If artists were trees

This is an unusual post born from a “what if” question. I see some connections between species of trees and some artists’ bushstrokes.

Camille Pissarro

While studying Camille Pissarro’s paintings, his brushwork reminded me of cherry trees. This analogy was brought on me not only the pointy shape of the leaves echoed by the elongated coma shaped brush marks, but also by the way brush strokes are placed on the canvas, in diagonal or hatches.

Cherry tree

The Church at Eragny (Detail)

The Church at Eragny - oil on canvas by Camille Pissarro [Source: Wikimedia]

Pissarro went through different styles. He even tried pointillism before giving it up because he found the style too contrived. The “cherry tree leaves” brushmarks are present in his matured style, towards the end of his life.


Vincent van Gogh

While walking the the woods, I came across an old oak. Look at the pattern of the bark. Then look at some of Van Gogh paintings. What do you think of the mouvement, the patterns, and the sculptural quality of the brushwork?

Oak tree bark

Vincent van Gogh self-portrait (Detail)

Vincent van Gogh self-portrait [Source: Wikimedia]

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

I associate Corot’s brushwork with beech trees or willow trees because of the way the thin branches with young shoots let the light through in early spring and seem like a fine galzing on the sky.

Oil on canvas by Jean Baptiste Corot [Source: Wikimedia ]

This brushwork is characteristic of some post 1860 landscape by Corot. As for any painter, his style has evolved and the transparencies are more present in his late works.

Beech tree

17th and 18th century paintings at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Lille

17th Century Flemmish paintings

Le Dénombrement de Bethléem – Census at Bethlehem by Pieter Brueghel II the Younger (Brussels, 1564 – Anvers 1638)

According to the label for this painting, there are 13 different versions around the theme of this painting. In this case, the biblical story is transposed to a village when the tax had to be paid.

It is interesting to compare Brueghel II the Younger’s style with Rubens’ style. I always thought of Brueghel as coming before Rubens, but they were in fact contemporaries. I suppose that Brueghel the Younger was ridding the wave of success created by his father, Brueghel the Elder, and carried on painting in the style of the former generation.

Descente de Croix - Descent from the Cross - Oil on canvas by Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen - Wesphalie, 1577 - Anvers, 1640)

This work was painted around 1617 for the main altar of the Capucins’ covent of Lille. There is a complex flow between the different figures around Jesus, positionned along a diagonal line from the top left corner to the right bottom corner. Notice how all the women are gathered within the left triangle below the Christ.

Saint Bonaventure - Oil on canvas by Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen - Wesphalie, 1577 - Anvers, 1640)

Le Christ en Croix – Christ on the cross by Anton van Dyck (Anvers, 1599 - Blackfriar’s - England), 1641)

This work was painted for the main altar of the covent of the Récollets in Lille. It was painted after van Dyck returned from Italy in 1627 and before he went to London in 1632.

18th century French painting

Les Apprêts d’un déjeuner, dit Le Gobelet d’argent – The silver goblet - Oil on canvas (around 1730) by Jean Siméon Chardin (Paris, 1699 - Paris, 1779)

This still life painting has been carefully composed by Chardin within a triangle. The depth is suggested by the protubing knife and the two steps. The palette is characteristic of Chardin. The silver goblet, with its harmonious shape can be seen in several other still life paintings by the artist (See Still life paintings by Jean Siméon Chardin).

  

The museum

The museum is located on the Place de la République – 59000 – Lille – France

Postal address : 18bis rue de Valmy – 59000 – Lille – France

http://www.pba-lille.fr/

Opening hours 

• Monday, 2pm – 6pm
• Closed Tuesday
• Wednesday to Sunday, 10am – 6pm
• Tickets sold until one half hour before closing

Closed: 1 January, 1 May, 14 July, the first weekend of September (braderie de Lille), 1 November, and 25 December

Summer hours (July and August):

• Monday, 12pm – 5pm
• Closed Tuesday
• Wednesday to Sunday, 12am – 5pm

Related articles

20th century paintings at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Lille
 

Around the Impressionism paintings - Palais des Beaux Arts in Lille

Technorati Tags: Palais des Beaux Arts, Lille, Pieter Brueghel, Peter Paul Rubens, Anton van Dyck, Chardin, art museum, oil painting, North of France

Around Impressionism: paintings at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Lille

The museum has a good selection of paintings from the school of Barbizon (Corot, Courbet, and Harpignies)

Le Pâtre aux deux chèvres ou Effet du matin - The shepherd with two goats or Morning effect – Oil on canvas (around 1865) by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (Paris 1796 – Ville-d’Avray, 1875)

This is a typical example of Corot’s style and choice of subject.

