looking at fine art auction catalogs

     This painting was begun last year but recently completed. The model held a guitar with no strings so I had to complete that later with references. I'm not quite sure what to call it-- "Castles in Spain"? "Far away Places"? Hmmm- something to suggest that she is thinking about travel, inspired by the poster and wishing she was elsewhere.
     I've been looking at catalogs from "Fine Art Auctions". They are all Canadian art - some I love and some I wouldn't want at any price, let alone what they are listed at. There are some outstanding Emily Carr ones - and some dreadfully dreary ones. She should have had a clean-out before she died. She did leave the sorting task to Lawren Harris - but then her sister rescued many from the "destroy" pile. You have  to do the destroying yourself, like  Robert Genn did. I have had more than one clean-out. A fellow artist I know finds it very hard to get rid of anything but I think that you have to look at your work and ask yourself if you were to die, would you want those left to represent your work? Let's face it, *everything* is not a masterpiece. Some pieces are experiments, some are learning efforts that could lead in new directions even if they don't quite make it except as #1 in the series, some are lacking in some basic element- "weeding" has to be done. Yet, there is also a lot of good work out there that gets little recognition. I was looking at some nudes in one of the catalogs and thinking that a lot of the work produced in our group sessions is certainly the equal....it just lacks the signature of an already-recognized artist.  Too bad people don't trust themselves and buy what they like as it would be possible to have a very fine collection at very reasonable prices - fractions of prices in the catalogs.
     Catalog information is not always accurate- there are two Krieghoff's with obviously the same reference used for the male figure. The write-up for one paintings notes that the size is out of proportion to the other figures- but, in the other painting, there is the same dis-proportion with no mention. Then there is "Dorabell Lee", a watercolour by Emily Carr. The description refers to the figure as that of a child - but, it is obviously a doll -probably belonging to a child where Emily was staying to study in France. The proportions, the way it is lying down, the shapes of the arms, the face- it is a doll with a bisque head, probably bisque forearms - smoothly round-, and very slender legs . No doubt someone carved the sabots for its feet - and they are a bit large. If you look at other figure studies of actual people- and some are actual portraits- there is no doubt that Emily Carr was capable of doing a good figure or portrait study. No,  Dorabell Lee is not a child- it is a doll lying on the grass. Even the name is like a child's  made-up name for a doll, not so likely that of a real child in France. I wonder who bought the painting over 6 years ago- and I wonder if they realize the Dorabell Lee is a doll?  I haven't done any actual paintings of dolls, although I have done sketches. I'm a bit afraid of producing something on the sentimental side, so I have to admire the casualness of Dorabell Lee- just left on the ground. I think it was just an experiment with colours, using a subject that just happened to be there. I wonder if the owner ever knew that her doll was immortalized and would end up in a catalog with an estimated price of $30,000 to $70,000 ?

The big square- making a statement

I just sent off my newsletter for January and I put this painting in it - only the format cut off some of the top and some of the bottom - so here is the "full square". It is 36" square, acrylic on canvas. It was created from a photograph. We had been painting in Queen Elizabeth Park. I had done another tree- working in pen and ink and watercolour. Then, as we went back up the path, the light was shining through this tree and I snapped a photograph. I felt it was an inspiration for a new beginning. There are actually words painted on the canvas - now obscured but still there. It is up in my newly redecorated bedroom where I am enjoying it. At one point, I had the focal point as the flower bed at the left, but after discussing it in a critique, realized that I had veered away from the original inspiration of the light through the tree. Lesson learned - remember what made you want to paint it in the first place! So some more sky came down into the painting and the front flowers were subdued and a little more variation happened in the tree limbs. Now it says what I wanted it to say.

Back to Life Drawing

I'm looking forward to Life Drawing tonight - after not having any regular sessions over Christmas. This one was a long pose (last year!)  with Yui -in pastel -on - as is obvious here- mauve coloured Mi-Tientes paper. I thought it might be interesting to work on a cool  toned paper.  Yui is quite lovely with a long neck, long torso and an interesting flair with the clothes she wears. Every model has their own "presence" as well as appearance. There is also an interesting range of body language- some are strong and athletic, others very feminine in their movements. Then we have the male models with their variety too. When we are doing the short, warm-up drawings - one and two minutes- I often think that what I have drawn is not much. Then when I am sorting out papers - some just for recycling- I am sometimes surprised to see how much was captured in the quick gesture drawing. I also see a lot of good work around the room too.  Well, back at it tonight!

