I am a painter…but foremost, I am a student of painters. I learn from the artists who have come before me, and the artists that surround me. I learn about colors, and composition, and brushstrokes, and mediums, and surfaces to paint on…on and on, there are myriads of things to learn about painting. And I am soaking it all in. I love to take beautiful art of the past, and give it my own interpretation.
I experiment, and I learn.
This month, I am inspired by Edouard Vuillard. The Athenaeum website, is where I go to research artists from the past, and they have hundreds of paintings from Vuillard that I can be inspired by.
Below, you will see works by the student and the teacher.
Vuillard’s Flowers – inspired by Edouard Vuillard – 5 x 7 inch gouache painting on watercolor paper
Edouard Vuillard’s painting – A Vase of Flowers – Oil on board, approx 13 x 16.5 inches. Image by The Athenaeum.
Very rarely do I try to copy stroke for stroke, color for color. And often, I add my own “thing”…in this case, it was the splatters of paint, that give it a fun and whimsical feel, as opposed to the classical feel of the original. Vuillard painted in oil. I paint usually with acrylics and gouache. Vuillard was part of the Les Nabis painting group…a style of art that I am increasingly falling in love with. They loved small interior views, and flat blocks of color. They were more interested in shapes, not into detail…and for my goal of “loosening up”, their painting style is definitely an inspiration!
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