Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i Artists Magazine

“A work of art does not appeal to the intellect. It does not appeal to the moral sense. Its aim is not to instruct, not to edify, but to awaken an emotion.”— GEORGE INNESS According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in the early years of the Civil War, the American landscape painter George Inness (1825–1894) was producing work that—“with its scrupulous draftsmanship and respect for topographical truth”—diverged from the Hudson River School, revealing the influence of the Barbizon School in France. By the time he painted his 1869 landscape, Autumn Meadows (above), however, Inness had begun to signal an appreciation for the work of English Romantic J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851). Although the mood of this landscape is one of quiet serenity rather than a Turner-like turbulance, the expression evokes a…

a 120-acre garden that boasts more than 15,000 species of beautiful botanicals alongside exquisite sculpture and architecture is a welcome sight for any artist. When the grounds of that garden are also home to a world-class library and an extensive collection of historic European and American art, that destination becomes as much an educational experience as a source of visual inspiration. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, Calif., is precisely that unique place—one to which painters, photographers, poets, scholars and students flock in order to get their fill of beauty and culture. LIBRARY: LITERATURE & LEARNING The Huntington was founded by railroad and real-estate magnate Henry Edwards Huntington and his wife, Arabella Huntington, in 1919, and was designed to be an institution for “the advancement…

Not too long ago, an airline lost my luggage. I was traveling to teach an outdoor pastel painting workshop. This could have been a disaster, but fortunately, I’d packed my expensive pastels and pastel paper in my carry-on bag. I was able to borrow an easel—and, since the weather at my destination was cold, a down parka. In my more than 15 years of traveling to teach workshops and to paint, I’ve never had things go so far awry that I couldn’t easily adjust. Good planning and organization is the secret. I’m a firm believer in checklists and, like Santa, in checking them twice. But knowing what to take—and what to leave behind—can make those lists shorter. How Will You Travel? If you’re an experienced plein air painter, you’ve already…

The humble sketchbook is the most important tool a creative person can have—and there are endless ways to fill its blank pages. I’m not talking about the big fat newsprint pads filled with 10-second life-drawing exercises scrawled in charcoal. Or the random dog-eared, cheap and nasty books filled with scrawls and half-baked ideas for proper projects done in other media. I don’t think of sketchbooks as just the first draft of creativity—which these types of sketchbooks often represent. Instead, to my mind, a sketchbook is actually an end in itself. It’s the final product. It’s a beautiful art piece. And it can take so many forms and feature so many things. AN EVERYDAY PART OF YOUR LIFE Your sketchbook can—and should—go with you everywhere. This is really important because it…

The spare, vast, rugged terrain of northern Utah provides the settings for Joseph Alleman’s evocative paintings of the vestiges of an almost bygone way of life. In his pictures wooden barns stand forlornly against backdrops of distant mountain ranges under enormous skies of billowing gray clouds. Run-down farmhouses, crumbling silos, peeling paint and splintered boards bear testament to age and weathering while the surrounding grassland stretches away to far-off peaks. Snow appears in many of the paintings, sometimes atop distant mountains but more often scattered across the landscape in patches under a gray light that suggests there may be more to come. Alleman’s painting approach perfectly reflects the clarity and spareness of his subject matter. The paint is lean and the edges are clear. Compositions are boldly and simply designed.…

British landscape artist Tracy Levine remembers when, at the age of 5, she made a pretend gallery with sheets and chairs in her father’s lounge. Aided and abetted by her younger brother, she pinned their drawings up, pricing them between one and two pence, and agonizing over which ones could command a higher sum. Her father was not amused. He didn’t approve of his daughter going to neighbors to ask whether they’d like to visit and buy some paintings. “What’s funny is that it doesn’t feel that much different from what I do now, except for inflation, of course, because my prices are a lot more than one pence,” she says with a laugh. WINDING CAREER ROAD Early proclivities notwithstanding, Levine’s artistic path between age 5 and the present took…

