The Paley collection at the De young

Yesterday I dropped of some new pieces of mine at Chloe fine Art in SF and then went on to look around the De Young Museum, primarily to see the exhibition of 'The William S. Paley Collection'. Paley was a broadcast pioneer, CBS being principally his baby. He funneled a small amount of his fat pockets into picking up paintings to decorate his home that at the time weren't desperately in vogue. (I think most people were off buying 'newer' moderism, abstraction and expressionism, around this era).  In time this became the collection we know today, which has some fantastic paintings from the post-impressionist era and the birth of moderism.

The  Collection includes paintings, sculpture and drawings that range in date from the late 19th century through the early 1970s. The collection includes multiple works by  artists like Cezanne,  Matisse,  Picasso, Degas, Gauguin and more.

As some of you may remember I'm huge, huge fan of Toulouses paintings and the exhibition had a couple of nice ones. I also like much of the Nabis movement; Bonnard seems to be usually very good and two of Gauguins were also great. (I find I like Gauguin more and more as I get older.)  There were of course a share of things that I didn't care for, but I wont bore you by listing them too.

Unusually they allowed photography in the exhibition. I took a few pictures rather quickly and some what guiltily, consequently they're not the best. Most viewers enjoyed their art with their smart phones close at hand photographing each and every piece at point blank range. A strange and interesting sight, and a sign of our times.

One nice feature is the exhibition had a little adjoining corridor between spaces that featured large photographs of the featured paintings actually in Paleys home. This was nice to see, to give you a feel for how he chose to present his home and the paintings. Personally I feel they're better now is a plain elegant museum, but of course I wouldn't mind having one, on one of my own walls! (in case anyone's offering?)

Charity

This painting went into my kids school auction today as part of their annual pledge drive. The schools principal was the happy winning bidder!

Vegetables with lilies
20’ X 27.5’
Acrylic on canvas

Catching up

I've been slow to post these last few weeks, so here's a few paintings to catch up with the work/posts...

Beyond the fence line (study Nr San Teresa CP - CA)
18X24   Acrylic on board

A local plein air painting. I often come back to this field and this horizon but more commonly paint the field from the right hand edge. This has a good light feel to it, so I was pleased with the results.
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 Canada Geese

18X24              Acrylic on board

I don't often do this type of subject, but I enjoy painting groups of animals, people or in this case birds. Often it's how the objects (in this case birds) overlap that interests me most. In this respect it holds very similarly to my still life work.
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Clematis with fruit over orange & blue
30X48                   Acrylic on wood

This is loosely based of a previous Clematis painting, it's size gives it a good sense of drama and power, I like the counter change of the warm backgrounds with the compliment foliage color.

Workshops

I'm in the process of adding another page onto my web site, quite a daunting task since the site was built and designed by a we expert. I'm now going in with my blunt hammer and trying to fit in another page... check it out!

http://anguspaintings.com/workshop.php

Noon view

Another painting from one of my favorite National Parks, well in this case National monument - Pinnacles NM. This isn't a classic view of the fantastic rock formations, but perhaps a good example of hot Californian scrub vegetation?

I finished this one twice, the first time it sat around looking complete. It was only after photographing it and shrinking the image down, did I see a way to improve the composition. Primarily one of the bushes was too regular in pattern, so I fixed that, and now it's much improved...

Noon view (Pinnacles NM, CA)

18X36   Acrylic on wood

Paintings from the id!

I thought it had been a while since I'd photographed a painting as it progressed, so here's such an example. I also included lots of close up detail images, just for kicks and info.

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Usually when working on a Still Life painting I work from original photographs of the subject matter. Sometimes, instead I like to look at an old painting of mine and re-imagine it; perhaps in a different color scheme with the 'dissecting lines' in new locations. Occasionally I will also change an element within the scene, just to give me a little extra freshness and variety.

I find working from an old painting rather than a photograph gives me an extra layer of extrapolation. Its like having a really nice sketch to work from, and much of the thinking and form decisions have already been worked out. The end result means you can relax a little more and I tend to think this gives the paintings that have been painted in this method a subtly different look from my usual paintings. Both are good, but different.

Last week I decided to take this all one step further, I decided to build and entire painting from my mind. I started with a loose sketch of the type of composition I wanted. I then propagated the scene with various elements, generated from a mixture of memory and experience, others I looked at an old painting for reference. This exercise overall proved quite a challenge, especially early on when placing objects, within the composition. Originally I nested the tall dark vase with white flowers just to the right of the blue Delphiniums. I wanted everything to cascade from the center, but as I painted it, I realize everything was too busy around the the central florals. So I moved it over to the right and generate a circular path for the eye to flow (from the tall vase, though the flowers, down to the central jug and along the fruit ). *Your eye should also slow up and drift a little along the table, but ultimately gets drawn back to the tall vase, to begin it's path again.

The strong line work of my composition has been committed to, and the colors plan finalized (in my head anyway); allowing me to place in a first wash of color. These 'underpainting' colors will later be allowed to play with the final colors that are placed on top. They will either compliment or react against the colors dependent on my choices and the desired effect needed.

Moving around the painting,  - blocking in the color on the table and a 1st pass on the delphiniums with a little color in the vase on the left and the yucca trunk. (These early stages of the painting really taxed my brain, keeping the composition thoughts and full color plan in my head was a struggle!)

Bringing in the reds and oranges to give the painting it's warmth. Also finding an initial cool tone for the floor, later I adjust this slightly.

Blocked in a lot here, but getting the tones right on the table cloth was important. Also started to punch in the dark color on the tall thin vase. I have decided at this point that my strongest contrast in the painting will be this form, which will pull the eye to this object. 

This section saw subtle refining of colors, for example the table top was lightened, some elements were cleaned up and the yucca purples were added.

The painting complete

Blues falling onto Orange

30X48    Acrylic on wood

The devils in the details....

Less important areas of the painting are presented loosely and simply. The yellow ochre color around the edge of the trunk of this yucca plant, helps lead the eye over  and past the tall vertical. This is also a good example of an area, where the paint is presented relatively flat in tone and form, further allowing the eye to move to a more interesting area of the work.

Just enough information is given in the delphinium. The way I wished to lead the eye through the painting, the flowers are an important part of the route, but not the focus. They need to be rendered, but not over emphasized.

This detail shows a Chinese vase that I paint on occasion. I really needed some reference for this so borrowed from another earlier painting for the vases color and form. 

I love painting peeled fruit, there's something about the contrast of shapes/forms and tones. This is familiar ground for me, since I paint a fair amount of this subject, so I could just sit back and enjoy the moment.

This final detail I included here just to show up close how you can see the flecks of the 'under painting' shining though. I use this technique a lot allowing complimentary and secondary colors to shine though the final paint, creating impact and depth within a painting.

Cyclamen

I love to paint Cyclamen, I don't often tackle them but I think I've enjoyed almost every painting I've ever completed of them. I guess it's partly the simple clean shapes of both leaves and petals, and the random twists of the flowers and petals that create just enough interest. Additionally the plant tends to be small and condensed, this allows the subject matter to be simply rendered and compact in composition.

In this one I pushed the colors to bring it into a range that I always enjoy, (well as long as I accomplish the right tones of greens). I suppose sometimes the green can get a little muddy for my liking, but here I kept them light, which allows them to sit nicely alongside the yellows and those ice blue/ aqua shades.

The table cloth patterning is a good test here, I wanted it cleanly painted but not too over powering. There's a risk that it can come off as poorly rendered, if the tones aren't strong enough but I think it works pretty well here.

Cyclamen on green with lemons

18X24  Acrylic on board