Friday, December 26, 2014

Exploring artists and techniques from the 2nd Biennial Watercolor Show, pt. 2



I found the paintings by Ewa amazing and fascinating, and she was easily my big discovery of the event.  I knew I liked Castagnet going in (and he did not disappoint!!), but Ewa was a painter I'd never even heard of before.  All her paintings were very large- 4’ x 3’ atleast.  All the images are also semi-abstract, but much like seeing the amazingly oversized Monet Waterlilly murals, as I backed up I began to see the image more and more clearly.  One is, to me, clearly a waterfall splashing on a rock, another a puddle with neon lights in it, another perhaps a turtle seen underwater, with reflections on it.  Go in close though, and its pure insanity!  Crazy stuff.

Here are some close ups.  Pardon the reflections from my amateur-hour photography...  ;)











My presumption, with these first closeups, is that a lot of wet into wet into wet work is occurring, where a wash is put down, let to dry just a little bit, and then a thin, clean, wet brush is used to stroke water into areas, and push the pigment out, to form these circles and strokes.

However, here we have a second set of closeups using a different technique-



With this second set of closeups, my presumption is that that incredible glowing affect is being created by following the patterns of the first set, but that she is then going back into it with a brush that is heavily charged with pigment instead.  Thus, instead of the white of water, we’re getting these glowing oranges and yellows abutting the darker blues and greens of the first wash.  I would be astounded if she was able to do this by progressively building the image wash by wash, and from what I saw of a demo video they were showing at the exhibit, it does seem like she’s doing an immense amount of wet into wet work, and that she’s doing it flat.  The video wasn’t for any of the paintings in the exhibit, but it gave a sense of her working process.

Eric Laurent-



This painting of Eric’s struck, in particular because I’ve long been interested in a more responsive, organic way of painting high valued, chromatic foliage against a darker background, without having to use masking fluid or to go through a super careful, very detailed process of preserving my highlights.  



I’m not sure what pigments he’s using, but it’s obviously very opaque.  Perhaps Cad Yellow?  He’s also got some opaque lime in there, so I think he must be mixing it with something.  I’ve yet to try it with Viridian, but it’s a relatively opaque green.  So maybe??
 


Muriel Buthier Chartrain-


I found this piece by Muriel at the end of the day, and loved it.   I wish there had been more than one, but that was actually pretty common with the exhibition.  I looked her up on line and couldn't find a website for her.  You can find other samples of her work though, if you google her name.  She's clearly putting her work into shows and what not in Europe..  However, I did find out that she has various videos you can watch of her on youtube.  Here's a link to her videos.


Here you can see the absolutely gorgeous texture she's getting in her work.  I'm assuming, much like Bjorn Bernstrom, she applying a pigment very very thickly, and then pushing water or a diluted pigment through it, or spritzing water on it/through it, to get that gorgeous, runny granulation. 

6 comments:

  1. I just discovered your blog and see that you published one of my painting on it. I supposed you saw it in Narbonne with two others. Thank you for your interest about my work. As you didn't find my websites, here are the links for photos of my work : http://www.artmajeur.com/buthierchartrain/ and more for my informations about exhibitions and workshops : http://buthier-chartrain.blogspot.fr/ And at last, you can see a lot of my artworks on my facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/muriel.buthierchartrain/photos_albums
    I agree with you about the stunning paintings of Ewa.
    Thanks again, kind regards, Muriel Buthier-Chartrain

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just discovered your blog and see that you published one of my painting on it. I supposed you saw it in Narbonne with two others. Thank you for your interest about my work. As you didn't find my websites, here are the links for photos of my work : http://www.artmajeur.com/buthierchartrain/ and more for my informations about exhibitions and workshops : http://buthier-chartrain.blogspot.fr/ And at last, you can see a lot of my artworks on my facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/muriel.buthierchartrain/photos_albums
    I agree with you about the stunning paintings of Ewa.
    Thanks again, kind regards, Muriel Buthier-Chartrain

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Muriel,
    It's having the opportunity to talk to artists such as yourself that often makes the blog worth the time. What a pleasure to hear from you!! :) I did indeed see your work in Narbonne, and loved it.

    Thank you very much for the links to your website and facebook pages. I'll absolutely be following you. I am building out a website for myself, and will shortly be migrating this blog to it. When I do, I will edit the above post, and include the new, additional information you shared.

    If you have the time, I would love to know how you are getting that granulation. My experience is that pigments (type and brand) have a great deal to do with getting that kind of aggressive (and beautiful) granular affect.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Je découvre votre blog avec un grand plaisir! Merci pour vos commentaires élogieux qui me font très plaisir.
    Ewa Karpinska

    ReplyDelete
  5. Merci pour votre commentaire, Ewa! Vos peintures sont belles. Je vais examiner votre livre bientôt sur mon nouveau blog ... ! Your book is wonderful.

    http://www.seamlessexpression.com/blog

    Désolé pour mon français . Mi espanol es mejor :P

    ReplyDelete