The Impressionist Still Life with John Ebersberger

On the way south I was fortunate to take John Ebersberger's Impressionist  workshop at Maryland Hall in Annapolis.

There where a number of still life table step up for which to choose from.  

The class started with John going over the color wheel with aquatinting us with primary and secondary colors. The first thing we did was to organize our palette using a couple of few of each blues, reds and yellows. 

John maintains that in order to be an impressionist painter you need a variety of colors; we did not use earth tones. At least not until the artist has more experience with color. Otherwise you end up with the "Brown Gravy School" of painting.

From the three primary color we moved on to the secondary colors Orange Purple and Green. John demonstrated that indeed you can make these colors by mixing two primary colors however they aren't pure enough for a full color palette. Once we mixed these colors together we began to make interesting color by mixing colors across from each other and then adding white.

Here are some of the primary colors mixed with  another.  One purple is pure and One Orange is Pure.

Ebersberger then did a demonstration of a still life setup explaining how to interpret the color you see. 

Starting with the color of the jug, John put down a sort of dull orange color and then began to relate the other colors to the orangish vase. Keeping the painting structurally simple is key. By isolating the particular color and comparing it to all other colors keeps the color note legible. Start with a brilliant color and end with the color. 

John pointed out adjusting some colors by mixing across the color wheel brings specific color notes to the painting.

We then started studying our own still life setup. Under John's instruction I gained a new understanding of keeping color notes more legible.
I'm not sure I am willing to abandon all more free falling color expressions, however I am certainly going to be less cavalier with my color choice. 

I find it a rewarding experience taking time out to study with a knowledgable teacher; and it's always fun to be in a class meetingt new people.

Tale of Three Cities

On my recent trip to Europe I visited over 15 Museums of art. Usually when I have gone over to Europe I go with a painting group and do a some sight seeing. On this trip I went alone so that I could see many works of art.

I started my journey in New York visiting the Metropolitan Museum of art which had a show called"Valentin De Boulogne Beyond Caravaggio".

In London At the National Gallery they had another show called Beyond Caravaggio Beyond Caravaggio. 

It was interesting to see these two shows that had many followers of Caravaggio and his influence on their art.  Caravaggio 's paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on Baroque painting. Caravaggio painted from life where others where not pure to this procedure. 

While in London I went to the Tate gallery and the Tate modern. The National Portrait gallery was particularly interesting to me because of all the John Singer Sargents. 

I took the Eurostar to Paris and stayed a few days visiting the Museum O'rsey and the Louve as well as the Pompidou. The Marmottan, has a wonderful selections of Monet's. I also loved the musse de Montmartre. A small interesting museum devoted to the bohemian artist's that worked in Montmartre.

I did sneak a little painting in and had to paint a little cafe scene in Paris of course.

I Returned to London and finished off my art tour visiting the Royal Academy and The Victoria and Albert museum. However I think I felt the visit to the Courtauld Museum was perhaps my favorite. The impressionist's and small works of some great masters was inspiring.

There where was a lot of ground to cover in a short time.  I made the visit about seeing as many great works of art to inspire me. I was never a big fan of Peter Paul Rubens however, I have a renewed admiration for his work in light of seeing such a large variety of his work.

Monet was never my favorite impressionist painter, and I always felt the work of Van Gogh to be over rated. However all that changed due to this visit. When confronted with so many works of these masters you can't help but realize how inspiring and beautiful their paintings are.