders-Dog-Portrait-Video

Watch as I demonstrate painting a dog portrait in oils, capturing a likeness as rapidly as possible. Within the video, I clearly explain my focus on the accuracy of drawing, values, edges, texture, and color. You will learn to paint the portrait alla prima, with dynamic brushwork and texture, achieving not only a likeness, but an energetic and engaging painting.

My simple steps for evaluating your paintings in progress will improve not only your skills as a pet portrait painter, but your painting abilities in general.


© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.

FULL - Painting Without Borders at Home Online Mentoring Program

Artist friends, my first online mentoring program, 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗕𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲, is now full!

Click here to sign up at my website for the wait list, so you can be notified of any future openings in the program: 
https://bit.ly/Patrick-Saunders-Online-Mentoring

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. 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.