Hêtraie dans la forêt de Fontainebleau – Beeches in the forest of Fontainebleau - Oil on canvas by Constant Dutilleux (Douai, 1807 – Paris, 1865)

Dutilleux discovered the forest of Fontainebleau, near Paris, and went there to pain on the advice of Corot. He is not very well known in France but I will look for his work when visiting museums in the future. This woodland painting shows an accomplished use of the dapple light and I really like it.

Le Parlement de Londres – London Parliament – Oil on canvas (1904) by Claude Monet (Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926)

This oil painting of the London Parliament is part of the series of eleven paintings done by Monet while he stayed in London. The subject is viewed from a windon of Saint-Thomas Hospital, on the other side of the Thames. Monet played with the atmospheric eeriness of the light and colours caused by London’s thick smog (with coal burnt to heat the city, pollution was high in the capital city at that time with the smoke and the fog adding their effects on the landscape).

Vétheuil, le matin – Vétheuil, in the morning – Oil on canvas by Claude Monet (Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926)

This painting has very subtle variations of colours that are difficult to catch on camera. Monet captured very well the haze of the morning.

La débâcle – Ice melting – Oil on canvas (1880) by Claude Monet (Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926)

The great winter followed by warmer weather created ice melting and blocks of ice carried by the water of the Seine River.

Après la débâcle, La Seine au pont de Suresnes – After the ice melting, The Seine River at the bridge in Suresnes – Oil on canvas (1880) by Alfred Sisley (Paris, 1839 – Moret-sur-Loing, 1899)

Sisley completed this painting the same winter than Monet did the one above. Notice the dramatic role played by the sky in Sisley’s painting.

Port Marly, gelée blanche - Port Marly, hoarfrost - Oil on canvas (1872) by Alfred Sisley (Paris, 1839 – Moret-sur-Loing, 1899)

The composition works really well with successive triangles on the left leading the eye towards the horizon. The mouvement is also brought by the foreground being in the shade while the background is bathed in the morning light. I like the use of complimentary blue and orange colours in the background to depict the fresh autumn morning.

Route de Versailles à Louveciennes – Road from Versailles to Louveciennes – Oil on canvas (1895) by Auguste Renoir.

The same road has been painted by Monet and Pissarro 25 years earlier. The brush strokes and luminous colours are typical of Renoir’s work.

Dans l’atelier, la pose du modèle – In the studio, live model posing – Oil on canvas by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Albi, 1864 – Château de Malromé, Gironde, 1901

The artist selected a very elongated canvas for this painting.

With Edouard Vuillard, we see the legacy of the Impresionist period. The artist belonged to the Nabis mouvement (with the like of Paul Gauguin, Pierre Bonnard, and Maurice Denis). The still life paintings on show are influenced by Japonism.

Fleurs dans un vase – Flowers in a vase – Oil on canvas (1905) by Edouard Vuillard (Cuiseaux, 1868 – La Baule, 1940)

Note: unfortunately, the painting is under glass and you can see the reflection of a large window that was behind the painting.

Fleurs– Flowers– Oil on canvas (1904) by Edouard Vuillard (Cuiseaux, 1868 – La Baule, 1940)

The museum

The museum is located on the Place de la République – 59000 – Lille – France
Postal address: 18bis rue de Valmy – 59000 – Lille – France
http://www.pba-lille.fr/

Opening hours

Monday, 2pm – 6pm
Closed Tuesday
Wednesday to Sunday, 10am – 6pm

Tickets sold until one half hour before closing

Closed: 1 January, 1 May, 14 July, the first weekend of September (braderie de Lille), 1 November, and 25 December


Summer hours (July and August):

Monday, 12pm – 5pm
Closed Tuesday
Wednesday to Sunday, 12am – 5pm


Related articles
20th century paintings at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Lille

20th century paintings at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Lille

Palais des Beaux Arts in Lille

Rotunda where the paintings are exhibited

Les deux femmes au vase bleu – Two women with blue vase (1935)

Olga au col de fourrure – Olga with fur collar Oil on canvas (1923) by Pablo Picasso (Malaga, 1881- Mougins, 1973)

Olga Kokhlova (1891 – 1955) was Picasso’s first wife. She was a dancer with the Diaghilev’s company. Picasso met her when he worked on the ballet Parade (music by Eric Satie) in 1917. This portrait belongs to the neo-classical period of Picasso.

