Showing posts with label Oil painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oil painting. 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!

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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Palazzo Carafa


The Good Will

It was a sunny Sunday in the heart of Lecce and I was inspired by the flags waving against the blue sky. 

As I sat up my easel at the corner of the sidewalk, I realize I had brought no turps to thin my paint. I lifted a tip to the porter of a nearby fancy hotel and after a while he got me some stain remover from the hotel storage. Sorry, I have to 'stain' the canvas not clean it! Wait -- he said, and 20 minuts later he brought me some kind of detergent. Never mind -- at least I can clean my brushes! Thanks for the good will.
 
Love all the ancient names of 2000 years old city: Palazzo Carafa (ex Monastero delle Paoline, right flags) and the Palazzo di Giustizia (left). In the background the Chiesa del Gesù or Chiesa del Buon Consiglio
 
Oil on Linen | 16 x 26 cms (6,4" x 10,4")


Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Yellow Resting Boat



This painting is part of the current selection on the Art Promo wall of my website Portfolio. It is reserved only for my Newsletter subscribers. The deal includes a flat price independent of the current market value, -- plus free shipping worldwide. In appreciation for your support, this offer is reserved especially for you but will end soon without notice -- so don't wait! You can only reach it by logging in the Members area of my website or via the link below: Art Promo

Live in painting:) Francesco
www.francescofontana.com

P.S. If you aren't currently signed up for my newsletter, sign up today and become eligible for this special promotion today!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

My Art Promo Collection



To wish everyone and myself a prosperous new year, I designed a special wall in my online Portfolio, where a few of my paintings are 'hanging' for a very limited time at a special flat rate  -- independent of their actual value. The offer will last few hours or days and closes without announcement. Be the first to check this Proposal.


Live in painting : ) Francesco
www.francescofontana.com


PS: Free shipping is offered in this occasion. Take the chance!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Chicken Time


My struggle with time management made me buy a timer years a go. It was supposed to help me paint within a given time and do not overwork my painting. Never used it but I am glad is now part of my daily challenge in some other way. Do you too need a reminder to stop at the best? Buy it! [Oil on canvas board 18 x 24 cms (7 x 10 inc) -- for sale w. free shipping]

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

My little wooden bear

OK I feel kinda sweet! This is my little wooden bear, living in my studio for years now. Oil on Canvas 17 x 17 cms (7 x 7 inc) Value 440 EUR. I offer it for 440 US$ including shipping in the next 48 hrs] Check out my Portfolio here: View, comment, buy