Lines and Colors art blog
  • Dave Malan (update 2023)

    Dave Malan
    Dave Malan

    Dave Malan is an artist an illustrator I’ve featured twice before, most recently back in 2015. Since then he has updated his website with more of his delightful illustrations, portraits, and drawings.

    As you might guess from my choice of example images, I’m particularly fond of his pencil portrait drawings. These range from brief sketches to more developed drawings, but in all of them he combines solid draftsmanship with lose, gestural rendering — to wonderful effect.

    His website doesn’t mention his old blog, which hasn’t been updated since 2017, but it’s still online and worth a visit, as it contains even more of his pencil drawings and other work. You can also find more on the social media accounts linked at the top of his website.



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  • Eye Candy for Today: William Merritt Chase pastel interior

    Hall at Shinnecock, William Merrit Chase, pastel on canvas
    Hall at Shinnecock, William Merrit Chase, pastel on canvas (details)

    Hall at Shinnecock, William Merrit Chase, pastel on canvas, 32 x 41″ (82 x 104 cm); in the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art.

    The image on the page linked above is in a small slideshow, larger image here.

    In 1891 American painter William Merritt Chase moved to the Shinnecock hills on Long Island, where he established the Shinnecock Summer School of Art and taught for more than 10 years. Here he gives us a view of the inside of his home with his family.

    I love the fact that pastel can be used as both a drawing and painting medium. I would certainly call this a painting, but elements of it — like the stand for the ornate vase — have the quick gestural qulity of drawing.

    In the mirrored door of the cabinet at the rear of the room, we can see a reflection of the artist at work.

    I find it difficult to think that the red orange glow of the passageway above the cabinet and behind the other vase is either painted that color or made so by the sun. It seems to me purely a choice by the artist to enhance his composition.


    Hall at Shinnecock, Terra Foundation for American Art
    large image
    Related posts:
    Lines and Colors search: Wlliam Merritt Chase

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  • Hugo Charlemont

    Hugo Charlemont
    Hugo Charlemont

    Hugo Charlemont wasn a Austrian painter and printmaker active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Though he painted a variety of subjects, his primary focus was on landscape.

    Hugo Charlemont is the brother of painter Eduard Charlemont.


    Wikimedia Commons
    Invaluable
    Artnet
    Tutt’ Art (look for the “Read More” button under the first image)
    Related post:
    Eduard Charlemont

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  • Eye Candy for Today: Dante Gabriel Rossetti pencil portrait

    Portrait of Mrs. William Morris, née Jane Burden, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, graphite on paper
    Portrait of Mrs. William Morris, née Jane Burden, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, graphite on paper (details)

    Portrait of Mrs. William Morris, née Jane Burden, Dante Gabriel Rossetti; graphite on paper, roughly 13 x 11 inches (33 x 29 cm), in the colleciton of the Morgan Library and Museum, which has both a zoomable and downloadable image on their site.

    Though nominally the leader of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Dante Gabriel Rossetti has always been my least favorite painter of the core group.

    However, I love this drawing. I love the simplicity, the graphic appeal, the almost Asian feel of the composition and the intensity of the sitter’s gaze.



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  • Lehigh Valley plein air event, Easton, PA – until October 14, 2023

    Lehigh Valley plein air event, Easton, PA - until October 14, 2023 - Vasari Colors showroom
    Lehigh Valley plein air event, Easton, PA - until October 14, 2023 - Vasari Colors showroom

    Vasari Classic Artists’ Oil Colors — a small, independent company that makes handcrafted artists’ oil paint — has a showroom in Easton, PA, in the Lehigh Valley. They are sponsoring a month long plein air event in cooperation with the Karl Srirner Arts Trail, which is right next to their shop.

    The latter is a parkland along the Bushkill Creek. The event is free with no registration required. Artists are invited to drop by and paint along the trail, or in any of the public parks in the Easton area — some of which are along the Delaware and Lehigh rivers.

    More than that, participants are invited to stop into the Vasari showroom, which is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, and load up their palette with free samples of Vasari’s handcrafted oil paint.

    By way of a disclaimer, I’ll mention that in my role as a website designer, Vasari is a client of mine. However, I think long time Lines and Colors readers will know I’m not likely to let that color my opinion (if you’ll excuse the expression) in what I write here.

    That being said, I’ll add that Vasari’s oil paint is the best I’ve ever used, and that includes other “handcrafted” brands like Old Holland and Williamsburg. Vasari’s paints have a wonderful consistency; they flow off my brush like butter, and they have brilliant color with an extraordinary amount of pigment. So being able to use some of this paint for free is a rare treat.

    Artists are also invited to drop off finished oil paintings during the week of October 9th to 13th for display in their showroom. The exhibition reception will be from 3:00 to 5:00 pm on October 14th, with judging and prizes awarded at that time.

    The address is:
    1235 Simon Blvd.
    Silk Mill unit P102
    Easton, PA 18042

    Google map.



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  • Woodland Interior with Rocky Stream, Thomas Moran

    Woodland Interior with Rocky Stream, Thomas Moran
    Woodland Interior with Rocky Stream, Thomas Moran (details)

    Woodland Interior with Rocky Stream, Thomas Moran, oil on canvas, 36 x 29 inches ( 92 x 74 cm). Link is to the Art Renewal Center, which has a zoomable image. I think their image may be a little too dark; I sourced the image above from a site that sells art prints.

    Happy belated Autumnal Equinox!



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Vasari Handcraftes artist's oil colors

Charley’s Picks
Bookshop.org

(Bookshop.org affilliate links; sales benefit independent bookshop owners; I get a small percentage to help support my work on Lines and Colors)

John Singer Sargent: Watercolors
John Singer Sargent: Watercolors

Sorolla the masterworks
Sorolla: the masterworks

The Art Spirit
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Rendering in Pen and Ink
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Urban Sketching: Understanding Perspective
Urban Sketching: Understanding Perspective

World of Urban Sketching
World of Urban Sketching

Daily Painting
Daily Painting

Drawing on the right side of the brain
Drawing on the right side of the brain

Understanding Comics
Understanding Comics

Charley’s Picks
Amazon

(Amazon.com affiliate links; sales go to a larger yacht for Jeff Bezos; but I get a small percentage to help support my work on Lines and Colors)

John Singer Sargent: Watercolors
John Singer Sargent: Watercolors

Sorolla the masterworks
Sorolla: the masterworks

The Art Spirit
The Art Spirit

Rendering in Pen and Ink
Rendering in Pen and Ink

Urban Sketching: Understanding Perspective
Urban Sketching: Understanding Perspective

World of Urban Sketching
World of Urban Sketching

Daily Painting
Daily Painting

Drawing on the right side of the brain
Drawing on the right side of the brain

Understanding Comics
Understanding Comics