Anthony Eyton was born May 17, 1923. He is a British figurative painter working in the post-Impressionist tradition. He started studying art in 1941, his studies delayed by the war, and then returned to his education at the Camberwell School of Art, completing in 1950. Eyton was Head of Painting at St Lawrence College, Kingston, Ontario in 1969 and taught at the Royal Academy Schools from 1964 to 1999. He is the winner of many artist awards in Britain and internationally and is regarded as one of the top contemporary British artists, along with names like Frances Bacon, LS Lowry, Lucien Freud, Frank Auerbach, Henry Moore, and David Hockney. He is now 97 (a week shy of 98), and still painting every day.
“I work every day if possible. Up at 7am. Muesli with fruit and coffee…. The difficulty is paperwork that doesn’t get done. I hope to start working at 10 and go on until 1.30 or 2.” – Anthony Eyton
Eyton works his paintings hard, he says around 20 – 30 sittings each. He uses paintbrushes a few feet long because he can’t stand while he paints anymore, and the long handles give him “more of a flow – or an attack.” He paints from observation, the chairs a play of form and space. He does not perceive a difference between interior and exterior scenes.
Anthony Eyton paints some chairs, and talks about painting from observation
After watching Anthony paint, you might be interested in some 24″ brushes. You can find them at Rosemary and Co.
Energy from variety
If variety is the spice of life, it is also the spice in art. While harmony can be produced by similarities, so energy can be produced from differences in an artwork. These differences can be even more effective if they are disparate natures, so you have at least two elements pushing off from each other.
For example: light – dark tones neutrals – bold bright colors warm – cool colors soft – hard edges short staccato marks – long lyrical lines straight clean lines – organic tremulous lines large shapes – small shapes thick paint – thin paint hard touch – soft touch wet into wet – dry brush paint applied with soft squishy thing – paint applied with hard square thing a whole lot of marks one way – a few marks another way (what else?)
Here’s another way to experiment with this energy increase from variety: What would happen if every time you prepared to make a brushstroke, you changed the tool and/or the color?
For example, you could paint with: small round soft brush big flat bristle brush pencil rag your finger someone else’s finger the side of your credit card the side of someone else’s credit card a stick a palette knife (what else?)
See how many different marks are within these high energy works?
On his 2019 show: “…I’ve got a lovely letter from Frank Auerbach. He says he can’t get to the exhibition because he’s not as mobile as he used to be, but he loved the catalogue and thought my paintings now were the most original ones I’ve painted. It’s quite something to be doing your best work in your 90s!” – Anthony Eyton
Anthony Eyton. Three Chairs in the Studio II, 2019. Photo by Browse & Darby.
[image_with_animation image_url=”8653″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Image above from Urban Sketchers Chicago Chris Harvey has a lot of long straight architectural lines in his painting, and no matter what he tried, every pass with the brush resulted in another wobbly line. The wobbles weren’t interesting or expressive, they were distracting from the painting’s quality …
“I remember when my Dad told me as a kid, ‘If you want to catch a rabbit, stand behind a tree and make a noise like a carrot. Then when the rabbit comes by you grab him.’ Works pretty good until you try to figure out what kind of noise a carrot makes…” – Bob …
[image_with_animation image_url=”12476″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Prior to this post, I wrote about Edward Hopper’s influences in painting and printmaking, and his process. Today is all about Hopper’s drawings and sketches. Hopper’s Sketches Given all of Hopper’s realist paintings, I figured I could find some photographs of the original scenes Hopper painted from, and see the choices …
On January 6 I posted a challenge that was inspired by John Oliver on Last Week Tonight. The challenge was to imagine what Julius Pringles looks like below the neck. We had so many fun submissions that I felt they deserved to be in their own collection. Here they are, in their crispy glory, starting …
Variety in Anthony Eyton’s Chairs
Anthony Eyton was born May 17, 1923. He is a British figurative painter working in the post-Impressionist tradition. He started studying art in 1941, his studies delayed by the war, and then returned to his education at the Camberwell School of Art, completing in 1950. Eyton was Head of Painting at St Lawrence College, Kingston, Ontario in 1969 and taught at the Royal Academy Schools from 1964 to 1999. He is the winner of many artist awards in Britain and internationally and is regarded as one of the top contemporary British artists, along with names like Frances Bacon, LS Lowry, Lucien Freud, Frank Auerbach, Henry Moore, and David Hockney. He is now 97 (a week shy of 98), and still painting every day.
“I work every day if possible. Up at 7am. Muesli with fruit and coffee…. The difficulty is paperwork that doesn’t get done. I hope to start working at 10 and go on until 1.30 or 2.” – Anthony Eyton
Eyton works his paintings hard, he says around 20 – 30 sittings each. He uses paintbrushes a few feet long because he can’t stand while he paints anymore, and the long handles give him “more of a flow – or an attack.” He paints from observation, the chairs a play of form and space. He does not perceive a difference between interior and exterior scenes.
After watching Anthony paint, you might be interested in some 24″ brushes. You can find them at Rosemary and Co.
Energy from variety
If variety is the spice of life, it is also the spice in art. While harmony can be produced by similarities, so energy can be produced from differences in an artwork. These differences can be even more effective if they are disparate natures, so you have at least two elements pushing off from each other.
For example:
light – dark tones
neutrals – bold bright colors
warm – cool colors
soft – hard edges
short staccato marks – long lyrical lines
straight clean lines – organic tremulous lines
large shapes – small shapes
thick paint – thin paint
hard touch – soft touch
wet into wet – dry brush
paint applied with soft squishy thing – paint applied with hard square thing
a whole lot of marks one way – a few marks another way
(what else?)
Here’s another way to experiment with this energy increase from variety:
What would happen if every time you prepared to make a brushstroke, you changed the tool and/or the color?
For example, you could paint with:
small round soft brush
big flat bristle brush
pencil
rag
your finger
someone else’s finger
the side of your credit card
the side of someone else’s credit card
a stick
a palette knife
(what else?)
See how many different marks are within these high energy works?
On his 2019 show: “…I’ve got a lovely letter from Frank Auerbach. He says he can’t get to the exhibition because he’s not as mobile as he used to be, but he loved the catalogue and thought my paintings now were the most original ones I’ve painted. It’s quite something to be doing your best work in your 90s!” – Anthony Eyton
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[image_with_animation image_url=”8653″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Image above from Urban Sketchers Chicago Chris Harvey has a lot of long straight architectural lines in his painting, and no matter what he tried, every pass with the brush resulted in another wobbly line. The wobbles weren’t interesting or expressive, they were distracting from the painting’s quality …
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“I remember when my Dad told me as a kid, ‘If you want to catch a rabbit, stand behind a tree and make a noise like a carrot. Then when the rabbit comes by you grab him.’ Works pretty good until you try to figure out what kind of noise a carrot makes…” – Bob …
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