Posting from Paris

Greetings from Paris. This year has presented me with several opportunities to paint in France. What better place to find inspiration than in the City of Light, home to so many of painting's "Greats". I have visited Paris many times, but I have never painted here. At least not until yesterday!

The photo above shows me with my first Parisian plein air painting. It is a challenge to carry painting gear across a busy city using public transportation, but I mapped out a strategy and it worked OK. I headed straight to the Seine and found a spot on the Left Bank where I could compose a good view of the Ile de la Cite and the Pont Neuf. Once I got set up and started looking carefully at the scene, I almost panicked at the vast amount of information to be captured. 

I took a deep breath and recited my mantra, "Simplify, Simplify". And my other mantra, "Look for the gesture". I focused on those key elements that had drawn me to the scene to begin with: the late afternoon sun on the facades, and the rhythm of the arches of the bridge reaching across the river. I felt good about my effort, and I know that I could never have captured the light and the color relationships using only a photograph.

Stay tuned for more posts from Paris (if the sun will ever come out again!). 

What's in the Tube

A thoughtful reader recently wrote me about my post on the invention of the metal paint tube. She pointed out that it was not so much the tube itself that gave birth to Impressionism, but rather what was IN the tube. Yes, indeed.  It is no mere coincidence that the Impressionist movement came at the same time as the Machine Age and the industrialization of Europe. In fact, breakthroughs in chemistry and physics gave us a huge number of new pigments, as well as a new way of understanding light and color. Together these were the catalyst for an entirely new way of painting.


The years between1825 and 1870 saw the invention of at least ten new pigments. Among them were colors that became staples of the Impressionist palette, such as cobalt yellow, artificial ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, cerulean, viridian, alizarine and zinc white. Most of these pigments were very opaque. Their opacity meant that, instead of having to use layer upon layer of thin paint to build up color, as had traditionally been the case, painters could cover the canvas in a much shorter time. They could thus capture a scene quickly, even in one or two sessions outdoors on location.

Eugene Boudin (1824-1898), on location

These years brought us not only new colors, but also new theories of color. Eugene Chevreul, an industrial color chemist, wrote extensively about the nature of color and light. He articulated the law of "simultaneous contrast", by which a color appears brighter and more intense when placed next to its complement. Here's an illustration:

Other chemists were expanding on the work of Isaac Newton, who had shown by using a prism that white light contained all other colors of light. Nowadays we take this idea for granted, having seen the illustration below since we were children. But it was a new concept at the time.

Impressionism was born in the midst of--or perhaps even as a result of--these breakthroughs. There was a new understanding of how we see light. At the same time, that there were new paints which would allow painters to work quickly to capture the fleeting effects of light. No wonder that with Impressionism, light itself became the subject of paintings. As said in the North Carolina Museum of Art's "Revolution in Paint","The Impressionist came to see the world as flicking light and color, a jumble of prismatic light reflected to our eye. The pigments on their palette were not just colors; they were the ingredients of light."

I think that Monet's series of paintings of the Rouen cathedral is a great illustration of how the Impressionists painted light. Take a look at the examples below. It is clear that Monet is not just painting the cathedral facade---he is painting the LIGHT on the facade. And so a new way of painting is born...

"Rouen Cathedral, Facade and the Tour d'Albane, Gray Weather", 1894

"Rouen Cathedral, West Facade, Sunlight", 1894

"Rouen Cathedral, Setting Sun", 1894

Stay tuned for upcoming installments on technical advances in paint manufacture, and other theories of color and color perception--and how they changed the way we paint.

Chateau Love

"Sunwashed Facade, IV"
18 x 18, oil on canvas

While in Provence this summer, I discovered Chateau Bourgane. Our workshop host, David Atkinson, took us there one day to paint. His introduction to the spot was something along these lines: A chateau in Provence is not a fancy thing, like it is in the Loire Valley. No spires and moats--just a large, serviceable structure. This one dates back several centuries, and has lovely grounds, and even a boxwood labyrinth. The grounds have fallen slightly into disrepair, but in a lovely, romantic sort of way. You can see one of David's paintings of the Chateau grounds here.

I loved the Chateau and its surroundings. Like the character in the fairy tale, I left a trail of bread crumbs so I could find my way back. (Actually I took careful notes of the turns and landmarks on the little country roads). Returning after the workshop, I painted this picture of one of the outbuildings, which they call a Pavilion. It is now rented as a gite.

"Countryside Gite"16 x 20, Oil on Linen

I also did this last painting en plein air on the Chateau grounds. I hope to use it as the springboard for some larger paintings in the studio, such as the one pictured at the top of this post. It's wonderful to find a spot that provides so much inspiration!

"Chateau de Bourgane"
8 x 13, Oil on Linen

Status Report

Earlier this year I wrote about my resolution to put more paint on the canvas--my "Paint like a Millionaire" piece. At the time, I showed a photo of this jar, and disclosed my resolution to fill the jar with empty paint tubes before the first year of my studio lease was up.

