Showing posts with label Impressionism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Impressionism. Show all posts

Friday, December 29, 2023

Masters Who Inspire Artists (Me)

What makes a painter a great role model? ~ 

I am often asked who my reference artists are, great masters of the past and contemporary authors. Not an easy answer, artists in history are endless! And just as many today, when visual access to art is global and often overflowing. I look with admiration at Turner, Monet, Hopper, Fattori, Segantini. But also living artists the like of Dean Mitchell or Sean Cheetham. Each of them has something specific that inspires me and pushes me to learn.

Under the Awning, on the Beach of Zarautz

See more of Sorolla's works

However there is one who somehow represents them all: Joaquin Sorolla (b. 1863, Valencia, Spain). I was blown out at his exhibition at Palazzo Reale in Milan in 2022. It completely overwhelmed me! Not even the visit to the Sorolla Museum in Valencia had such an impact on me. 

Why Sorolla?

Because his work expresses a complete range of fundamental aspects of pictorial art, in his case in oil but not only.

  • The composition of his scenes, often complex, with unusual angles and a combination of figures and landscape, never intimidated by very large size. 
  • The absolute mastery of drawing, which emerges from proportions and anatomy.
  • His tonal strategy and his sense of light. For me his dynamic power surpass Caravaggio, the monument to tonalism.
  • Sorolla's palette is an infinite vocabulary of colours, warm and cool, often high key -- which make his phrasing very rich, like the timbres of an orchestra.
  • Finally his alla prima brushwork, energetic, fat and sensual. It ties everything together in a rhythm and a fantastic dance!

As if that weren't enough, many of Sorolla's masterpieces were painted en plein air. He's not the only artist to do this for sure -- Monet and Cezanne even a little before him. But he worked outdoors on larger formats and in challenging conditions, on the seashore, under blinding light and with water, boats and figures in motion. For days.

He was able to transfer this vibrancy to his studio works as well. 

Studying Joaquin Sorolla therefore means for me studying almost everything about the artistic practice of painting. He   became a model later in my career. This means to me that reference models change over time and are perhaps an achievement of maturity. Just at the stage where you no longer need to imitate them.

Happy Art Life! - Francesco

PS. Sorolla is a genius of  alla prima painting, which was re-actualized by a great personality of recent times, Richard Schmid. The American master who passed away a few years ago, influenced a couple of generations of oil painters around the world with his iconic book Alla Prima.

PPS. There are so many historical and contemporary artists that I admire. I think I will need more posts to talk about it. So be ready by signing up now and receive my (News) Artist Letters!

Send Francesco an email

Monday, January 2, 2017

Giverny, France Workshop in Monet's Paradise

New dates: now booking for 17 - 22 July 2017 

Painting by the japanese bridge at Claude money residence in Giverny, FranceA lifetime experience, right where Monet’s masterpieces were created
This Giverny experience is designed to learn and get inspired by the father of Impressionism Claude Monet. We’ll spend five days in Giverny, north of Paris, where Monet lived for 30 years. Here we’ll be painting in the village and in the gardens along the water lily pond the master had built. These are the real locations where Monet’s masterpieces were created. We are in love with this magical place, coming here for the fifth time. Get your post now, very limited space!

Get all the info now at workshops@francescofontana.com


Calss in Giverny, France, by  the residence of Claude Monet
More about the Monet's story

To prepare for the culture and spirit of Impressionism, you would want to visit two Paris museums: Le Musée Marmottan e l'Orangerie. The first one displaying Impression du Soleil Levant, (Impression of the Rising Sun), from which the term Impressionism was conied. At Musée de l'Orangerie you can admire a selection of giant paintings among the 250 that Monet painted of the lilies and the reflections on the waters of the Giverny pond. I will not guide your visit of Paris but you can ask for tips as I lived there. Get all the info now at workshops@francescofontana.com

Read my interview to Outdoor Painter

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Back to Giverny, Workshop in Monet's Paradise

Now Booking for June 2017
Masterpieces were created here
Watercolor Workshop in Monet's Giverny with Francesco FontanaThis Giverny experience is designed to learn and get inspired by the father of Impressionism Claude Monet. We’ll spend five days in Giverny, north of Paris, where Monet lived for 30 years. Here we’ll be painting in the village and in the gardens along the water lily pond the master had built. These are the real locations where Monet’s masterpieces were created. We are coming here for the fourth time. You can add extra days to your vacation, prior and after Giverny. 
The Monet’s Paris
To prepare for the culture and spirit of Impressionism, you would want to visit two Paris museums: Le Musée Marmottan e l'Orangerie. The first one displaying Impression du Soleil Levant, (Impression of the Rising Sun), from which the term Impressionism was conied. At Musée de l'Orangerie you can admire a selection of giant paintings among the 250 that Monet painted of the lilies and the reflections on the waters of the Giverny pond.
I will not guide your visit of Paris but you can ask for tips as I lived there. I will connect you with other participants who wish to share the Parisian experience. Welcome in Giverny


Read my interview to Outdoor Painter
Once you arrive the Vernon station, a group taxi can be shared. The same day a visit to the house and gardens of Monet is scheduled. Followed by a ice breaking drink and a good dinner.


