The Oil Painting Blog : painting flowers

Is It Ever Too Late to Start Painting?

bberlin — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:20:00 GMT

Not if artist Claudia Seymour has anything to say about it. This year I had the pleasure of meeting Seymour at the Salmagundi Club in New York City to create two three-hour DVDs with her, including this year's The Art of Painting Flowers in Oil.


Spring Things by Claudia Seymour, oil on linen, 2011, 18 x 24.

Meeting Claudia initially was a daunting proposition. Before we met I did my research to discover that she paints a fantastic array of floral still lifes using both oils and pastels. I called her office, and was told to meet her in the lobby of the prestigious Salmagundi Club, where she is currently the president. It was an honor to meet her at such a lauded organization. The 141-year-old club has been a meeting place for artist-members such as Childe Hassam, William Merritt Chase, and Howard Pyle. If you're ever in New York it is worth a visit to see their many ongoing, and free, art exhibitions.

As Claudia entered the club I found myself getting quite nervous. What made things worse was as she welcomed me into the club, she immediately tripped over a piece of my equipment. "Now," I thought,"I'm done for." But aside from me tripping such a distinguished woman, she had the grace to give me a warm welcome with a bright smile, and we hit it off immediately from there. After we spoke for a bit on her painting instruction workshop, she told me something I was shocked to find out. Seymour's work is exhibited in numerous galleries around the country but she didn't pick up a brush until she was in her 40s!


		Notes for Two Horns by Claudia Seymour, oil on linen, 2005, 24 x 22.

I was shocked that such a well trained artist could have been painting for only...well, I won't say as a gentleman never reveals a lady's age. But it just proves that at any age, with a little time and commitment, you can really dive deep into your craft. Claudia certainly has.

We've just finished filming The Art of Painting Flowers in Oil, in which Claudia takes you into her painting practice and shows you how to compose a still life painting, light your still life art, and really think about everything you need in order to create a really beautiful artwork. I can't wait for her next workshop dealing with floral arrangements in pastel, coming 2013. But most of all, working with Claudia has made me think about whether it really is ever too late to start painting. What do you think? When did you start painting, and do you think it has made a difference concerning where you are now with your artwork? Leave a comment and let me know,

--Ben

Ben Berlin is the video guru of American Artist magazine.

Oil Painting: Debra Teare: Updating Trompe l'Oeil For Today

American Artist — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:00:00 GMT

Oil painter Debra Teare mixes the best of conventional trompe l’oeil techniques with her own modern sensibilities to make her illusionistic pieces.

by James A. Metcalfe

Everything Nice
2007, oil, 13 x 10.
Collection Christine E. Lynn.

For more than 3,000 years, art lovers have marveled and celebrated the talents of trompe l’oeil painters. Today trompe l’oeil is everywhere, including building facades, tabletops, product packaging, film and stage sets, and interior murals. The genre never fades from the forefront because contemporary artists won’t let it—they embrace the tenets of the style and apply their own individuality while maintaining its philosophy. The fine line between image and reality—and that ultimate temptation to “trick the eye”—still offers unique challenges to contemporary painters.

Teare on Trompe l’Oeil’s Tenets

Debra Teare pushes the envelope a bit in her trompe l’oeil paintings, but she essentially adheres to the genre’s basic tenets, which she outlines below:

“Trompe l’eoil is an art form that evolved over many thousands of years. Initially, it was simply a way of painting that ‘fooled the eye,’ but eventually many practitioners of the art found that certain conventions enhanced the illusionistic effect they were striving for. One convention is to keep the depth of field as shallow as possible. Effects such as taping or pinning flat objects to a board make a shallow depth of field possible. Another convention is to light the scene from the left, which increases the chance that the actual lighting of the painting will correspond to the illusionistic lighting in an exhibition. Another is not breaking the picture plane—that is, not running an object or shadow out of the canvas thus preserving the illusion that the objects exist entirely in the space within the frame. One way to enhance the three-dimensional effect is to maintain a shallow depth of field. I do this by keeping my boxes or shelves as shallow as possible. Any object or texture that has a sculptural or tactile quality is likely to end up in a trompe l’oeil painting. I enjoy working within these rules, yet I feel free to break these conventions to achieve a unique effect.”

