The Sorolla Museum

Sorolla Museum
All Photos (c) Meredith Lincoln, 2015

A friend of mine just visited Madrid, and spent some time at the Sorolla Museum. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I am a great admirer of  the Spanish Impressionist painter Joaquin Sorolla. I have long wanted to visit the museum that was once his home, and I was thrilled with the photos my friend sent me from her visit. I immediately wanted to share them with you! You can tell from the images that my friend, Meredith Lincoln, is an accomplished photographer with a wonderful eye. The top photo shows Sorolla's studio--can you imagine working in such a wonderful space? And yet Sorolla painted primarily outdoors on location. I remember that Sorolla said

That Touch of Red

"By the Sea, Honfleur"
Pastel on canvas, 45 x 37 cm
Eval Gonzales, 1881

I have often noticed how one small splotch of red in a painting can make all the difference. A dot of red can attract the viewer's eye, and direct the visual journey through the painting. It can draw attention to a focal point. In a painting that is otherwise composed of cool or subtle colors, that bit of red can serve as a counterpoint that makes the other colors come alive. Given my fascination with red, I was interested to come across an essay about the Impressionist painter Eva Gonzales, and her use of red. It was entitled "Expressive Red". **

The top painting is a wonderful example of using red in a carefully managed, restricted way. The painting is mostly cool blue/green colors. But the painter picked out a detail of the clothing, two thirds of the way up the height of the canvas, and used red as a "revealer". Voila! The red bow

The Magic of the Lamp

"Evening Tulips"
16 x 12, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2015

Following my struggles of the winter with paintings in the lamplight, I have continued to work on the subject. Something about the magic of the lamplight won't let me go. It's actually sort of fun to come across a challenge like this--one that that intrigues you and makes you want to work harder and learn more. This particular challenge has definitely sent me scurrying through my reference books to see how the great masters solved the problems involved. I think I am making progress in portraying the lamplit subject in a believable way--but there is more to learn!

"Inside, Outside"
12 x 12, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2015

I'm illustrating this post with some recent paintings in my lamplight series. I have been especially fascinated by the challenge of