Latest Forum Posts

Shall try and see if I can draw a building from my verandah as some lovely cottages I spotted the other evening. Here is a sketch of Venice I painted one evening It was a loose sketch I conjured up in mind!  

Some fabulous sketches and looks like everyone is really enjoying being at Art classes too, and Alan your drawing of the metropolis in Madrid is fabulous, all those lines makes buildings look superb! I was drawing Mermaids for our youngest granddaughter so here what happened then created a collage! 

I saw a disputatious post under Artist introductions, in which an allegation was made about a new member, then challenged by another.  We can do without that, and to protect the forum and members from any suggestion of legal action, I've removed the relevant topic - should anyone wonder where it went.   If the original poster has an offer to make to members, it would be far better to make it in the form of a paid-for advertisement: the company's advertisement department would, I'm sure, be pleased to hear from you.

Your card is really pretty Gillian. The landscape looks interesting Paul.

A basic sketch for a watercolour landscape.

I'm in the habit of looking in on the mega auctions in NY & London in spring and autumn. Just to dream and see what's in, what's out etc. Last night the big lot was by Leonora Carrington.  Very colourful, and it sold for $18m+, way over its high estimate. A couple of Picassos were BI'd (failed to sell within the reserve) and some other impressionists bumped along the bottom of the lower estimate.  A Monet Haystack achieved the best of the Imps.   Of the modern ones, an item from Rothko didn't do brilliantly but a brightly coloured Leger did well. Is it to do with the pared down minimalist decor of the homes of today's well off people? The Carrington picture: https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/modern-evening-auction/les-distractions-de-dagobert

It turns out beautiful.

Sweet! Just the right level of loose artistic flair for a card. 

Martin sorry I haven’t responded earlier unfortunately following a covid booster I’ve been quiet unwell , I try to post a thank you as soon as possible for the introduction to the featured artist. I have had a look at her work but as in having visual problems I can’t see the work very well . I will have a look later today and hopefully be able to see more clearly.

Thanks for your interesting reactions and comments. I'd hazard a guess that colour is extremely important for most abstract artists, though for some (Klein & Motherwell's large monochromes spring to mind) it perhaps isn't the main factor. Now, Howard Hodgkin would have a thing to say about colour :-). Mind you, amongst abstractionists, black is a perfectly good colour. Pierre Soulages, who died a couple of years back at the age of 102, famously created colour out of black paint, smearing it on in ways that created reflections and irridescence. And Ad Reinhart, who worked in the middle of last century, produced abstract works that look all black until you've stared at them for a good few minutes, by which time you realise they're just very dark shades of red, green and blue. I see some commonalities in his work with that of Agnes Martin, but coming at it from the 'dark side'. Strangely, it is colour that leaves the lasting impression after viewing Agnes Martin's work (or at least the dozen or so exemplars I've seen in the flesh). I imagine that the visual system is working hard to up the perceptual contrast and colour gets perceptually boosted as a result. Now the other thing you mention Robert is 'where's the evidence of the human hand' -- one might also add  the signatory's hand (since quite a few well known artists step away from the process after the design stage to maintain some kind of purity of process). It's a fair point in many cases but I don't think it applies in Martin's case, where part of the charm is the evidence everywhere of the human hand. There are no straight continuous lines in any of the grids close up, and if you check out the MOMA demonstration painting session it becomes apparent why, and also that the shimmering effects to some extent rely on the base paint layer(s) showing up through the gaps in the graphite. The deviations were kept under control though. Apparently she jettisoned far more works than she exhibited and even bought some back that she wasn't happy with...

Agnes Martin’s bio is very interesting…I connected her in a way to Georgia O’Keefe. Worth reading.

If you, or anyone you know, are trying to get started painting in watercolour, look out for our new 100-page StartArt: Watercolour when it's published next month. Packed with everything from materials and colour theory to techniques and demonstrations, be the first to hear exactly what's included, publication date plus a host of hints and tips to get you ready to start as soon as you receive your copy by signing up for our exclusive SartArt emails here https://www.painters-online.co.uk/start-art

Thanks, will definitely do that!