When the Price is Right

 

A friend who is an interior designer advises her clients that original art can greatly enhance their homes.  One of her clients posed this question: "How much should I expect to pay for an original painting?"  Hmmm. We all have widely divergent budgets for home decor and also for artwork. My friend mulled over the question a bit, and replied: "Well, it all depends, but as a rule of thumb, certainly more than you pay for your throw pillows!"

"Esterel"
Felix Vallottton

I thought this was a great response, and it has really stuck with me. One can easily pay big bucks for a pair of custom throw pillows in a designer fabric.  Even more if you add some special trim. And yet pillows wear out. They get stained or faded, and go out of style. On the other hand, art lasts forever. Despite these facts, people can be reluctant to spend as much for a painting as for their decorative accessories.

"Lungfrauenmassiv"
F. Hodler

Here's another quotation worth keeping in mind. This is advice from the great artist Felix Vallotton: "A mediocre painting is ALWAYS too expensive; a good picture can be expensive at its price; while a very good one is NEVER too expensive."   

"Aloe at Cassis"
Henri Manguin, 1912

Vallatton should know. He was a guiding light for Hedy Hahnloser, as she and her husband assembled a remarkable collection of paintings. They purchased these works during the first quarter of the 20th century--often from artists who were relatively unknown at the time, but are revered today. In fact, some people credit the Hahnlosers with ushering French art from the 19th into the 20th century. I have illustrated this post with paintings from their collection. 

"The Sower"
Vincent van Gogh, 1888

Alas, not all of us have budgets that allow us to assemble a museum-worthy art collection. But if we look, we all can find art within our means that speaks to us, that quickens our hearts and enhances our homes.  

**Some things are worth repeating:  parts of this post appeared previously in this blog.

Provence, Distilled

"Road above Bonnieux"
6 x 8, Oil on Paper
(c) Lesley Powell 2018
$195

With this post, I am excited to unveil a new series of paintings! I have been working on these for a number of weeks, and want to tell you a little bit about them. Faithful readers know that I love strong, straightforward shapes. I am also drawn to the beauty of simplification.  But as one of my posts is titled, "Simple isn't Easy". That's an understatement, for sure! It has taken a great deal of study, thought and work at the easel to bring these concepts to fruition in the new paintings.

"Provence, Distilled: Amber Waves of Grain"
5 x 10, Oil on Paper
(c) Lesley Powell 2018
$225

My mantra for this series comes from Maurice Denis, a founder of the Nabis. Denis wrote, "Remember that a picture -- before being a battle horse, a female nude, an anecdote or whatnot -- is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order." In modern parlance, I would say "A painting is made of shapes of color". In the new series, I wanted to let the shapes speak out. I avoided too much modeling, or detailing of the objects.

"Provence, Distilled: Sunset Afterglow"
6 x 6, Oil on Paper
(c) Lesley Powell 2018
$150

The new series also springs from a concept that Felix Vallotton (another Nabi) used with great success. He called it the "paysage composé", or, loosely translated, the "put together landscape". Vallotton would make sketches of landscapes and take notes on location. Back home in the studio, he would put together paintings using various elements from different sketches.  He thus created landscapes that did not actually exist in nature, but represented something universal.  I have taken a page from Vallotton's book, freely moving trees or fields in some of my paintings in order to make a painting that hints at the universal aspects of the landscape. 

Paintings (c) Lesley Powell 2018

But my paintings are far from imaginary. They are all based on plein air paintings I have completed on location in Provence. I have used the colors seen with my own eyes on location, and put those colors into shapes that tell the gesture of the land. I have simplified a copse of trees into a simple dark block, a vineyard into a stripe of green. I call this "distilling" the elements of the landscape. Hence my title of the new series, "Provence, Distilled".  Despite the simplicity of these paintings--or maybe because of it--I hope that the viewer will feel a sense of distance and appreciate the sweeping character of the landscapes.

Paintings (c) Lesley Powell 2018

These are small paintings, on Arches oil paper--a beautiful, archival paper, specially made for oil paintings.  Most of them are priced between $150 and $195 (unframed). I think they make very handsome pairs or groupings, such as the ones above. I'm even including a photo (below) showing a frame treatment that would look fantastic. You can check out the full collection by clicking here--thanks for taking a look!   (PS: Flat rate shipping of $10 per painting).

