Vuillard and the Silhouette

"Interior with Women Sewing"

Oil on Canvas, 15 7/8 x 12 11/16 inches

Édouard Vuillard, 1893 

Faithful readers know that Édouard Vuillard is one of my favorite painters, and one who greatly inspires me.  I've been revisiting some of his work, and exploring his use of the silhouette.  Truly masterful!  

The top image is variously called "Interior with Women Sewing" or "L'Aiguilée" ("The Needle").  Oh, wow, I can just feel that hand with the needle pulling the thread taut.  The central figure has such a strong gesture.  There are actually three women in this painting, but the silhouettes of the ones on the left serve merely to bring you eye to the main actor in the center.  It's a masterpiece of composition and sparing use of shapes.

"Beneath the Lamp"

Oil on Canvas, 12 1/2 x 15 3/4 inches

Édouard Vuillard, 1892

The next one is also full of lessons for us lesser mortals.  There is a lot of "busy-ness" in the interior decor, but the power of the two female silhouettes create unity and harmony.  There are a lot of lost edges, where the women's silhouettes fade right into the darkness of the room.  As a result, only partial silhouettes remain.  And even then, they are so powerful!  I also think the silhouettes of the chairs are wonderful compositional tools.  They define the area of interest, and bring our eye in a circle. 

"Seamstress"

Oil on Panel, 9 1/4 x 13 1/2 inches

Édouard Vuillard, 1892-95

And the silhouette doesn't need to be blackened.  This last painting shows how a simple, un-modeled figure in silhouette can anchor a painting.  Again, the interior space is replete with details and small shapes of color.  Almost dizzying to the eye.  But the solid form of the central figure holds everything together.  Such a beautiful piece of magic.

If you are interested in more about silhouettes, and especially Vuillard's, check out this post from a few years ago.  Happy reading! 

Museum Moment!

The long awaited event is almost here! I will be the Featured Artist in the Huntsville Museum of Art Gala, opening this month. This event is beautifully orchestrated by the Museum staff and volunteers, and involves many, many months of preparation. Faithful readers might be interested in the story of how it has all come together...

Cultivated, 30 x 30, Oil on Canvas

I got the call in June of 2022. It was Pam Gann, one of the Gala Chairmen in Huntsville. The Committee was inviting me to be their Featured Artist for 2023--was I interested? Was I!! I was honored, excited, thrilled, and also a bit nervous. The commitment involved twenty three paintings of various subjects and sizes. That can be a tall order!

Venetian View, 8 x 12, Oil on Linen, mounted on panel

Pam and her Committee have been amazing to work with. Starting in September, I began to send them images of paintings from which to select. Some of the paintings had been completed prior to the call, others were still wet off the easel. The final selections cover a wide range of subjects and sizes, and they are a good representation of my body of work. You can see them all in the online digital version of the Gala Catalog.

Country Church, 16 x 12, Oil on Linen

Once selections were finalized, it was on to framing. Many thanks to Veronica, at Campania Fine Moulding, for her always spot-on advice on frames. Supply chain issues still plague the frame industry, but with some nimble footwork, Veronica was able to get it all done on time.

Support Group, 13 x 15, Oil on Linen

Next step: delivering the work to Huntsville. Enter Debbie, of Dilworth Packing. Debbie used the "white glove" treatment to personally courier the work from my studio in Charlotte to the Museum. It was a big moment to see all the paintings loaded in Debbie's van, and headed to their destination. Lift off: November 2, 2022.

Since November, the Museum has been photographing the art, as well as designing and publishing invitations, catalogs, and publicity materials--and handling a million other details. And finally hanging the paintings in the galleries. That's another "white glove" process, which requires precise work. Many artists are represented, so there are several galleries full of paintings. The iris painting in the photo below is by my friend Jill Steenhuis. So fun to "hang out" with friends!

The beautiful color catalog has gone live online. If you see something you love, how can you purchase it? The paintings are now available online in a "Buy Now, Take Later" format. If you "Buy Now", you secure the painting before the auction begins, at its normal retail price. That's definitely advisable if there is one you can't live without! To Buy Now, just register here. "Buy Now" runs through Friday, February 24 at noon (Central Time). After that time, the remaining paintings will be available through the Silent Auction (described below).

