Pierre Bonnard was an avid sketcher, filling countless sketchbooks and scraps of paper with drawings he would later peruse for painting inspiration when in his studio.
From a previous V. Note: Bonnard did not paint from direct observation. He said he felt ‘weak in front of nature. …The presence of the object, the motif, is very cramping for the painter at the moment of painting. The point of departure for a painting being an idea — if the object is there at the time of working, there is always a danger for the artist to allow himself to be too involved in the incidences of the direct view, and in so doing to lose the initial idea.’ Instead of painting from direct observation, he painted from his drawings, and the memory stored within them.
This process of sketching on site and then painting without the view of nature allowed Bonnard to “digest” the image artistically in two stages: first translating what he saw into his own language of marks, allowing shapes to form a nuanced grid that straightens curves and rounds right angles. Typically a painter differentiates shapes by applying light and dark values, but here Bonnard distinguishes each shape by its own language of marks. See how many different marks he can make with a dull little pencil! The scene is transformed a second time as these marks are translated into reverberating colors. Painter Patrick Heron compared the effect to the way a spider’s web holds raindrops. (Source)
Congratulations! You are 10 days in to this 30 day creative challenge. Have you checked Instagram to see what comes up for #30sal? As I write this there are 598 posts! This is so exciting! Who will post #600? There are quite a few on Facebook too! If you did a few of the challenges …
[image_with_animation image_url=”11503″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Many new artists feel they need an original idea for every artwork, but most experienced artists get a lot of creative mileage out of one idea (especially a simple idea), repeated in iterations. Here is a great example: Temple Dogs, a series of 8 by Ralph Kiggell. Each illustration is …
A sneak preview of artworks for my upcoming show Ruthie V. Some Pretty Paintings A collection of figures and flowers in paintings and prints Show opens January 5, 2019 Show up through January 27th Artist Talk Saturday, January 5th (3:30-4:30pm) Opening Reception to follow (5-7pm) Smith & Vallee Gallery 5742 Gilkey Ave, Edison (360) 766-6230 Open Daily 11-5 …
I’ve been talking about how to use hands as expressive elements within a drawing. I love this idea so much, both for technical practice and for powerful personal expression, that I made a class to study expressive hands and heads, and I started collecting examples. Some I collected because I appreciated the rendering. Some I collected because the artist …
Bonnard’s Landscape Sketches
Pierre Bonnard was an avid sketcher, filling countless sketchbooks and scraps of paper with drawings he would later peruse for painting inspiration when in his studio.
From a previous V. Note: Bonnard did not paint from direct observation. He said he felt ‘weak in front of nature. …The presence of the object, the motif, is very cramping for the painter at the moment of painting. The point of departure for a painting being an idea — if the object is there at the time of working, there is always a danger for the artist to allow himself to be too involved in the incidences of the direct view, and in so doing to lose the initial idea.’ Instead of painting from direct observation, he painted from his drawings, and the memory stored within them.
This process of sketching on site and then painting without the view of nature allowed Bonnard to “digest” the image artistically in two stages: first translating what he saw into his own language of marks, allowing shapes to form a nuanced grid that straightens curves and rounds right angles. Typically a painter differentiates shapes by applying light and dark values, but here Bonnard distinguishes each shape by its own language of marks. See how many different marks he can make with a dull little pencil! The scene is transformed a second time as these marks are translated into reverberating colors. Painter Patrick Heron compared the effect to the way a spider’s web holds raindrops. (Source)
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Congratulations! You are 10 days in to this 30 day creative challenge. Have you checked Instagram to see what comes up for #30sal? As I write this there are 598 posts! This is so exciting! Who will post #600? There are quite a few on Facebook too! If you did a few of the challenges …
Ralph Kiggell: Temple Dogs
[image_with_animation image_url=”11503″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Many new artists feel they need an original idea for every artwork, but most experienced artists get a lot of creative mileage out of one idea (especially a simple idea), repeated in iterations. Here is a great example: Temple Dogs, a series of 8 by Ralph Kiggell. Each illustration is …
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A sneak preview of artworks for my upcoming show Ruthie V. Some Pretty Paintings A collection of figures and flowers in paintings and prints Show opens January 5, 2019 Show up through January 27th Artist Talk Saturday, January 5th (3:30-4:30pm) Opening Reception to follow (5-7pm) Smith & Vallee Gallery 5742 Gilkey Ave, Edison (360) 766-6230 Open Daily 11-5 …
Drawings of Hands: Charles White
I’ve been talking about how to use hands as expressive elements within a drawing. I love this idea so much, both for technical practice and for powerful personal expression, that I made a class to study expressive hands and heads, and I started collecting examples. Some I collected because I appreciated the rendering. Some I collected because the artist …