Tag Archives: chiaroscuro

Italian Morning Bosque del Apache

Posted on by

2016-01-06BosqueSunrise0281

It has been said that if an artist has real talent they will often have an aura about them that extends outward from his presence. This aura extends out to a distance that corresponds to the artists talent. The more accomplished the artist the further out his influence or aura spreads. Leonardo Da Vinci had an aura that went out approximately 1130 miles. This would be a radius not a diameter. This aura will leave its influence on anything that it touches. This is why some of those old European towns like Venice and Florence look the way they do. Leo walked down their streets.

There are many of those old retired painters of the Renaissance, Leo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Giorgione and many others. Most of these painters have made their money and are no longer painting. What many people don’t know is that all of these artists traveled extensively looking for inspiration, seeing the sights, trying to find new colors that they could incorporate into their work and generally taking advantage of frequent sailing miles they had built up in their travels.

Of course everywhere they went they left their indelible mark on the landscape. Giorgione was a frequent traveler to the New World and one of his favorite spots was to hit Bosque del Apache whenever he was in the neighborhood. Since passport control was fairly lax at that time, there aren’t many records left that document exactly where in his travels he visited, but there is one telltale method that can be used to determine where he has been.

That would be an aura check. Each of the artists had a distinct and identifiable aura once you learned how to identify them. Rembrandt and Michelangelo both leaned heavily into the Chiaroscuro style which was very heavy influenced by extreme contrast and heavy use of brighter colors, gold, silver, etc, which is why if you walk by the coliseum you will see part of it in bright golden sunshine and the other side of it in deep shadows. That’s the Michelangelo effect. Giorgione liked a lighter more open palette, lots of soft backgrounds, muted shades, not so much contrast, earth tones, and highlighting the primary subject in his painting.

Since the last undocumented visit by Giorgione was roughly March 18, 1510, which was a Friday, his aura is beginning to fade a little. While when it was new, you couldn’t even walk in Bosque without tripping over his aura. Now not so much. But every once in a while when you least expect it the landscape will explode into his palette that had been imprinted onto the landscape when he was here as if he stood right beside you. That is exactly what happened when this image was made. Prior to taking the photo the landscape had been drab and uninteresting, almost boring. Then the sun came over the rise and activated the Giorgione aura and you can see the result. Soft muted colors, perfect earth tones, it’s all there. What a joy to be able to see and bask in the reflection of such talent, let alone document these events. We heard that Michelangelo had visited the Grand Canyon so we’re off to see what effects his aura has had on that masterpiece. We’ll try and post that visit later.

Chiaroscuro

Posted on by
Chiaroscuro0661Canyonlands                                                                 click to enlarge

Chiaroscuro in the canyons. Chiaroscuro is one of those words artists like to throw around to show how much they know about art and you don’t, and like French cooking, Vichyssoise is still a soup made from leeks, onions, potatoes, chicken stock, and cream despite how you pronounce it. As soon as you know the definition the mystery goes away, snotty waiter or not. Chiaroscuro in its simplest definition just means light/dark, in Italian anyway. And when it comes to art, who you gonna believe, the guy down the street or an Italian like Caravaggio. I’m betting on Caravaggio.

This Chiaroscuro is an effect that drew me at an early age to appreciate art. I didn’t know why but I knew I liked the look of those dark spaces with the central light-filled areas glowing with colors of gold and silver and Ivory reflecting from helmets and swords or fancy chandeliers. And other colors such as the deep, deep reds of velvet and the glow of porcelain colored skin were a fascination that has held up through the years and affects my work on a constant basis.

The southwest seems to have been created with the definition of Chiaroscuro in mind. The spring and fall when the light is changing, especially during the morning and evening hours, is spectacular at worst and overwhelmingly, breathtakingly beautiful at best. Can you imagine the type of paintings we would have if Rembrandt had been able to visit the southwest. How about “The Night Watch” only using warriors from the Chiricahua Apaches in their full war regalia against the deep rich colors of the canyon walls. It makes me want to paint.

My eye is drawn to the interplay of light and dark constantly as it was when I was just a child figuring out what I liked about this art stuff and the canyons provide me with endless subject matter. Only now I can create my own Chiaroscuro images in the click of a shutter and I do.

Monet’s Coyote

Posted on by

MonetsCoyote4454Click to enlarge

It is a little known secret that I was a frustrated wannabe painter. In fact for years when I was sculpting I used to tell people that I was a sculptor because I couldn’t paint. Later on in life when I had reached a stage where I made grandma Moses look like a freshman cheerleader I went and took lessons from a well known plein air painter. She told me that after she trained me to hold the brush with the bristles towards the canvas and how to get the cap off the paint tube with out redoing the walls, that I might have potential. I defined potential as “No way in Hell” but I persevered. But in my persistence a funny thing happened, not funny in a grab your sides, milk coming out of your nose kind of way, but strange. Funny strange. The more I painted the more I loved paintings as an art form and the less I liked actually doing it. It turned out that I really loved sculpting after all but because of the lifelong dreaming of painting thing I viewed it more as a job rather than a soul satisfying art form that occasionally made me money. That realization however, did not diminish my obsession with the 2D art world. We artists talk like that, 2D, paintings or flatwork, as opposed to 3D, sculpture, it makes us look a lot smarter at parties and stuff. I had traipsed through most of the big museums and galleries here and in Europe and had a catalog of my favorite painters and their work in my head, and when I began photographing in earnest I was always looking for that Monet shot or the light in Rembrandt’s chiaroscuro work. It is surprisingly hard to find in real life. Rarely does chiaroscuro jump out at you when you turn the corner or the subtle light of Monet’s gardens happen every time you get ready to take a picture. But sometimes it does. And when it does, and you get to shoot it, it is like when someone comes up to you and says “I think you are quite the splendid fellow, here’s several million bucks. Take the rest of the day off”, that kind of feeling. That may not have happened to you yet but when it does, are you going to be happy. This image of a coyote in a meadow at Sheep lake in Rocky Mountain National Park was one of those times when Monet’s spirit was at work. If he had been a wildlife artist he would have painted this and been a happy man, just as I was for being able to have seen it.