Oil Painting, The Unknown: Robert Bean

As I was walking across the 17th century art section at Walters Art Museum, hanging behind the big rectangular pillar in the middle of the hallway, an oil painting on panel by Trophime Bigot draws my attention. The high contrasting tones of colors and values and the artist capability to make the grotesque painting appealing interest me.

I chose to write about L’Envouteuse (The Sorceress) by Georges Merle. Merle’s father was also a painter, and since Merle did not sign some of his early work it was often confused to be done by his dad. George himself was known by his talent of painting the body form of women. Merle painted this during the time of 1883. This painting is 57 ½ inches x 45 inches making this a fairly large piece. When painting this he used oil on canvas. I found L’Envouteuse (The Sorceress) while I was browsing through The Birmingham Museum of Art. Above all pieces of art I saw in the museum, this painting seemed to be the most captivating. As soon as I laid eyes on it my attention was immediately taken by this mysterious piece of art. I grabbed a stool and began writing down my observations. Looking at this painting on paper cannot even compare to actually seeing it in person. Pictures I have seen online of L’Envouteuse (The Sorceress) do not justify the great detail and vigorous colors that are more easily seen while actually standing in front of the painting.

I went to the Art Walk event in Newberg and stopped by the Art Elements Gallery. I wanted to find a work that calls to me. At first I didn’t find much. The art was nice, but I didn’t get any special feelings on them. Finally, I spotted an oil painting on a wrapped canvas. It was called Full Moon. The work was created by Oregon citizen, Marilyn Higginson. It’s still hard to express what I felt when I saw this painting, but I felt a sense of peace when I saw the tranquil setting of the painting. My aesthetic scanning will give a description of the work, analyze the craftsmanship, the art elements, the art principles, and give my interpretation on the work.

The piece I am writing about is the Red Canna, by Georgia O’ Keefe. This oil piece of art is a painting that is nonrepresentational. The forms in this painting are flourishing which can be seen from looking at the flower petals developing across the canvas.The shapes in this piece can be described as sharp, organic, and curvy. The subject of this artwork is growing as means to the flower maturing which show more and bigger details. The location background of this picture is outdoors, maybe in the woods, the jungle, or by a beach. The location of this piece is currently located at the Arizona State University Museum. I found this beautiful painting on Santa Fe Campus on one of the wall columns. The light in this composition is very powerful

I enjoyed learning about them and looking at it. Prior to doing more research on them, I just thought their work wasn't art and just random things put up/built in places. Now that I know more about it, I am able to fully understand it and enjoy it better. I couldn't live with this in my house, it would take up too much space. Theoretically however, I think I would enjoy having this in my house. I t has a nice meaning behind it and it would be nice to see everyday. It is aesthetically successful in my opinion, it just works so well. I would say this art piece is a mix between formalism and Imitationalism. I believe both are what makes an artwork aesthetically successful. The whole thing, from how it was constructed to the meaning behind it, are the reasons why I think this piece is

While walking through the halls of the museum, I was in a rather skeptical attitude, because after several halls, none of the paintings particularly impressed me. They were all too confusing, too simple. So it continued until I went into a room with huge canvases, and that 's where my eyes got attracted to an artwork that has later become my favorite. The large, towering almost to the ceiling vertical canvas intrigued me with its colors and texture, and in the description has been written that this is the work called "Veronica" by a famous modern artist Jay DeFeo, and it’s been created pretty a long time ago- in 1967. This piece is drawn in a very nice mix of colors and looks like a silk thread aspiring up and shimmering with all shades of bronze and gold. The painting is done in the abstract style so that everyone sees in it something of their own- a feather, wood texture, a piece of fabric- as far as the imagination will suffice. According to the author, it should be Veronica’s veil - a piece of cloth which bears the likeness of the face of Jesus. In Gospel, during the Passion of Christ, one of the holy women who accompanied him to Calvary, offered him a towel on which he left the imprint of his face. Whether the artist is embedded in this work some deep (religious) meaning or not - I don’t know, so I appreciated the painting from an aesthetic point of view. I really liked the technique that DeFeo used to create big and small strokes and transitions between shades: it

Oil painting is a long standing technique that is still used frequently in order to create vibrantly detailed and unique works of art. Kayla White’s painting, Overflow, utilized this very tactic by painting oil on canvas. I saw that she undertook a great challenge by using recognizable objects, being the clothes sticking out of the open drawers, and distorting them into melting objects that pool out of the wooden drawers and onto the floor, as if it had become liquefied. Her work exuberated a style reminiscent of famous works of art such as Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory. Both works use oil paint to skew recognizable objects in a space and render them in such a manner that they now represent something else entirely. Kayla’s

The draw of this piece seems to be in its simplicity. Each note is fairly expected and appear pulled from other classic pieces. The music created calmness for

I believe this work of art is so tasteful and rich and it has such a sweet message. The arrangement of the artistic creation is somewhat straightforward, four figures and two columns. Yet, there is so much detail. (Green, 2014) The crinkles and the bends in the garments are hung encompassing the figures so actually and the cushiness and twists in the kids' hair appears to be almost touchable. (Green, 2014) I additionally truly like the shading plan of pinks, yellows, oranges, and a grey, so delicate, tender, light, and sweet. I imagine that the greater part of this works so well to pass on a definitive message of the work of art.

