Years, no decades ago, lol! I used to read lots of bio stuff ‘bout the impressionists. One detail I remember about artists working (painting) during times of political stress was of Renoir. I don’t remember the book, but with sieges by both the Prussians and French Army at differing times upon Paris, there apparently were numerous instances. In this one I read decades ago, Renoir, who lived in the tenement houses where the Tuileries are now, would sneak out of Paris through the barricades to paint in the surrounding forest. Being a friendly man, a good man, he’d made many friends, and both the defenders and the attackers recognized him as a friend and allowed him passage!
Now evidently this wasn’t always the case. In searching for where I read the above account, I came across this one – https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/02/24/renoir/ – where, painting in the forest, Renoir was accused of being a spy of troop movements in the forest, and taken to a nearby town to be shot. There, he was recognized by someone who himself had been saved once by Renoir. I’d never heard or read that story, but it’s pretty fascinating! 😊
So what’s this to do with my to-me-overworked watercolor above?
Painted during the stress of our recent crisis.
Politics gone bad 😏
Like the expressionists in Nazi Germany. Or Renoir during the siege of Paris. Only thankfully not nearly as dire as those events. And as long as we stay vigilant for our democracy, should never ever be.
I did get to re-work a few bits yesterday, and I like this a lot better ☺️
I added some violet top of the green top of the bridge, refocused parts of the top of that bridge, softened a few edges, and added a few highlight.
My use of white is via gouache. I felt kinda guilt ’bout it til I read that John Singer Sargent used white extensively on his watercolors! Thank goodness 😊
The above Google search has lots of good info, and I especially found this review of Sargent’s exhibit at the MFA Boston (from a few years back) by Marc Taro Holmes particularly helpful and detailed, with lots of sample images —
https://citizensketcher.com/top-posts/jss-watercolor/
My detail shot of my re-worked watercolor immediate above seems to bring across what I often try to do, or end up doing, in almost all my work, from oil to acrylic to watercolor – include a mix of wash like spreads of color and texture.
Finding that right mix of the two, washes (or semblance of) and texture, are what I enjoy doing most when I paint, regardless of medium.
This then tends to create an abstraction into the work.
It is then, when I can then keep ‘ mix my abstract compulsions with something identifiable, that I feel my most satisfied.
Seems easy enough, but I almost nearly always find it a struggle, lol!
I’m either really not very good at this (distinct possibility many days 😏), or don’t know when to quit soon enough 😯, or just plain get lost in exploring 😊
I’m guessing it’s itself a mix of all three in varying degrees on varying days in varying works.
That should cover me ❤️
Take care everyone, stay healthy and happy and free!
Adan
Twitter / Instagram / FB @FelipeAdanLerma
Amazon Author Page – https://amzn.to/2YpgyUf
Fine Art America (FAA, Pixels) – https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/
Direct link to the image in above tweet at Fine Art America –
https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/featured/monets-garden-april-rain-in-giverny-digital-felipe-adan-lerma.html
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My general Google search for Renoir and the siege of Paris –
https://www.google.com/search?q=renoir+during+the+seige+of+Paris&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
— Direct link to blog post in tweet above 😊
https://felipeadanlerma.com/2019/11/03/adans-movie-reviews-renoir-via-prime-video/
Serial Painting, my Google search
My Related Amazon Affiliate Search Products
https://www.amazon.com/shop/felipeadanlerma
My Amazon search for Renoir (books, videos, wall art) –
https://amzn.to/38mELTm
My Amazon search for Impressionsim –
https://amzn.to/3nitGHg
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My Related Posts Here On My Blog
My Latest Posts On My Website!
- July 30, 2021 – What a Difference a New Keyboard Makes : LENRICH iPad pro 12.9 case with keyboardThis is an older now discontinued keyboard, but one of the few still available for my IPad Pro 2nd generation model (current model is 5th generation I believe), but I’m impressed with it enough to post about it and (if all continues well) my renewed ease of use not having to use the onscreen keyboard for blog posts, emails etc – that’s a big deal for me, lol! 😊
- July 29, 2021 – Whew! Yesterday Was a Day of Plowing Through, lol!Above is a picture of me November 2019 (notice the weather is warm but hot, finally 😊) and I look just a bit worn out? I’d just climbed the 218 steps to top of Old Baldy near Wimberley Texas! That’s kinda how I felt yesterday, only without as nice a view, lol! I’ll just say that….
- July 28, 2021 – New 25×40 #Acrylic on Canvas In-Progress : Barton Springs Greenbelt Indian SummerA chore heat filled day where my keyboard evidently is deciding it’s had it, lol! Hopefully I finish this post 😊 Basically I started the groundwork for my newest painting, acrylic, wanting to settle on my composition before hand, unlike how I handled my just finished watercolor, same size, where I inserted my figure at the end.
- July 27, 2021 – 4 Weeks Running! My Most Viewed Image For the Week @FineArtAmerica, Summer is a Lady : #Watercolor on Paper #ContemporaryImpressionismI’m sure I’ve had images repeat as most viewed 4 times in a row, but I wasn’t paying as much attention to that as I try to nowadays 😊 Summer is a Lady continues to simmer atop my selection of photos and artwork and illustrated poetry ♥️
- July 26, 2021 – Where I Left Off Before Our Trip, New #Watercolor on Canvas Completed : Barton Springs Greenbelt Indian SummerI just took another look at my newly completed painting (above) to try for some settled sentiment I can include for my post, and I do have that – some settled sentiment. I’m still digesting and assimilating what this new work means to me. Though I know it’s incomplete, because I also know this work is more a conscious marker of where I want to head, and feel compelled to head toward, I do have a grasp enough to point out some things that are making themselves more known to me.
- July 25, 2021 – Where I Left Off Before Our Trip, New Watercolor on Canvas in-progress, Developing the Right Figure to AddAs you can tell from my top pic, my efforts to progress from my value study and digital studies below are not going great, lol! I take solace from several things —
- July 24, 2021 – My Newest Poster Upload @FineArtAmerica – Barton Springs Greenbelt Austin Rocks at the Flats PosterYesterday posting about my resuming progress on a new watercolor on canvas (with absorbent ground) via beginning a study process for adding a figure to the nearly finished work, I mentioned I’d spent my 1st time at the nearby greenbelt in nearly 2 weeks! It was a pristine morning, warm, sunny, lightly breezy, and hardly crowded at all – in other words : wonderful! 😊
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Thanks again, everyone! 😊
Adan
Twitter / Instagram / FB @FelipeAdanLerma
Amazon Author Page – https://amzn.to/2YpgyUf
Fine Art America (FAA, Pixels) – https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/
[…] in Part 3 of this mini series, I showcased my 1st watercolor (seen below) keyed off an original oil of 2001, itself keyed off an […]
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