One of the most successful trompe l’oeil painters today is Debra Teare. Although it took this Utah native 15 years to find her niche, Teare knew that when she came upon it, she would “know it, feel it, and sense it immediately”—and she did.

“I was casting about for many years trying to find a focus when I came across the work of Larry Charles and the Trompe l’Oeil Society of Artists,” she recounts. “That was my galvanizing moment, and I knew instantly that trompe l’oeil painting would be my idiom. It was as though I had switched from taking nothing but black-and-white photographs to taking nothing but vibrant color photographs.” The analogy has a special resonance—prior to her discovery of trompe l’oeil, Teare rendered large photorealistic drawings in black and white for more than 15 years. Deep shadows and varied textures have long captivated the artist, and she always felt a pressing impulse to include a strong three-dimensional quality in her work. Trompe l’oeil painting met that need. “One of the reasons I love trompe l’oeil is because of my fascination with precise painting,” she says. “Despite the fact that trompe l’oeil differs from other art forms in the sense that it has a set of rules, I find its supposed limitations to be absolutely liberating.” Although Teare loves “loose, luscious painting” in other people’s work, she can’t see herself ever heading in that direction. “With that type of painting,” she reasons, “something would be lost in what I am trying to say.”

Must Move Forward
2005, oil, 12 x 10.
Private collection.

Although she enjoys the discipline of the genre, Teare thinks it’s important to push trompe l’oeil into new areas. “I feel my work has a contemporary feel that is distinct,” the artist says. “My use of the box—a technique I use to isolate the piece, pushing it back into space and emphasizing the illusionist aspects of the painting—is somewhat unique, at least in the way I use it. The box also helps me create a depth of field while still maintaining the necessary illusion of three-dimensionality. I want the viewers to want to touch the objects within the box, to metaphorically feel and experience the varied textures. Then when they get close to the painting, they are amazed that it is flat.

“Traditional tromp l’oeil can look somewhat dusty and lonely to me, so I attempt to avoid that by using brighter colors and incorporating natural or living objects—a shell or butterfly, a flower or leaf—and as much color as possible,” she continues. In addition, Teare likes to tell a good story with each painting, a kind of wordless narrative that begs to be told. “If I include, for example, a photograph or a book in a particular piece, I first begin imagining how that particular object was originally used or displayed—and even possibly loved—by its owner.”

The texture of each item depicted is essential to Teare. The artist frequently begins with a simple texture she loves, and then she weaves a feeling around it. “In The Message, for example, I diligently arranged what is essentially three simple objects, then I created the exact textures that provided a kind of dimensional resonance,” the artist explains. One thing Teare insists on is that textures and colors must harmonize and complement each other. They must be lit with exact lighting to amplify the emotional content. “Light, therefore, is equally important in my work because it is the final emotional tone that unifies the piece,” says Teare. She goes to great lengths to suggest a particular type of light—be it outdoor, indoor, natural, or artificial—whatever it takes to capture the right emotional qualities. “More often than not, good lighting is the tipping point between a marginal piece and a really great painting,” she asserts.

Mums and Daisies
2007, oil, 20½ x 9½.
Collection Christine E. Lynn

Today’s trompe l’oeil practitioners know that certain proven conventions enhance the illusionistic effect. Teare employs and observes many of them but has never been afraid to break from tradition to achieve a particular outcome. One convention of trompe l’oeil she does follow, though, is taping or pinning flat objects to a board; doing so keeps the depth of field as shallow as possible. A good example of this is Must Move Forward. “Another convention to which I adhere,” she adds, “is to light the scene from the left, thereby increasing the chance that the illusionistic lighting of the painting will correspond to the actual lighting in an exhibition. I light all of my paintings from the upper-left corner.” Shadowing is also very important, she notes. “By purposely avoiding running an object or shadow off the canvas, as I do in Must Move Forward, I preserve the illusion that the objects exist entirely in the space within the frame,” Teare explains.

Almost anything can inspire Teare to paint, but it is paramount that the subject possesses a combination of color, texture, and shadow. Two of her favorite places to find that inspiration are in gardens and antique shops. It might be an entire garden setting or a fragile, simple flower that Teare wants to preserve in a painting. Old photographs hold a particular reverence for her, and she often finds an antique object that matches the photograph perfectly in some way—and she realizes she has the seeds for a great composition.

