Chairs

"Red Tray"
16 x 16, oil on linen

I have always loved chairs. The best ones are like pieces of sculpture. And a chair with personality makes a perfect punctuation piece in interior decoration. So it's no wonder that I have been obsessed lately with painting chairs. I started with the painting above, playing with reds. (That's my apron thrown over the back of the chair).

"Teapot and Grapes"
19 x 17, oil on canvas

My primary muse has been a little balloon back chair (above) that I found in a antiques mall.  This style was popular in the mid-1800's. It's curvy, but not too fussy. And believe me, it presents plenty of challenges in the drawing realm.

"Skirted Chair"
16 x 16, oil on canvas

I branched out from the balloon back chair to a Sheraton/Hepplewhite style chair (directly above). Lots of fun negative spaces in the carved back of this one! Along the way, you will notice that I also became enamored of including a napkin draped over the edge of the chair. I love painting the folds of the linen, and besides, it's a great device for drawing one's eye into the painting.

In closing, I will leave you with a few chair paintings by great masters. The first, which is Van Gogh's own chair, was one that he painted many, many times. The second is Gaugin's chair, also painted by Van Gogh, presumably during the time they lived a painted together in the south of France.The last is by the masterful John Singer Sargent.  It goes to show---there is scarcely any motif that has not been fully explored by our predecessors in the art world!

"Chair", Vincent van Gogh

"Paul Gaugin's Chair"
Vincent van Gogh

"Chair"
 John Singer Sargent