Whilst the face and the body are incredibly detailed, the way that he portrays it is more unrealistic because of the unnatural lines and shapes. The different lines and splodges of paint aid to give the piece a sense of disorganisation. As well as this the hair had been simplified to a block grey and black tone. The colours give a sombre theme to the painting as well as the girl’s expression. What I find most striking about this painting is the colour and expression of the eyes which are mesmerising. Nicolle has said that he “search(es) to communicate through portraits the impression to be really watched by the drawn person and imagine his thoughts and his/her

Pieter Bruegel the elder painted Landscape with the Flight into Egypt in 1563. In the oil painting, the Holy Family appears to be traveling through a mountainous region with rivers. Mary, who is draped in red, stands out as she is riding the donkey pulled by Joseph. She appears to be clutching baby Jesus, an allusion to their fleet to avoid persecution. As they make their way to Egypt, the landscape includes wide valleys, jagged mountains, and blue rivers. The landscape is enhanced and exaggerated in order to emphasize the biblical story. The composition of the painting exemplifies characteristics of Renaissance art. The painting depicts individualism, focusing in on specific people instead of groups. The painting emphasizes nature, as seen

In this portrait, the opaque colors are used well to highlight the main subject of it. Anne is dressed in a white dress that appears to be greyish or creamy because Reynolds added some shadows to it in order to show the creases and folds on her dress. The artist uses this technique in order to show clarities on the lady’s standing position. It is very effective because when you look at it, you can immediately notice that she is standing on her left leg while her right leg is relaxed. The folds on her sleeve also help give an accurate appearance on how her elbow is bent while having it relaxed on her left leg. There is an additional item behind her, which is a red long velvet piece of cloth that could be her coat. Aside from the type of clothing she has, the color red, white, and gold signifies her feminine side and her high status in the society. Also, she has an aqua green piece of cloth that has gold tassel at the end tied around her hip. Compare to the rich and lively colors used on the main subject of the portrait, the background and the other figures on the painting appears to be gloomy. The sculpted ermine cloak is projected with shadows making it appear dark which is the same as the trees that looks almost black in color instead of green. The trees only show a bit the green color.

As one of the most renowned paintings of all time, the Mona Lisa, a half-length portrait of a woman painted by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci between 1503 and 1506, attracts millions of visitors to the Louvre each year. When seeing the painting, people interpret it differently. Does the smile reveal a mischievous smirk, a peaceful expression, or an empty heart? There is no set answer. For artists, being able to imitate the Mona Lisa demonstrates their solid artistic skills. For art historians, the creation process of the painting remains a controversial mystery. For art collectors, the Mona Lisa is a legend floating in their dreams. However, fame does not guarantee the painting’s place in the canon due to various pressures and changing values. Although the Mona Lisa is considered a masterpiece for its remarkable High Renaissance style and innovative sfumato technique, it should be removed from the canon of oil paintings for questionable authenticity caused by theft and vandalism, and tenuous popularity gained from psychological and sociological mechanisms.

This painting grabbed my attention with the goldish and yellowish coloring of the foggy like substance that the woman with the three babies above the saint seems to be floating in. This painting also called me over to it because of the rounded and blackened corners from a distance they just looked like wear and tear on the painting but upon viewing it more closely I noticed that it is the under passage of an arch that is protruding out from the building that stretches into the background of this piece. The last to things about this painting that drew my attention to it rather than the others were the foggy in the background in the mid-section of the building that flows into the background as well as the colors the Saint is wearing it is mainly black with an orangish shawl over his robes. The coloring of the shawl was interesting to mean because I had not seen this shade of orange used before at all let alone on a saint. Overall this painting really stood out to me because of the constant changes and shocks in coloring it did that I had not seen before such as: the orange shawl, the use of fog to darken and lighten the already black building, the black rounded upper corners of the painting, and the goldish half moon that the lady with the three babies is floating in.

The conflict scene in the painting attracts me, because it makes me want to do some research behind the painting and start to analysis the history of 19th century. The detail of the upper part of the painting frustrates me, because there are not many details on the painting. The viewers do not know what is happening up there. Manet also uses many colour for that part, therefore it makes the upper part becomes messy and hard to understand.