Earlier we read Thoreau’s observations on “maps of the mind” as he walked his hometown of Concord, Mass., so it seems fitting to use my re-creation of “Thoreau’s Concord, circa 1845” as an example to describe the process of creating an illustrated map. Before pencil goes to paper on this or any illustration, decisions need to be made regarding point of view, direction of sight, scale and the method of inviting the observer into and through the work. In the final version (right), what may simply appear to be a landscape viewed from atop a hill is, in actuality, calculated carefully to maintain and direct the viewer’s attention. Step 1 I establish a preliminary point of view, roughly arrange the locations of buildings and roads, and manipulate the scale of…

after working on a project for a while, an artist may lose sight of it. Another set of eyes offers a new perspective. In art classes of any kind, regular critiques are standard practice. Once an artist begins working independently, however, opportunities to receive such feedback may recede. A community of people who provide support and guidance through their critiques can enhance the work you produce, motivate you when you feel discouraged and provide a network with whom to grow. Getting critical feedback may sound unpleasant, but if a critique is done right, it offers important insights. WHOM TO TURN TO Whether you want to create a regularly convening group or find a few individuals to consult when necessary, think carefully about whom to cultivate. Only in rare situations is…

the memory of millennial pink has nearly faded from our collective consciousness, and the favored hue has taken on a more complex, rich tone of slight browns and mauves: rose pink is the new favorite. Although it’s a popular pick scrolling through the pages of Instagram and Pinterest, you might not immediately recognize it as a common choice among artists, except for those working in florals. Paul Gauguin, however, celebrated color without fear, and took inspiration from Henri Matisse’s use of distinct lines and borders. Gauguin would often paint great swaths of color in blocks that both created geometric shapes and also played against them, as seen in the forms of the two subjects in Tahitian Women. Gauguin traveled to Tahiti in 1891, where he hoped to escape “the European…

When painting from life or color photos, halftones can be confusing. Sometimes they suggest a dark value and sometimes they suggest a light one. The advantage of painting from old black-and-white photos is that the images are simplified into dark and light values with few or no halftone details. All good drawing depends on comparing the correct placement of one shape in relation to other shapes. Never think of a shape in isolation. It’s all about the relationships of shapes, edges and colors. Simplify and combine different parts of your subject that are in shadow. Simplicity is the goal. STUDY THE PHOTOGRAPH Take a close look at the photo Low-Country Friends (below). Notice how many darks merge with adjacent darks. Try not to think of the photo as a picture…

“It’s opener there, in the wide open air.” —DR. SEUSS, oh the places you’ll go! Knowledge Is Power If you’re setting out to paint in a particular region for the first time, read up on the terrain, flora, fauna and atmospheric characteristics first. Although exploring an area is half the fun, having an idea of what to look for and where to find it will enhance your painting time. You may also want to adjust your palette to suit the region. Stay In Touch It’s always a good idea to tell someone where you’re going and how long you plan on being there. Don’t Feed the Bears! While most animal sitings will leave you with delightful memories and maybe a few references, be aware of best practices regarding encounters with…

Levine’s ability to capture the essence of a place has become easier since she moved into a new studio. The opportunity came about virtually by accident. She and her partner had developed her previous studio from an old garage, which was cramped, damp and lacking in storage. Their house was bursting at the seams, and the two were planning to move when a chance conversation with the vicar, whose land adjoins theirs, led Levine to ask him whether the church would sell a bit of it. After a year of price negotiations and conveyancing, Levine owned a parcel of land and was able to sit down with her interior-designer son to plan her dream studio/gallery. “It has beautiful natural and artificial light, adequate storage and room to breathe and create—a…

We’re looking at a tree. It’s handsome—round and symmetrical. It stands alone on a field underneath a cloudy sky, with some mist and frost not too far in the distance. We can’t quite determine the tree’s height—there are no people or other easy markers of scale in the scene. But the tree seems to emanate its own painterly energy—a sense of vibrancy and light. It might even be encircled by the faintest of halos. The painting, by Yury Darashkevich, is titled One on One (opposite), and the name makes sense. It’s not a complicated painting—it’s a tree on a misty day, plain and simple. But the presentation of this “simple” subject is lively and fresh, with unexpected dribbles of paint here and gentle flicks of brilliant paint there. We can…

One of the highlights of travel is a visit to an art museum. Whether you’re soaking in Caravaggio at the Uffizi Gallery, Velázquez at the Prado or Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum, museums are the one place where you can go and hope to get lost. We asked a handful of travel-savvy artists to answer the question: If you could visit any museum in the world today, which would you choose? Alfredo Guati Rojo National Museum of Watercolor Mexico City, acuarela.org.mx “My favorite museum is Museo Nacional de Acuarela Alfredo Guati Rojo which sits in a quiet corner of the Coyoacán district in Mexico City. Visitors are treated to a collection of watercolor paintings from Mexico and beyond in a lovely house surrounded by lush greenery. The core of its impressive…