The following mornings the class will be hold in the hotel garden. Then will return to Monet’s the next four afternoons, with a private pass to paint in the property after tourist hours. These sessions have no structured instruction, just some advise and great deal of inspiration from the golden light of the day!
Watercolor Workshop
Watercolor is the official media and beginners are welcome. Oil or acrylic are allowed for outdoor experienced painters only. Instruction is mainly based on demos. Francesco will be available for individual advise. An open feedback will take place on the last day, followed by a farewell dinner. On departure day a bus is available or a taxi can be scheduled to Vernon station for Paris, or directly to the airport.
A detailed day schedule will follow after signing up.

2016 Upcoming Events
    • Feautured Artist at Lighthouse Plein Air Festival, Jupiter, Florida 9 — 13 March, 2016
    • DVD Release  & Faculty at 5th Plein Air Convention & Expo, Tucson, AZ 15 — 19 April 2016
    • Exhibiting in Fabriano, Italy – International Watercolor Society Festival, April 2015
    • Featured Artist at Door County Plein Air Festival, WI, Fish Creek 24 — 30 July 2016
    • Workshop Instructor at MISA Madeline Island School of Arts, WI, 29 Aug— 2 Sep 2016
    • Extended Article on Watercolor Painting Process on The Artist Magazine, UK Sept 2016
    • Judge and Instructor at Watercolor Society of Oregon Conference, 7 — 14 October 2016
 

Sunday, February 2, 2014

A Moveable Feast Through Impressionism

The Monet Tour in Paris & Giverny July 2014

A few days before we set our easels by the magical lily pond in Giverny, this unique Monet tour starts in Paris. Two major museums will show us the actual masterpieces that started the Impressionist movement and became an universal reference: Le Muesée Marmottan and l'Orangerie.

A repro of Impression Sunrise by Claude Monet
The first one displaying Impression du Soleil Levant, Impression of Rising Sun, from which the term Impressionism was first coined. At the Musee de L'Orangerie, a selection of giant paintings from the 250 that Monet painted of the water lilies in Giverny, awaits to be admired.

12 -- 19 July, 2014

I planned the dates carefully. The day before we head to Givenry, July 14, it's time to let it go in the greatest National French celebration: la Fete de la Republique. A true moveable feast going on till dawn, with music and dance all over the streets of Paris!


How can you resist such an invitation! Say yes today!

Live in painting! -- Francesco

PS. Since I announced the Monet Tour, I received more inquiries than expected, in just one week. No wonder for this is really an amazing experience -- I am the sole to offer.

People from overseas are busy making travel plans. So, I expect the only 8 spots I limited this group size, fill much ahead of booking deadline.

Request your spot now, first come first served. 

Monday, January 27, 2014

Monet Paris & Giverny Painting Holiday

Living The Spirit of Impressionism

Giverny is a tiny village about 75 km north of Paris, in Lower Normandy. Claude Monet, the father of Impressionism, lived in Giverny the last 30 years of his life.



Me painting in the Monet's garden, July 2013
There he built his mansion and designed in person a luscious flower garden and the lily pond. Later the lilies became the subject of a series of large paintings. These paintings – we can now admire at Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris -- become his most famous masterpieces, after Impression du Soleil Levant, which gave birth to the Impressionism and constitutes our legacy as painters.

Next July I'll have again the privilege to paint right along the lily pond in the colourful garden of my muse Monet. Believe me when I say you can feel his spirit and something enormously greater in the air as you paint in the quite late afternoon of Giverny. The sky becomes peach rose thru the trees and you can only hear the frogs splashing in the pond. We feel as witnesses and humble carriers of  his Art. We become aware and grateful for it seems he made all this to share his inspiration with us!


12 -- 19 July, 2014


The Japanese Bridge --
Watercolor 33 x 46 cm (c) Francesco Fontana
I’ll offer this 4 day workshop in Giverny – after a brief tour in Paris. Dry and water media are preferred -- but oil is welcome if you have a basic gear and painting know how outdoor. I pre-booked only 8 rooms at the hotel we stayed last year, just around the corner of Monet’s house. Are you going to miss this chance?

Be part of this memorable experience! Sign up now!.