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)
Yesterday I talked about trace monotypes: “Trace monotypes are made by laying paper down on an inked piece of plexiglass, then drawing a design on the back of the paper. The drawing tool presses the paper against the ink, making a dark line on the front of the paper.” – Ruthie V, circa yesterday Today …
[image_with_animation image_url=”9194″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] In the 1600’s, wood was a limited resource in the Dutch Republic (now the Netherlands), so artists either switched to canvas, or scavenged for wood panels. Rembrandt painted some of his works on mahogany panels from used shipping containers, still with the label and handles on the back. Info …
Artists need to be able to give and receive feedback on their work, but “critique” is usually synonymous with criticism, and “I like it” doesn’t offer much help to a painter who wants to grow. So how do we see, think about, and evaluate works of art in a way that helps us see, grow, and support …
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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Yesterday I talked about trace monotypes: “Trace monotypes are made by laying paper down on an inked piece of plexiglass, then drawing a design on the back of the paper. The drawing tool presses the paper against the ink, making a dark line on the front of the paper.” – Ruthie V, circa yesterday Today …
Rembrandt’s panels: “This Way Up”
[image_with_animation image_url=”9194″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] In the 1600’s, wood was a limited resource in the Dutch Republic (now the Netherlands), so artists either switched to canvas, or scavenged for wood panels. Rembrandt painted some of his works on mahogany panels from used shipping containers, still with the label and handles on the back. Info …
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Artists need to be able to give and receive feedback on their work, but “critique” is usually synonymous with criticism, and “I like it” doesn’t offer much help to a painter who wants to grow. So how do we see, think about, and evaluate works of art in a way that helps us see, grow, and support …