Friday, July 27, 2012

John MacDonald's Paintings In His Own Words

Our July show features Williamstown artist John MacDonald. At the show opening MacDonald always has great stories and enthusiasm for the stories behind his paintings. He shared with us his inspirations and process of 3 of his paintings in the July show.



The Cascade
"One of the joys, and challenges, of plein air painting is to allow a painting to develop on its own terms, without insisting it stick to a preconceived image in my head. When I began this little oil sketch, I was most attracted to the subtle tones of the rocks along the stream and in the background. But I found that I simply couldn’t resist the immense tranquility of the scene nor the beauty of the water. The rocks became simplified and the subject switched to the beautiful play of light and color in the water and the overall mood of the scene".




November Reflections
"This scene along the Green River which I have painted repeatedly. It never fails to attract and challenge me. The play of the verticals of the trees against the diagonals of the water and hills, the ever-changing and abstract quality of the reflections, the very simple geometric structure underlying the complexity of the scene--they all push me to my limits as a painter. I understand now why Monet was so attracted to scene of trees along a river bank".





Last Light
"The fields and meadows along Sloan Roadhave provided me with a nearly limitless supply of interesting scenes, in every season, at every time of day, and under any sort of weather. Over several winters, while driving down Sloan Road as the sun was setting, I noticed how it caught the end of a far meadow and the trees beyond. There was a tension between the timeless stillness of the scene and the quick, fleeting and fading light that simply demanded being captured in paint. Perhaps more than any work I’ve recently done, this painting shows the influence of one of my earliest favorites, George Inness".

Monday, July 9, 2012

The Story Behind the Painting: Gail Sauter


Stroll, Oil on Panel, 36 x 36 inches

Our June Show show, The Young Collector, featured artist Gail Sauter who always has fascinating stories from her travels that inspire her paintings.

While speaking with her about her new paintings for the show, she told this story about the painting "Stroll": " This was in Venice, at the end of  busy tourist street. The woman was walking past Venitian homes, away from the the tourist, surrounded by buildings built in the 1500's. She is living her life the way people did 100's of years ago; I just saw such tranquility in this scene, this moment, this lifestyle. "