I know the rain is dreary, especially when our moods are pulled by pandemic, isolation, news. But the rain has rinsed the pollen from the air, and for that I am thankful.
In class on Tuesday, Fran O’Neill shared a few of her favorite landscape paintings. She showed the Van Gogh above, one I haven’t seen before. How could I not have seen this?? It’s instantly one of my favorites.
Vincent van Gogh, Rain, 1889
In these, Van Gogh has a way of describing rain in a way that creates mood, movement, and atmosphere, darkening the sky and slicing through the space. The angled lines are direct and descriptive. I relate Van Gogh’s depiction of rain with these straight diagonal lines to the rain in Ukiyo-e and Hiroshige’s prints. You can see Van Gogh’s copy of a Hiroshige below.
Hiroshige/ Vincent van Gogh
For a creative challenge today: depict rain in a scene with a repetition of parallel and crisp diagonal lines. The lines can be all coming in a single angle, or in two or more angles, to suggest wind. Give it a scribble and post to social media with #seattleartistleague #rain.
Viewing things on the internet, sometimes I don’t know which photograph is more accurate for color….
I’ve posted about rain before in V. Notes. Here are three:
A Supermoon happens when a Full Moon or New Moon coincides with the Moon’s closest approach to Earth. The moon has not been this close to the Earth since January 26th, 1948. The next time a Full Moon is even closer to Earth will be November 25th, 2034. [image_with_animation image_url=”3045″ alignment=”” animation=”None Clouds come from time …
I’m in NY, doing a figurative sculpture marathon with Bruce Gagnier at the NY Studio School. I’m three days into a two week intensive, and I’m loving it. One of the topics my instructor presses is contrapposto. I learned about contrapposto at WWU, but I’m understanding the real value of it now. Bruce Gagnier showed me …
[image_with_animation image_url=”7035″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] I prefer a perfect sheet of Rives BFK, baptized in a bath of holy water and dabbed by angels wings, printed with hesitant optimism and an aneurysm when an imperfection emerges, but William Kentridge, he throws it down. That man can work the paper. Torn pieces, inked, and carefully …
Today, after skittering around with tasks, I was able to attend Fran’s Giant Figures Workshop, held in the spacious light-filled Drawing and Painting Studios at the Seattle Artist League. Years ago, when Lendy and I looked at this big Equinox warehouse space, we had NYSS style drawing intensives like this in mind, so it was …
Van Gogh’s Rain
I know the rain is dreary, especially when our moods are pulled by pandemic, isolation, news. But the rain has rinsed the pollen from the air, and for that I am thankful.
In class on Tuesday, Fran O’Neill shared a few of her favorite landscape paintings. She showed the Van Gogh above, one I haven’t seen before. How could I not have seen this?? It’s instantly one of my favorites.
In these, Van Gogh has a way of describing rain in a way that creates mood, movement, and atmosphere, darkening the sky and slicing through the space. The angled lines are direct and descriptive. I relate Van Gogh’s depiction of rain with these straight diagonal lines to the rain in Ukiyo-e and Hiroshige’s prints. You can see Van Gogh’s copy of a Hiroshige below.
For a creative challenge today: depict rain in a scene with a repetition of parallel and crisp diagonal lines. The lines can be all coming in a single angle, or in two or more angles, to suggest wind. Give it a scribble and post to social media with #seattleartistleague #rain.
Viewing things on the internet, sometimes I don’t know which photograph is more accurate for color….
I’ve posted about rain before in V. Notes. Here are three:
Hiroshige’s Rain
Hiroshige’s Rainy Moments
Rainy Moments in Art
Related Posts
Supermoon
A Supermoon happens when a Full Moon or New Moon coincides with the Moon’s closest approach to Earth. The moon has not been this close to the Earth since January 26th, 1948. The next time a Full Moon is even closer to Earth will be November 25th, 2034. [image_with_animation image_url=”3045″ alignment=”” animation=”None Clouds come from time …
The Dynamic Dance of Contrapposto
I’m in NY, doing a figurative sculpture marathon with Bruce Gagnier at the NY Studio School. I’m three days into a two week intensive, and I’m loving it. One of the topics my instructor presses is contrapposto. I learned about contrapposto at WWU, but I’m understanding the real value of it now. Bruce Gagnier showed me …
William Kentridge Prints
[image_with_animation image_url=”7035″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] I prefer a perfect sheet of Rives BFK, baptized in a bath of holy water and dabbed by angels wings, printed with hesitant optimism and an aneurysm when an imperfection emerges, but William Kentridge, he throws it down. That man can work the paper. Torn pieces, inked, and carefully …
Fran O’Neill’s Giant Figures Workshop, Day 1
Today, after skittering around with tasks, I was able to attend Fran’s Giant Figures Workshop, held in the spacious light-filled Drawing and Painting Studios at the Seattle Artist League. Years ago, when Lendy and I looked at this big Equinox warehouse space, we had NYSS style drawing intensives like this in mind, so it was …