Draped, 19 x 10, Oil on Linen

You can also take your chances in the Silent Auction, and bid for the painting. Bidding begins at 70% of retail price. Everybody who participates in the Silent Auction (either in person or from a distance) will bid through an online process, for which you can register here. Silent Auction bidding begins Monday, February 27 at noon, and ends Saturday night, March 4, at 10 pm. I'll be attending the Silent Auction in Huntsville that Saturday night, and will be watching the clock as the closing hour draws nigh. Happy Bidding to all!

Sketchbook Inspiration

Double Page Spread from Prendergast Sketchbook

Every year I resolve to be more faithful in my sketchbook practice.  This year, I have fueled enthusiasm for my resolution by revisiting another artist's sketchbook--one that was kept by Maurice Prendergast around 1899.  I happened on this little treasure in a used book store, and couldn't resist bringing it home.  It's an exact reproduction of the actual sketchbook kept by Prendergast.  (The original has been donated to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts).  My book lay fallow for a while, but when I eventually delved in, I was delighted.

From Prendergast Sketchbook, 1899

The pages in the Prendergast book are a delight of color and motion--as the accompanying material says, "fleeting impressions of...women  in holiday garb...the edge of the sea, sunlit parks and woodlands....gay parasols over extravagant bonnets".  The Gilded Age, indeed!  The book has both watercolors and pencil drawings.

Interestingly, a number of the watercolors were painted on separate sheets, and afterwards attached to the pages of the sketchbook.  I felt a kinship with Prendergast when I learned that--it sounded like something I might do, rather than plunging right into the sketchbook itself.  Was he cautious about wasting pages of the sketchbook on drawings that didn't work out?  Did he choose the watercolors to attach to the sketchbook because they were the most accomplished (leaving out the rejects, so the book would be pretty)? Or did he choose them because they were seeds of ideas for further paintings, and he wanted to keep them front of mind, and close at hand?

Nevermind the answer to those questions.  The important thing is the practice of keeping the sketchbook. I did some further research online, and was especially inspired by Prendergast's sketches from Paris, like the top image in this post.  I'm planning a trip to Paris this year, and the sketchbook will definitely go with me.  Mine may never be part of a museum collection, but it will still be a treasure to me!

Happy New Year!

 

Some things bear repeating, so please indulge me with this post, much of which I wrote a few years back.  The New Year is the time when everybody focuses on goals and improvement. It's easy to make resolutions to improve our skills, or our productivity.  But every serious painter knows the hard truth: there are many stumbles on the path to improvement, and you must be willing to fall, and then pick yourself back up, and start over. Progress can be sporadic (and that's an understatement). Many hours must be put in. Courage and perseverance are key.

I reflected on this truth while reading an article that discussed how babies learn to walk. Toddlers learning to walk are so determined that they travel the length of about eight football fields in ONE HOUR. During that hour, they fall an average of 30 times. It takes 2.6 million steps for them to become proficient at walking. As the article notes, a failure rate like this would be deeply discouraging (the article even said "catastrophic") for an adult trying to learn a new skill. 

Toddlers persevere in learning to walk because faster, hands-free mobility is thrilling to them.  Adults persevere in our endeavors because mastery of a new skill is nirvana. 

Toddlers also teach us that learning is not linear.  They often start to walk, and then revert to crawling for a while. Their progress is U-shaped.  In other words, when learning a new skill, we often get worse before we get better.

Another important lesson is that infants learn best "when operating near the limits of their current skill level."  The takeaway for the rest of us is clear:  Always be "at the edge of what you can't currently do."  

 "Rich Mahogany"

14 x 14 Oil on Linen

(c) Lesley Powell 2022

I've written about the creative process before, and the example of toddlers learning to walk reinforces some of the notions I explored then. It's a nice concrete example to keep in mind as we start the New Year.  Yes, it's frustrating to be at the edge of what you can't currently do--but oh, the rewards are great when you can push that boundary a little bit further!  Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2023!