Well, I renewed my lease this month, so I am reporting in. Here is the jar today. Not quite three-fourths full--I didn't meet my goal!! Just another factor to help push me to be more generous with the paint. 

In my defense, I left a few empty tubes in France, after two intensive weeks of painting there.  Here is a photo I took following the Maggie Siner workshop in Provence. This was a very large (150 ml) tube of white paint. I have titled the photo "I Can't Believe I Used the Whole Thing!"

Stay tuned as I march on toward the goal...

Van Gogh in the News

"Sunset at Montmajour"
Vincent van Gogh, 1888

Reading the newspaper this week, I spotted a subject that makes a timely follow-on to my recent post on the olive grove paintings. It was just announced that a new Van Gogh painting has been discovered--or perhaps "authenticated" is a better word. The painting had been laying in an attic for decades, believed to be a fake. But careful research has revealed it to be the real thing. You can read the full details here.

The news was especially interesting to me because the painting was painted during Van Gogh's time in Arles, in the South of France, where our recent workshop was held. Though it depicts oak trees rather than olive trees, the colors and feel of the painting are very Provencal. 

To make this discovery even more timely, it comes just before a new Van Gogh exhibit is scheduled to open at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. The exhibit opens on October 12, and I for one hope to see it. 

And one more note on Van Gogh. A new, definitive biography was released in December. It is entitled Van Gogh: The Life, and it gets rave reviews. Weighing in at over 800 pages, it promises to keep me reading for many a night.

Day is Done

Sunset at Pibernet

Photo: Lesley Powell

What better way to end my series of posts on the recent workshop in Provence than with a sunset motif. One evening we had quite a treat--we went out on location in the afternoon, and our hosts packed us a picnic dinner so we could stay in the field until after sunset, and paint in the last light of day. Gorgeous!

The afternoon session found many of us painting the vineyards and nearby houses. Donna Thomas, our workshop coordinator, had one of my favorite paintings of the afternoon. I loved the geometry of it and the movement of the lines. Wish I had a better photo of this one.

(c) Donna Thomas

The real excitement came after the picnic, as the sun began to set. We had intended to do some landscape work when the shadows were long, but we waited a bit too late, and lost the sun before we could get too far underway. The ever-resourceful Roy Williamson was not to be defeated. Since we could not see the colors, he did this fine drawing of a house at the foot of the Luberon range:

(c) Roy Williamson

With the sun sinking fast, some of us decided to tackle a sunset motif. I have talked a lot about the need for plein air painters to be quick, and the sunset tests anybody's speed. The light changes almost second by second, and so do the colors of the land and sky. Not a moment to waste!

My sunset painting is quite small (I thought that working small would give me a leg up on the timing considerations). Even though the canvas is not very large, I believe that I captured the feeling of being in the valley on a summer's night, at the last light:

"Pibernet Sunset"

The notion of painting a sunset captured th imaginations of several people in our group, and the theme was continued the next night from our home base at Les Bassacs. As Maggie remarked, sunsets are an opportunity to see "outrageous" colors in the landscape that you cannot see at any other time. I did two more sunset paintings, pictured below. If these paintings are still available, look for them to be part of my annual Small Gems benefit sale that launches in November.

"Sunset I"
5 x 7 

"Sunset II"
6 x 9
SOLD

And so the sun sets on our wonderful workshop in Provence. Many wonderful memories, new friends, and great new approaches to incorporate in our painting going forward. I am eager for next year!

The Olive Grove

One of our last painting locations during the workshop in Provence was an olive grove. Provence is known for its olive groves, some of which have trees that are hundreds of years old. The olive trees are a quintessential element of the landscape. What's more, their twisty limbs and silvery leaves have captured the imaginations of painters in the South of France for over a century. Vincent van Gogh is one such artist. Here is one of his paintings, painted in St. Remy, about an hour from where we stayed:

"Olive Grove"
Vincent van Gogh, 1889

Olives like full sun, and in case you have not had the occasion to stand in an olive grove in August for three or four hours, I can tell you---it's HOT! And the olive trees don't cast a very big shadow for shelter. Despite the heat, some of the strongest paintings of the workshop came from this location. Here is Rachel Egen at work on her painting...and the finished painting is below.

(c) Rachel Egen

One of the most fun things about painting with a group is seeing the different way that each person interprets a scene. Everybody has a unique "take".  My hope in sharing images of the other paintings is to allow you to share in this fun. I especially liked this one by Audrey Scherr, and its wonderful bold foreground:

(c) Audrey Scherr

Last by not least, here is my set up, with my finished painting, at the end of the session. As you can see, the easel is definitely listing to the right. It's a miracle that either of us were still standing after all those hours in the hot sun!  You can see the finished painting here.

Fellow workshoppers, are you reading?? Coming up next: the final post on the workshop in Provence with Maggie Siner.