The museum

Palais des Beaux Arts in Lille – Lille’s Fine Arts Museum
The museum is located on the Place de la République – 59000 – Lille – France

Postal address : 18bis rue de Valmy – 59000 – Lille – France

http://www.pba-lille.fr/


Opening hours

Monday, 2pm – 6pm
Closed Tuesday
Wednesday to Sunday, 10am – 6pm

Tickets sold until one half hour before closing
Closed: 1 January, 1 May, 14 July, the first weekend of September (braderie de Lille), 1 November, and 25 December

Summer hours (July and August):

Monday, 12pm – 5pm
Closed Tuesday
Wednesday to Sunday, 12am – 5pm

The Simple Secret to Better Painting – Book review

This is a review of the book “The Simple Secret to Better Painting” by Greg Albert.

 

 

 

The simple Secret

 So what is this big secret? Can you really boil it down to a single principle? Here comes the ONE RULE OF COMPOSITION: “Never make any two intervals the same.”

 

The notion of intervals is then applied to the different aspects of painting: objects, shapes, colours, tonal values…

 

Greg Albert is cheating a little because he then adds two sub-principles to the One Rule of Composition. The author sums-up his recommendation at the end of the book:

 

“I no longer remember when I first summed up composition in one sentence, but the ONE RULE OF COMPOSITION has successfully simplified both teaching and learning how to make a better composition immediately. The Rule of Thirds and the Mostly, some and a bit formula are both corollaries of the ONE RULE OF COMPOSITION. My experience has shown me that these three concepts are the most useful to painters standing in front of a fresh canvas or watercolor sheet who want to get the composition right from the start.”

 “The Rule of Thirds” is a simple way to divide a picture into thirds vertically and horizontally. The intersections of the horizontal and vertical dividing lines create four points that are natural centre of attention in a composition when we look at a painting. Greg Albert calls these points the four sweet spots.

 

Greg Albert applies the formula “Mostly, some and a bit” to all of the characteristics of color: hue, temperature and intensity. For instance, you could have a painting mostly warm, with some neutral warm area and a bit of contrasting bright blue.

 

These are the main points, but the author also discusses other concepts that are attached to these three rules.

What does the book cover?

 

The book can be divided roughly into three parts. It starts with four chapters on principles of good design.

• Chapter 1 – design dynamics
• Chapter 2 - making things interesting
• Chapter 3 – achieving dynamic balance
• Chapter 4 – pleasing the eye

The numerous illustrations help to get the ideas, an approach that makes total sense when the targeted audience is visual artists. The paintings that illustrate the different concepts are good. I even prefer the simpler series thumbnails showing some “boring”, “better” and “best” compositions.

 

 

 

The next two chapters deal with tonal and colour schemes, and how “The one rule of composition” applies there.

• Chapter 5 - tonal value and contrast
• Chapter 6 – color

Finally, the author looks at specific types of subject and shows the concrete applications of the principle:

• Chapter 7 - still lifes
• Chapter 8 – landscapes
• Chapter 9 - figures and portrait

How does this book compare to other instruction books on painting? It is not a “how to” book based on demonstrations by the authors. Also, Greg Albert does not intend to cover everything. For instance, there is nothing on colour palette or mixing colours. He only covers colours in terms of dynamic composition and the impact they have.

 

The benefit of having the “Never make any two intervals the same” motto as a unifying principle is that the author can then anchor new knowledge on this foundation. It is always much easier to retain information when you can link it to what you already know.

 

For those who are sceptical about this approach, just remember that: Simple does not mean simplistic.

 

 

Verdict

 

An excellent book recommended for beginners to more advanced painters. Applying the principles in this book will help you improve your composition in more than one way.

 

 

The book

 

The Simple Secret to Better Painting by Greg Albert

 

Paperback: 128 pages

Publisher: F&W in the UK – North Light Books in the US

Language English

ISBN-10: 1581802560

ISBN-13: 978-1581802566

 

 

If you are in the US (Amazon affiliate link)

 

The Simple Secret to Better Painting: How to Immediately Improve Your Work with the One Rule of Composition

 

 If you are in the United Kingdom (Amazon affiliate link)

 

 The Simple Secret to Better Painting

 

  

The author

 

Greg Albertis graduated at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio. He has been teaching drawing and painting in the Art Academy of Cincinnati’s community education program for many years. He is also the Editorial Director of North Light Art Instruction Books and the author of several books on drawing and painting.