Randall Graham

Randall Graham, still life

Randall Graham, still life, landscape, plein air en rain air

Randall Graham is a painter based in southeastern Pennsylvania who isn’t reluctant to experiment with variations in style. His approach ranges from straightforward realism to highly textural surfaces to the semi-abstraction of a series that he calls “en rain air”, plein air paintings done in the rain through the blur of raindrops on the window of his van.

He has been experimenting lately with the highly textural approach made possible by combining oil paint with cold wax medium. There is an article on Artists on Art and a short video on YouTube that go into his process.

Graham leads workshops and classes, both in his studio in West Chester, PA, and on location in plein air.

Randall Graham’s work will be on display in a show that begins tonight, October 25, 2018 and runs to November 17th, at Gallery 222 in Malvern, PA.

 
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Eye Candy for Today: Francesco Novelli ink and wash drawing

Francesco Novelli, Diana and Her Hounds, ink and wash drawing

Frencesco Novelli, Diana and Her Hounds, ink and wash drawing (details)

Diana and Her Hounds, Francesco Novelli

Pen and black ink with brown wash; roughly 5 x 4″ (13 x 10 cm); in the collection of the Morgan Library and Museum.

I don’t know much about Francesco Novelli, who was active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but I find this drawing interesting for several reasons.

First, it’s simply a beautifully realized drawing. The basic ink drawing, in black, is composed of broken lines, with spaces open at many points. The brown wash fills in the form and gives the figure dimension and solidity, but the overall effect is a drawing with a loose, open feeling.

Deft value relationships add to the composition and the sensation of grace and motion, particularly in the clothing and drapery. I love the way he has use the brush and brown wash like pen hatching along the curved surfaces of the figure’s arms and legs and the bodies of the dogs.

What I didn’t notice at first — likely because the drawing is so beautifully done — is that to my eye, the proportions of the arms, particularly the figure’s left arm, seem out of proportion to the figure. The arms also look more like they belong to a male figure.

It was not uncommon for artists to employ male models for female figures; it was easier and cheaper to use a male studio assistant as a model than to hire a female model. (I believe most of the female figures of the sibyls on Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling were studied from male models.)

Though it might have been intended as a finished piece, the drawing has the look of a preparatory drawing for a painting or print, but I can’t find much information on Novelli, let alone a specific work that might be sourced from this.

 
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Michael Doyle

Michael Doyle, still life

Michael Doyle, still life, interiors and landscape

Michael Doyle is a painter based in the Delaware Valley area who paints figures, still life, landscapes and interiors. His landscapes and interiors often incorporate still life elements, handled with a rough edged, painterly style suited to their often rustic feel.

Doyle frequently employs backgrounds that are textural combinations of multiple muted colors, giving them energy and a feeling of changing light.

Michael Doyle’s work will be on display in a show at the Somerville Manning Gallery in Wilmington Delaware, beginning tonight, October 19 and running to November 10, 2018.

 
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Eye Candy for Today: Joaquim Vayreda’s Scarecrow

The Scarecrow, painting by Joaquim Vayreda

The Scarecrow, painting by Joaquim Vayreda (details)

The Scarecrow, Joaquim Vayreda

Link is to zoomable version on Google Art Project; downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons, original is in the Museu Nacional D-Art de Catalunya.

19th century Spanish painter Joaquim Vayreda gives us a nicely evocative scene of farm fields in early Autumn.

 
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Edward Julius Detmold

Edward Julius Detmold, classic illustration, animal illustration

Edward Julius Detmold, classic illustration, animal illustration

Edward Julius Detmold and his twin brother Charles Maurice Detmold were book illustrators active in the “Golden Age” of illustration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Both were interested in natural history and animals, and even in their illustrations for books like Kipling’s The Jungle Book and The Fables of Aesop, their images were more likely to feature animals than people.

Both worked in watercolor and ink and were influenced by Japanese Prints, Art Nouveau and the Pre-Raphaelite painters as well as their contemporary illustrators.

I can’t find as much information about Charles, so I’ve focused here on Edward Detmold, and the images shown are (as far as I can determine) by Edward.

 
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Eye Candy for Today: Levitan’s Golden Autumn

Golden Autumn (Zolotaya Osen), Isaac Levitan

Golden Autumn (Zolotaya Osen), Isaac Levitan (details)
Golden Autumn (Zolotaya Osen), Isaac Levitan

Link is to page with access to high-resolution image file on Wikimedia Commons. Original is in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing the original, but the Tretyakov image seems a little over exposed to me, so I’m going with the Wikimedia version.

A justifiably famous painting by the 19th century Russian landscape master. Brilliant use of complementary blues and oranges. The greens are more subdued than they may appear at first glance — even when set against strategically placed spots of complementary red — allowing the yellow-oranges to dominate.

I love the variety of color and texture in the grasses.

 
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