Paul Wolber Art Studio

Adversary's: Still Life with Pears SOLD
5” x 7” acrylic on gessoed board
$99.00 unframed $130.00 framed

This is a follow up on the color study of a clementine. I’m never completely happy with the colors on the computer monitor. In this case the warm tones especially in the orange and magenta colors wash out and don’t quite match the richness in the painting. I suppose I could go into the color channels in Photoshop & try to adjust them but they would still differ on each computer. You will just have to realize that the colors in any painting are usually a bit richer and clearer in the painting than in any reproduction. This is good reason to have original art on your walls rather than a print or reproduction. Cezanne thought that each object in a painting had a spirit or personality of it's own. I've tried to follow his idea here to give each pear a unique feeling, but also the table top and the background space are objects in the sense that they are planes or surfaces and I've tried to make them fit into the composition as part of a group of four things relating together.

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Swan at Long Lake 5” x 7” acrylic on primed board
SOLD

This is one of the swans painted from Long Lake in Birmingham, Michigan. The white feathers of these large birds stand out beautifully against the blues, purples and reds of the water in late afternoon.

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© Copyright by Paul Wolber 2006

Clementine 5" x 7" acrylic on board unframed $99.00 framed $130.00

Color is a primary consideration in painting. I’ve always stressed simultaneous contrast as an important part of what to look for in color. This goes all the way back to the beginning of French Impressionism when the French chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul discovered what he called the “law of simultaneous contrast” published in 1839. The theory says that two complementary colors placed next to each other will intensify or heighten the colors effect on the eye. Learning to use the concept of warm colors advancing and cool colors receding will intensify the space or depth of the color field.

When I taught Chinese students they knew how to do this in their painting by observing it in Western art, but their own traditional Chinese color theory stressed the idea of a limited palette, so they never studied color theory in quite the same way we would in color classes in our art schools here. I found I needed to start my painting classes with a couple of lectures on color theory as used in Western art beginning with the impressionists so they would know where I was coming from. After that, they could choose what they wanted and incorporate it into their own theories without my requiring them to become “Western”. Beginning painters sometimes don’t really use this principle, so the work seems flat or lifeless.

In creating this little study of a clementine, I was reminded of all this as I placed those cool colors in the shadows and warm tones in the highlights. The background is also important because it can enhance the warm/cool relationship of the colors. Notice how just changing the background color changes what you see on the insert.

On our way to an old mountain village in Sichuan Province in China this summer we saw peasant farmers working in the rice fields. Once again I became aware of the traditional way of working that Chinese farmers use, going back thousands of years. This clearly can be seen in the use of water buffalo to plough the rice paddies. Modern equipment is not designed to work in rice fields under water. This study is one of those views seen last summer. I was unable to continue these sketches last summer because I fell and fractured my painting arm in three places while in the old village we were visiting. Now that I’m back in shape, I’m trying to catch up and finish some of those studies. Later, I want to do some studies of a bullfight we saw in a Dong minority village to show the how highly prized the buffalo is and to explain how the bullfight takes place. Often, on rural roads, drivers must slow down and drive very carefully to negotiate around water buffalo or other animals walking or even lying in the road.

Ploughing a Rice Paddy 5" x 7" acrylic on gesso primed board unframed
SOLD

Last night I had a dream in which I saw an old house. Recently we traveled to Ohio to visit my sister and brother-in-law. On the way back we got off the main highway as we often do when traveling and saw a number of old farms and buildings. We passed a house like this but in my dream the house was more elaborate and more mysterious as if it might be deserted but maybe people were still around to use it in one way or another, so this painting is more what I saw in my dream than in reality.

My idea of a painting is that the artist shows what he/she sees and feels rather than a duplication of the visual data as a camera might see. Once when I stopped to sketch and photograph an old building my friend said, “I don’t know what you see in that old thing”. Later when she saw the painting I did, she said, “Oh, now I understand what you saw”. I believe a work of art should let you see through the artists eyes rather than what you would see on your own. It should put you into the artist’s head to get a vision other than your own. This image then exists partly in reality and partly in imagination.

Elaboration of an Old House 5" x 7" acrylic on board unframed
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This is a Michigan barn that is a good example of some details typical of early twentieth century architecture. Many of these old images are disappearing from the rural landscape in Michigan as well as in much of the Midwest. This is one of the few barns that is still maintained in relatively good condition. I enjoy seeing how the light plays off the landscape and on the architecture in early morning or late afternoon.

Two stone lions from the Han Dynasty at the archaeological site near YaAn, China, close to my wifes home town. These were found in the same location as the lions posted on November 21. The one in front was very unusual and reminded me a little of the sphinx image in Egypt. I have no idea why this image was created with these particular features and why it is different from the others.

Two Lions - 5" x 7" acrylic on gesso primed board unframed
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CHILDREN’S ART

Children’s art is often more spontaneous and vibrant than anything an adult can create. In January of 2005 my wife and I were visiting some friends in Haiko on Hainan Island in the Gulf of Tonkin. Their little daughter is our God Child and we had the opportunity to visit her preschool to observe her activities. On the school grounds there was an exhibit of art some of the first and second grade children had done. The children had apparently visited a zoo, and we were struck by the beauty and imagination of the work they had created. This collage is a selection of some of the works in the exhibit.

I like to do studies in a series of at least three works. It was said that Raphael would do as many as 500 studies before completing a major work. While I’m not ready to go that far, it does take a lot of work and study to do any work worth a second look. The two images posted today are follow-ups on other works posted on November 21.

Swan 1 – 5” x7” acrylic on gesso primed board
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Williamstown Church – 5” x 7” acrylic on gesso primed board
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To see all my past work on this blog click HERE.

 
Unframed works come with a hanging slot on back so work can be hung easily without a frame.

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