The blurry photo below is of three ladies discussing John Singer Sargent's Perseus at Night. I hung around and overheard that William Merritt Chase painted his canvases black before beginning a portrait. Is that true? His paintings are to the extreme left and right.
The SBMA is also exhibiting a collection of children's book illustrations that I found very interesting. Below are two examples.
Illustration by Barry Moser for A Ring of Tricksters
Illustration by Paul O. Zelinsky for Rumplelstiltskin
I'm off to Oregon for a week. Be good.
10 comments:
Looks like a great collection, I did not know this about Chase....intersting.
Karen, I'm wondering if it's true. Maybe he didn't use black. Just a very deep color. I imagine it would have been scrubbed in a think wash. I'd like to try it.
Silvina, you're going to Oregon!? Where? We just got back from the Willamette Valley to visit our son near Salem this past week.
Maybe Chase used a wipe-out technique? This is a painting method in which the primed canvas is covered in burnt umber or other colour and then light areas are wiped out to form the images.
I don't find any easy reference on his technique, but perhaps someone else has info on that.
Diana, I just got back from Ashland, OR. Very beautiful.
Did you get to see some Shakespeare while you were there?
Diana, I know the Shakespeare Festival was going on but we didn't have time. I was up there at an artist's conference. My next post will be all about that experience. It was awesome (and I don't use that word lightly).
That's one Sargent I've never seen in person. Need to visit that museum next I'm out there, probably June or July. Check out his watercolor of the same subject, it's just as good maybe better.
Nick, hey! I think I have a picture, in a book, of that watercolor study Sargent did. He seemed to use both mediums with such ease. Makes my heart ache a little. Good to hear from you!
HI Silvi. You have this way of writing that sounds like you're talking, with emotions and everything. It's so natural and descriptive that it's a joy to read.
Oh yeah. That art stuff ain't too bad, neither.
Cheers!
Connie, thank you so much for the positive feedback. Now if I could make my paintings full of emotion and natural and descriptive, there'd be no need for words!
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