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.

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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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