In Textures in Tin, for example, she discovered the red kerosene can and immediately knew she had to compose a piece using the can as the focal point. Although the painting revolves around the texture of the kerosene can, she explains that she slowly developed the composition by adding a variety of textures. “I knew I needed a flower somewhere for balance,” Teare adds. “I finally decided to add the dandelion, imagining a granddaughter giving her grandpa a flower while he worked in his shop. It seemed to be the right accent both symbolically and artistically. I then included the blue bottle to add a cool hue as well as to tie into the cap of the kerosene can.” Teare, who paints only in oil, says the composition stage is when she can be most flexible. “Sometimes I think I’m composing a scene around a letter only to find that I ultimately remove the letter and the composition becomes about something completely different,” she explains. “There are times, no matter how hard I try, when I just can’t get a cherished object to work—even if that object is the inspiration for the entire piece—and I have to eliminate it.”

Domino Effect
2005, oil, 12 x 9.
Collection the artist.

Mondrian’s
Self-Portrait
2006, oil, 23 x 18.
Collection the artist.

In addition to proper lighting, she explains that color can be a very significant contributor to the mood of the painting. “I have an aversion to color clichés, which I think keeps my work fresh,” says Teare. She likes bright colors and uses lighting to harmonize hues. Regarding color that may be dissonant or shrill but is crucial to a piece, the artist says, “I modify and harmonize the color so that the composition becomes a self-contained universe at peace with itself.”

Teare generally paints alla prima. Occasionally she uses glazes, but not as frequently as most trompe l’oeil painters. Believing that “all painting is basically getting the right color in the right place,” she never begins a piece until her composition is exactly the way she wants it. “I might start a painting at the focal point—a flower, for example—and then paint the entire flower before I proceed to other sections,” says the artist. “I premix all my colors for that section, which may total as many as 20 colors depending on the light and shadow in that area.” She uses photography as a backup because some items, such as flowers, will not last the two months it generally takes her to finish a painting. “I keep my still lifes in the box in front of my easel as I paint because photographs are often so inadequate in many respects, especially in regard to the shadows,” Teare explains.

Textures in Tin
2006, oil, 13 x 22.
Private collection.

By her own admittance, Teare is very hard on brushes and uses a variety of very small (sizes 000 to 01), inexpensive synthetics. “Since I prefer to paint on a hard surface, I use birch plywood, over which I affix a finely textured canvas that I mount with acid-free glue,” she explains. “I use only Old Holland paints since they are deeply hued—plus their texture suits the way I paint.” Teare paints on a tabletop easel and uses Gamblin mediums, usually Galkyd Medium mixed with an equal portion of Gamsol. The artist likes using many colors and finds no advantage in limiting her palette. “However, I never use burnt umber and raw sienna,” she says. “I find they are simply too harsh for the effect I seek.” She mixes all her own grays, usually from complements, occasionally with Scheveningen black and other colors. Black is rarely used straight from the tube (with the exception, perhaps, of a border on the painting). The artist prefers to use complementary colors to lower the values of her mixtures. She considers raw umber an extremely useful color, especially with blues, and in general she prefers all of Old Holland’s most vibrant colors, particularly when painting flowers. Some of her favorite pigments are Old Holland cobalt green, Caribbean blue, dioxazine mauve, and Scheveningen deep blue. Two yellows she uses often are cadmium yellow deep and Scheveningen yellow medium.

The Message
2005, oil, 12 x 9.
Collection the artist.

She very carefully mixes all the exact values needed for each application of paint. “I apply the paint methodically, moving forward very slowly. I will glaze occasionally, especially in the shadows, to give a luminous glow,” she says. “Usually the complementary color of the light will accomplish this.

About the Artist
Debra Teare is a member of the Allied Artists of America and a founding member of the International Guild of Realists. She resides in Providence, Utah, where she shares a studio with her husband, Brad Teare, a painter and woodcut artist. Teare studied art at Utah State University, in Logan, and is represented by Winstanley-Roark Fine Arts, in Dennis, Massachusetts; the Atlanta Art Gallery; Principle Gallery, in Alexandria, Virginia; and Prince Gallery, in North Logan, Utah. She has participated in many regional exhibitions and recently received a merit award from the Springville Museum of Art, in Utah. Her work has been exhibited in more than 25 museum shows across the country. For more information on Teare, visit her website at www.debrateare.com.