As home to one of the world’s liveliest art capitals, the Northeastern U.S. is an indisputable destination for any art-loving traveler. Indeed, New York City boasts many of the greatest art museums on the planet, and the region is also home to other extraordinary collections, including those of › the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In addition, the Northeast boasts many wonderful, smaller museums, often associated with the region’s celebrated colleges and universities. So, if you find yourself traveling through any of the 11 states that make up the U.S. Northeast, you’re sure to be near one of these gems! Harvard Art Museums Cambridge, Mass.harvardartmuseums.org Formerly three separate museum entities, the Fogg (Western European and North American art), the Busch-Reisinger (art from German-speaking Europe)…

there’s not a lot that we know about the life of Jacob van Ruisdael (Dutch, 1628–1682). His father and uncle were artists, so it’s assumed that he was trained at home. Documentary evidence is so sparse that a scratched-out entry from a 1676 list of Amsterdam doctors may—or may not—indicate that Ruisdael earned a medical degree. What we do know was neatly summarized by art historian Seymour Slive: “No old master or modern artist begins to match the astonishing variety of landscapes Jacob van Ruisdael depicted during the course of his career.” Slive enumerated the many aspects of the Dutch countryside that served as subject matter, and which Ruisdael observed with precision; his transcription of arboreal anatomy alone was so accurate that the trees in his paintings can be readily…

Painting outdoors on location poses unique challenges compared to painting in the well-controlled environment of the studio. One quickly realizes how difficult and frustrating it can be to create even a small painting during the hours spent outdoors. In this article, we’ll demonstrate the method that we’ve developed to teach painters how to quickly analyze local color and values, premix all the colors needed for the painting and develop a consistent color harmony among the premixed colors. STEP ONE We recommend that you become thoroughly familiar with the concept of color temperature and complementary colors. A split primary palette consists of a warm and a cool of each primary—red, yellow and blue. In the photo 1A, above, we’ve marked the primaries with a “P.” Going clockwise from lower left, these…

Before ceramic artist Charlet Davenport and her husband Peter Davenport decided to turn their 27-acre property in Woodstock, Vt., into a haven for large-scale sculpture and site-work, they visited every art park from Stowe, Vt., down to Miami, Fla. Some of the parks weren’t well maintained. The two observed that environment and weather play an intrinsic role in how outdoor sculpture is experienced and concluded, “It probably wasn’t a good idea to leave art in one spot too long.” THE VISION The Davenports take their responsibility as stewards of the land seriously. Being artists themselves, they understand the value of other artists’ ideas. Their goal was to support other creatives by empowering them to experiment. Ultimately, Storm King Art Center, a 500-acre outdoor museum located in New York’s Hudson Valley,…

“Mapmaking is perhaps the oldest variety of primitive art,” says map historian Lloyd Brown. He clarifies that early attempts at mapping weren’t based on systems of measure; rather, the original pioneers of geography actually created imaginative interpretations of their worlds the same way the mind makes mental pictures of its environs. Over time, geographic atlases became more reliant on mathematics, eventually causing conceptual maps of previous centuries to be discredited for their lack of technical accuracy. By 150 A.D., the new and official field of cartography closed the book on what we now call “illustrated” maps in favor of maps drawn “to scale” utilizing strict standards of design. Despite this rejection from their scientific peers, however, the artists who produced visionary maps endured. As a result, both forms of maps…

Who among us doesn’t remember a magical moment when a book set off a flight of imagination? Similarly, art gives us imaginative renditions of myths and histories. And so, images and tales weave together, gifting us with ideas and visions. In this vein, the Scottish writer Patrick Geddes once said, “by leaves we live,” words inscribed on the steps of the Scottish Poetry Library, in Edinburgh. There, in March 2011, a librarian found an intricate book sculpture now known as The Poetree. Rising from the base of an old book is a tree whose trunk and limbs consist of innumerable paper discs cut from a book, with cut-out strips of texts forming smaller branches bearing glued-on paper leaves. Beside the tree are two gilded eggshells with lines of a poem…

“Despite the tragically short life of French artist Jules Bastien-Lepage [1848–1884], his work was extremely influential for both his rural landscapes and portraiture. The Ripening Wheat, rooted in Naturalism and sentimentality, is a perfect example of his evocative style of landscape painting. Here, Bastien-Lepage composes a tableau of a solitary figure, vast space and distant storm to engage the viewer in a simultaneously calm and suspenseful narrative.” SUZIE BAKER Artist and Vice President, Oil Painters of America…