There's No Place like Home

"Blue Chair"
12 x 9, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2015
(Available)

During the past few weeks, I have been hunkered down in my studio weathering the last blast of winter. Of course I have done some still lifes, but I also decided to be more adventuresome and set up some "room vignettes". I can't take my messy oil paints into most people's homes to work on interior scenes, so I have to create my own interiors. Here's a dirty little secret: I often spend as much time setting up the scene as I do painting it. I understand from other painters that I am not alone in this. Shall we say
that it's an effort to make the arrangement look effortless!

"Lamplight"
18 x 18, oil on canvas
(c) Lesley Powell 2015
Available

I have had to do quite a bit of improvising for this series. There is no upholstered chair in my studio, so I used some bubble wrap and a big bolt of fabric to convert my straight-backed desk chair into a chic, upholstered slipper chair. I hauled some side tables from home to the studio, and while I was at it, I grabbed a couple of lamps. 

"Il Mio Studio"
17 x 10, oil on linen
(c( Lesley Powell 2015

I will confess--I very seldom paint using any source of artificial light, and I found that the lighting situation created by the darkish room and the use of the table lamp was a real challenge. Arrrgh. There were a number of "wipe outs" along the way. When I was completely stumped, I consulted a painter whom I consider the master of lamplight--Edouard Vuillard. I hate to even show my paintings on the same page as Vuillard's, but it's instructive to see the work of a great master. Enjoy!

"The Green Lamp"
Eduard Vuillard, 1898