Different Opinions

The blog has nothing to do with the above painting- it is there because it is one that I did at the October figure painting workshop. It was mostly done in about three hours from a model - and then re-visited part of the final day when we went back to look at our work and decided what needed adjustment. The background is entirely from the imagination as there were actually other painters standing at their easels. I used it to emphasize where the main source of light was and to work in harmony with the colours of the model and her clothing.
     What has been interesting me lately has been the attention paid to Lawren Harris because of the exhibition of his works, arranged by actor and collector Steve Martin, in Los Angeles. Also, the record-breaking sale price of one of his paintings attracted much press.  I was interested to see Russell Smith writing in the Globe and Mail that he personally does not like Harris' work at all. "I find his stylized, glowing, bulbous glacier-scapes to look a lot like children's-book illustration. Very good children's-book illustration, sure- pair them up with a nice story about a dog and a seal and you'd get yourself a Caldecott Medal." I thought that was quite funny.  Nobody wrote in demanding Smith's head - which was interesting in itself as so many of us grew up with the silk screen prints of Group of Seven works in school hallways. Apparently this silk-screen proliferation of Canadian landscape was part of the government drumming up Canadian patriotism for World War II.  I also grew up seeing originals in the Vancouver Art Gallery when I attended Saturday Morning Art Classes there.  On a personal level, I like some of Harris' earlier works best - street scenes mainly.  The mountains tend to be a little bleak for my choice- maybe a little too stylized. Again, however, it is personal choice and the Group of Seven will probably always have a special appeal for most Canadians. We each should feel free to assess how we really feel and respond to the paintings - which isn't easy when the legends are so much a part of our experience in Canada.
     I'm reading - in bits because there is so much to it- "Portraits- John Berger on Artists", edited by Tom Overton. John Berger is one of the world's most celebrated art writers and the book is composed of many of his reviews and other writings.  He wrote a review of a show of Henry Moore's sculptures in which he said, among other things " a life-size "King and Queen", with crowns like jug handles to their heads, bodies that are scooped out, winded, and smacked flat like kippers..." Then he recalls in a piece written later,  "Moore's  work was uneven. He produced, in my opinion, his weakest sculptures during the period when his work was most in demand and most critically unquestioned. I remember that towards the end of the fifties, when I had the temerity to write critically about his latest work, I very nearly lost my job on the "New Statesman". I was considered a national traitor!"                            -and so we see that it is not easy to take a fresh look at venerated art. The other side to that, of course, is that when certain art gets the spotlight, collectors want it for the signature- and, often, how much it cost. Art and the art market are two different things.                                

Happy Holidays

This is a very short blog but I just wanted to show the entire painting of which just a slice was shown on my December newsletter - so here it is- the house off Commercial Drive done on a plein-aire day. If anyone is nt on my newsletter list and wants to be, e-mail me at lorainewellman@shaw.ca . It is just a short e-mail with a picture every month and usually a notice of upcoming art events.- cheers!

Plein-aire after the fact....

The top painting was as done "on the spot" in Hycroft gardens. The bottom is the same painting after setting it aside and coming back to it in the studio. I darkened the darks and made the colour richer, made the light behind the arbour even lighter and enriched the colours of the hydrangeas. I think it all results in a more appealing painting.  With acrylics, even after much experience and awareness, it is  sometimes a bit of a challenge to get the lights light enough as acrylic does darken on drying. I also think it makes a difference when the painting is viewed indoors, out of the bright natural light- it seems easier then to judge the tonal values. I've been going over - and I hope, improving, a few other paintings done this summer. One or two I was ready to trash until I sat down with them again. Second thoughts are sometimes good ones!

Trying something new

On the theory that not much is going to happen to any of them, I like to try different things on our Friday "Long Pose" days. We are a smaller group than Wednesday evenings - so there is more room. For this pose with Amanda, I first drew her in charcoal on watercolour paper. Then I did a wash of red acrylic paint and used a dryer to get it dry. This is where more space helped as I moved from where I was drawing to a table to use a blow dryer. Then I painted over everything with acrylic ground for pastels - using a foam brush, not a good painting brush as it is fairly gritty. Then back to the blow dryer. Then I worked with regular pastels but I found it easier to keep it loose. This was partly because of the way I had started fairly quickly to draw in the pose and the wash of paint gave it all a rougher look. Even the way the "ground"accepted the pastels was a bit different. I quite like the results but I have no major plans for it. As a pastel, it would have to be framed and glassed and it is a full sheet of watercolour paper  so that would be fairly expensive. I will probably show it at next year's DoorsOpen - but I think it is just going into the cupboard in the meantime. Wednesday night's long pose will just be on pastel paper as I won't be able to have the room for this - but I definitely intend to try this somewhat "mixed media" approach again. I haven't tried this before and haven't seen it done in actuality - but I did see this method on a website so I got the acrylic ground for pastels - which I hadn't know existed- and gave it a go.