Frame option (Artist Unknown)

How Much?

A young friend of mine who is an interior designer told me that one of her clients posed this question: "How much should I expect to pay for an original painting?" Hmmm. We all have widely divergent budgets for home decor and also for artwork. My friend mulled on the question a bit, and replied: "Well, it all depends, but as a rule of thumb, certainly more than you pay for your throw pillows!"

"Esterel"
Felix Vallottton

I thought this was a great response. One can easily pay big bucks for a pair of custom throw pillows in a designer fabric. Even more if you add some special trim. Throw pillows wear

Things that Go Bump in the Night

"Le Mauvais Pas"
Woodblock Print
Felix Vallotton, 2893

Halloween is just around the corner, and everywhere I look there are pumpkins, skeletons, ghosts and other indicia of the holiday. I started a bit of research about Halloween for this post, but quickly despaired, because of the vast number of theories about the real origins of Halloween. 

Many of the theories are conflicting. Let's just say that it's a centuries old tradition, which some say dates from the Celts over 2000 years ago. The Celts believed that on the night before November 1 (the start of their new year), the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. 

"Black Cat"
Watercolor
(c) Beverly Brown

Most would agree that the holiday we know today has roots that are both pagan and sacred.   Halloween falls on the night before All Saint's Day--a day recognized by the Roman Catholic Church in 609 A.D. to honor those who have died and gone to heaven. According to

Backsides

"Artisan Station, Backside"
12 x 9, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell, 2014

Time for a little levity. My painting of the Dilworth Artisan Station (above) was just juried into the "Carolina's Got Art!" salon show. I am thrilled and honored to have a painting accepted into the show. But I know all too well that with thousands of entries to parse through, the juror's decisions can be somewhat random, so I remind myself that it could just have easily gone the other way.

One of the richest comments on my painting came from a colleague with a great sense of humor. (I hesitate to disclose his name, but his initials are Paul Hastings). He said, "Congratulations! You not only got in to the Show---you got in with a painting

Simple Shapes

"On the Beach"
Oil on cardboard, 42 x 48 cm
Felix Vallotton, 1899

This week I was thumbing through my catalogue from a retrospective of the works of Felix Vallotton. Vallotton (1865-1925) painted in France, and was a member of the "Nabis". I have written before about the Nabis and their approach to painting. There is something very powerful in the  simplicity of the Nabis' work. I find their use of simple, graphic patterns very appealing. I guess that's no surprise, since I am a fan of simplification in painting.

"Box Seats at the Theater, the Gentleman and the Lady"
Oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm
Felix Vallotton, 1909

I don't know how Vallotton managed to say so much with so little. The painting directly above was the cover photo from the retrospective. A gloved hand, a face barely visible under a hat--a few simple lines tell it all. I can certainly see why the curators of the retrospective gave it the title "Felix Vallotton: The Fire Under the Ice"--the surface simplicity of these paintings belies their great impact.

Fellow painter Nancy Franke has written about her desire to simplify. She even wonders what "simplicity" means--whether it is brevity of brushstrokes, or use of a single idea, or even a simple background. I would say that Vallotton's paintings exemplify all of the above. 

Even more compelling in their simplicity are Vallotton's woodblock prints. Amazing! Here are a few of my favorites:

"L'Argent"
Felix Vallotton

"Le Violin"
Felix Vallotton, 1896

"L'Irreparable"
Felix Vallotton, 1898

These prints are irrepressibly modern in sensibility. And quite brave---look at those huge areas of uninterrupted black or white! In fact, the use of large areas of pure black and pure white are a signature of Vallotton's style, as are his bold cropping choices. (Before Vallotton, most printmakers used cross-hatching to vary the shading of their subjects from light to dark). 

There is definitely something to be learned from Vallotton about the benefit of using simple shapes. He also proves the power of a good arrangement of lights and darks. I think I'll be referring back to this catalogue often, to help me focus on simplification. Less is more!