James Metcalfe is a freelance writer residing in West Warwick, Rhode Island.

Oil Painting: Ellen Buselli: Observing Carefully, Thinking Abstractly, and Painting Traditionally

American Artist — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:11:00 GMT

For New York City artist Ellen Buselli, painting is centered on translating what she sees to canvas, which is why she finds observing and understanding the nature of color and light so important.

by Linda S. Price


Classical Light 2007, oil on linen, 20 x 21. Private collection. The corners of the background in this still life were lightly painted, allowing the toned background to show through to create a sense of wear and timelessness.	Garlic and Parmesan 2007, oil, 9 x 12. Courtesy Cheryl Newby Gallery, Pawleys Island, South Carolina. These still life items were dinner ingredients before the artist realized their potential and set them up in her studio. Her concept was one of harmony, a study in browns and off-whites.

Painting is all about observation,” says still life painter Ellen Buselli. “The process involves thinking abstractly—even if you’re painting traditionally—not looking at the objects themselves but observing how light, atmosphere, value, color, edges, and temperature work together to give an object its form. If you’re thoughtful about all of the above, a painting will emerge, and a two-dimensional surface will become three dimensional.” Buselli always observes—and paints—from life in her studio, admitting that light is one of the most important elements of her still life setups. “I paint under natural, north light,” she says. “It’s a cooler, indirect light, and shadows remain the same value and in the same position all day.”

Although she arranges her setup with care, Buselli prefers to plunge right into her painting without thumbnail sketches or value studies. She prepares her canvases by toning them with a warm mixture of burnt umber or burnt sienna and ultramarine blue because she feels this combination is easy on the eyes. After the toned canvas is dry, she roughs in the outline of her still life setup using an umber and establishes an initial horizon line and relative positions of the elements—which may change as she gets further along in her painting. The next step involves massing in the major dark and light shapes, which sets up the two extremes of values against which to measure all other brushstrokes. From this point on, Buselli paints directly, establishing the right color, value, and temperature immediately. “Every new brushstroke depends on the previous one,” she explains. “I ask myself, ‘Is it lighter or darker, warmer or cooler than what I already put down?’”

Hydrangeas, Pears, and Grapes
2006, oil on linen, 16 x 15. Courtesy Gardner Colby Gallery, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

The secret to painting such complex flowers is spontaneous brushstrokes and few details. Careful observation shows that stems appear lighter and brighter when seen through water.

Hyacinth (and the McCoy Pot)
2006, oil on linen, 12 x 16. Private collection.

Cast shadows coming forward, as well as strong light emanating from the leaves and inner space of the flowers, create depth and drama. Objects up close reach out to the viewer’s space and give the subject matter a strong presence. This painting won first place in the oil category of American Artist’s 70th Anniversary Competition, featured in the December 2007 issue.

Buselli gives a lot of thought to her background because she knows how strongly it affects the overall painting. “It must be the right value initially, otherwise I can’t work on the rest of the painting,” she emphasizes. The artist considers, for instance, that a translucent background recedes and lends a sense of depth, as does a neutral color. When she wants backgrounds to look old and textured, as in Old Master paintings, she prepares archaic-looking boards that have “that old fresco decay of Rome” to place behind her objects. Alternatively, she uses drapery to achieve the right color, value, and texture. The artist also has a collection of platforms—light or dark, smooth or textured, stained or painted—on which to stage her still lifes.

Of equal concern to Buselli are the objects themselves, especially the vases and pottery she collects on her travels, in antique shops, or at garage sales. She especially enjoys painting her collection of black Pueblo pottery, in part because of its dull shine that both reflects and absorbs light. If she wants a painting with drama, she chooses contrasting objects. If her goal is harmony, she selects objects within a common color family and emphasizes shifts in value and temperature, as she did with the earth tones of Garlic and Parmesan. When choosing flowers for her signature floral still lifes, Buselli opts for those that are in season, preferring hyacinths in the spring and peonies in June. “Sunflowers are also wonderful,” she says, “and any kind of lily—their shapes are so geometric. I enjoy the large masses of hydrangeas as well, but you have to be careful not to put in a lot of details.” She’s partial to pale pink roses and their wonderful translucent petals.

