Lines and Colors art blog
  • Tony Pro

    Tony Pro, portrait, figurative and still life painting
    California artist Tony Pro had early artistic guidance from his father, Southwest and wildlife painter Julio Pro, received his formal education from California State University, and also studied informally with well known illustrator Glen Orbik.

    Pro has taken his influences and his enthusiasm for academic and other past masters and developed a style of western landscape, still life, portraiture and figurative work that uses sophisticated compositions, muted color palettes and finessed value relationships.

    I particularly enjoy his portraits and figurative pieces that incorporate room interiors or elements of still life, which feel to me at though they carry the influence of turn of the 20th century American painters like William McGregor Paxton.

    Pro conducts occasional workshops, and is a resident professor of art at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California. He also has portrait sketch instructional videos available from his site.

    His painting “Last train home” (above, third form bottom) was awarded First Place for Best Painting in the 2014 Portrait Society of America International Competition.



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  • Eye Candy for today: John Brett watercolor of the Amalfi Coast

    Near Sorrento, John Brett; watercolor and gouache landscape
    Near Sorrento, John Brett

    Link is to zoomable image on Google Art Project; high resolution downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, UK.

    I got to see the sea and curve of the land from the cliffs of Sorrento when I visited the Amalfi Coast some years ago, and that was astonishingly beautiful, but I’ve never seen the area from the sea.

    Here, John Brett gives us a striking view, vibrant with light and atmosphere, in watercolor and gouache. (The description says “bodycolour”, but I’m thinking the museum is using that term in the general sense of opaque watercolor, rather than the more specific meaning of watercolor pigment in hide glue).

    I love the way Brett has carved out the prominences of the cliff face with light and texture, and the nuanced way he has defined the distant mountains in considerable detail without bringing them forward.


    Near Sorrento, Google Art Project

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  • The Tale of How book rereleased

    The Tale of How book, Ree Tweweek
    Since 2006, I’ve been following the fascinatingly idiosyncratic work of South African artist and illustrator Ree Treweek.

    Treweek, along with animator/filmmaker Jannes Hendrikz and composer Marcus Smit, are collectively known as The Blackheart Gang.

    The group achieved notice for their deliriously quirky and beautiful animated short The Tale of How. They went from there to doing wonderfully odd television commercials as part of the production company Shy the Sun.

    Back in 2009, there was announcement of the upcoming publication of a Tale of How book, lush with fantastical images, the actual release of which I somehow missed, and the book quickly sold out.

    The Blackheart gang just announced a second edition of the Tale of How book is now available from their website (though probably not for long).

    There is also a series Tale of How prints, images of which I’ve used as examples of the book, above. I haven’t seen the actual book, but I’m assuming the same images, or similarly delightful ones, are included.

    The website does not provide much purchase information, but if you send an email to the address provided on the book page, they will get back to you with an order form and details.

    The signed edition is available for US$60, GBP40, ZAR600 (plus postage); and the regular edition is US$45, GBP30, ZAR450 (plus postage, which will, of course, vary depending on the destination, the book is shipped from South Africa). I don’t know about the price and availability of the prints, but you can enquire at the same email address. Payment can be made by PayPal, credit card and additional means.

    I’ll also point out that there are other treasures to be discovered by digging through the Blackheart Gang website. You might start with the index on Works by Medium and/or The Tale of How short.

    For more, see my links to previous posts about Ree Treweek, The Tale of How, The Blackheart Gang and Shy the Sun, below.



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  • Eye Candy for Today: unfinished Paul Sandby oil sketch

    An Unfinished View of the West Gate, Canterbury, Paul Sandby; pen and brown ink, oil on prepared paper
    An Unfinished View of the West Gate, Canterbury; Paul Sandby

    Link is to zoomable version on the Google Art Project; high-resolution downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons, original is in the Yale Center for British Art.

    Here Paul Sandby, primarily known as a watercolorist, has started a landscape sketch in oil on paper. He’s laid in his drawing in pen and brown ink, and has started his application of oil.

    I have no idea why the sketch — which seems to have been coming along nicely — was abandoned. It actually works remarkably well, even in its unfinished state, and has wonderful qualities of both painting and drawing.

    I love coming across unfinished works like this; it’s like getting a tutorial from the 18th century.



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  • Innokenty Korshunov

    Innokenty Korshunov; still life, landscape, illustrations and concept art
    Innokenty Korshunov is a painter living and working just outside of Kiev, Ukraine.

    Korshunov studied at the School of Art in Odessa, where he developed an admiration for the art of the Renaissance, as well as a respect for traditional techniques. He brings these sensibilities, as well as a keen eye and subtle sense of color, to his atmospheric landscapes and carefully observed still life.

    I particularly admire the color he brings to his winter landscapes, and the directness and clarity of his still life paintings. Many of his originals are larger in scale than you might assume from the internet images.

    Korshunov also occasionally paints portraits, such as the one shown above, 6th down, of his wife, painter Ruta Korshunova, who I profiled last week. Both artists, of course, share the difficulties inherent in trying to make their way as artists amid the turmoil and uncertainty of the current political climate in Ukraine.

    In addition to the works seen on his website (many of which are available for sale directly from the artist via email contact), you can see larger versions of his paintings, along with examples of his work as an illustrator and visual development artist for games, on his Behance portfolio and blog.

    Some of Korshunov’s illustrations have a very appealing textural character to the rendering, and his illustrations for fairy tales have a wonderful magic realist quality to them.

    [Suggestion courtesy of ETat]



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  • Eye Candy for Today: Franz Xaver Winterhalter’s portrait of The Empress Eugénie

    The Empress Eugenie, Franz Xaver Winterhalter
    The Empress Eugénie, Franz Xaver Winterhalter

    In the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Use the zoom or download links below the image on their page.

    The painting’s finished feeling, when viewed from the proper distance, belies the painterly, almost casual and sketch-like handling when seen in detail.



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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
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

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