When painting flowers, Buselli works quickly and spontaneously with thin paint, trying to capture them before they fade and allowing the wet paint to connect them. In opaque areas—where the light is directly hitting the objects and bouncing off—she gradually applies thicker paint but is careful not to overwork any area. She works wet-in-wet, dragging her brush to create color unity from one area of the canvas to another. Her goal is to keep reworking to a minimum, so as to retain the spontaneity of her original brushwork. Sometimes she sculpts the flowers out of the background, relying on the negative spaces to create the form of the bouquet. Dark-green foliage provides a base for the flowers to rest on and gives them weight and a sense of place in much the way cast shadows do for her pottery and glassware.


The Green Pear 2007, oil on linen, 10 x 8. Collection the artist. A study of an individual object can make that object appear mysterious and can also give it a sense of personality.	The Copper Pot With Eggs and Fruit 2007, oil on linen, 10 x 14. Private collection. The artist loves the highly reflective quality of copper and chose bright objects to balance the intensity of the metal. The reflections of the colorful fruit and white eggs converge in the copper surface, uniting the light.

Buselli also gives a lot of thought to composition and the arrangement of her still life items. “The placement of objects affects how viewers relate to the painting,” she says. “Objects closer to the front edge reach into the viewer’s space, creating intimacy and almost a surreal feeling. When the main flower in a composition faces forward it can actually appear animated. Elements positioned farther away produce more atmosphere because there’s more quiet space and a sense of serenity and mystery. Sometimes I use both techniques in the same painting, positioning something close to the front edge to grab the viewer’s attention, and then leading him or her back into the painting.”

Details, the artist notes, should be used sparingly to define an object and should be concentrated in areas where the viewer is suppose to focus. It’s the same with sharp edges: they shouldn’t be everywhere, just where the eye should pause—such as the edge of a flower. The most intense color should be reserved for those areas meant to appear closer to the viewer, as should the areas of thickest paint. By using only one colorful or bright object in a setup, Buselli makes sure the eye will stop there. In complex setups she’s careful to position the lights to lead the eye through the picture.

Buselli finds inspiration in the work of many artists of the past: Henri Fantin-Latour for the sheer beauty of his floral paintings; Emil Carlsen for his magical space; Chardin for his strong yet simple still life compositions; Walter Murch for the way his isolated elements emerge from the light; Giorgio Morandi for his pure, simple collective masses; and John Singer Sargent and William Merritt Chase for their spontaneity and wonderful brushstrokes. She advises students to look at the work of other artists, determine what it is about their work that attracts them, and then try to figure out exactly how they achieved that quality. That’s what Buselli does, with every new discovery and painting leading to another adventure in observing and seeing.

Freesias, Plums, and Oranges
2007, oil on linen, 16 x 15.
Private collection.

About the Artist

Ellen Buselli received her B.F.A. from Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, and also studied at the Tyler School of Art, in Rome, where she got to see firsthand the work of the Old Masters she loved. Studying with David A. Leffel at the Art Students League of New York, in Manhattan, however, proved most instrumental in preparing her for the style in which she would eventually paint. For much for her life, the artist worked as a design manager and only began painting full time two years ago. Buselli is a signature member of Oil Painters of America and has won their Best Still Life award as well as the Winsor & Newton Award of Excellence and the Silver Brush Award. She is also a signature member of American Women Artists, and has won their Best in Show award. Other awards Buselli has received include those from Allied Artists of America, The American Artists Professional League, and Knickerbocker Artists. She is currently represented by Cheryl Newby Gallery, on Pawley’s Island, South Carolina; Addison Gallery, in Boca Raton, Florida; and Gardner Colby Gallery, on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The artist maintains a studio in New York City. For more information on Buselli, visit her website at www.ellenbuselli.com.

Linda S. Price is an artist, writer, and editor living on Long Island, New York.

View a gallery of Buselli's work.

Like what you read? Subscribe to American Artist today!