William Turner I

For those of you who are in doubt if they should join the trip to the Turner exhibition in Aix: GO! It will inspire you... Here's a 2012 Aquarellista blogpost about his life... The trip is on 16 September, by comfortable bus and the cost is only 45€ for Hangar members! 
Contact Marijke Obbink  marijke.obbink@free.fr to subscribe


William Turner (Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775 - 1851) was an English watercolourist, a predecessor Aquarellista! In the next post I'll write a bit about his style, in this one more about his life.

Turner was born into a middle-class family in London. His father was a wig-maker and barber. His mother died while he was quite young. William Turner was sent to live in the countryside with relatives who soon discovered that he was very talented: he painted this castle when he was 10 years old:

Unbelievable... he could definitely observe...

He joined the Royal Academy of Art at the age of 14 - and, surprise surprise, he excelled. He left London in 1798 "with little more than a borrowed pony and pencils" and started painting a series of landscapes around Wales...

This work he made as a 23-year-old in his Hereford Court sketchbook. It fetched up £500,000 at a Christie’s auction...

Turner had success and made a fortune when he was quite young. That gave himl the opportunity to innovate freely.

Young William Turner - selfportrait as a bit of a dandy

Turner travelled widely in Europe, starting with France and Switzerland in 1802 and studying in the Louvre in Paris in the same year.

He also made many visits to Venice

As he grew older, Turner became more eccentric. His paintings changed in style and his audience struggled to understand his vision. He had few close friends except for his father, who lived with him for thirty years, eventually working as his studio assistant.

Old William Turner - in his atelier

And the atelier once more - look again - and you'll see how impressive  it is... especially if you realize that this was painted in the 19th century!

William Turner died on 19 December 1851 and lies buried in St Paul's Cathedral. He left his money to support what he called "decayed artists". He designed an almshouse for them at Twickenham, with a gallery for some of his works. But some relatives contested the will and part of his fortune was awarded to the family. The rest went to the Royal Academy of Arts who still from time to time award students the Turner Medal...

NB: I have used pictures from the Turner special in the Figaro - to have a look inside, borrow it from me or order via http://www.lefigaro.fr/

Contemporary Art in Valbonne

From 2 to 5 September the annual "Salon d'Art Contemporain" takes place in one of the most lovely villages of the Côte d'Azur - Valbonne. At least one Aquarellista will participate: yours truly, Marina Kulik.

Maybe there are other aquarelle artists - I will definitely let you know.

I plan to show my DNA ribbons, combined with the multicolour roses, of which I finished another one today.

"Multicolour Rose 10" Aquarelle on handmade paper

Tomorrow I'm putting up work in the Airport for the "Femmes du Monde" (Women of the world) exhibition and I'll take some pictures to keep you up to date. That show will run until November, with a vernissage in October, so plenty of time still... but one thing for sure: the holidays are over!

"Artour" in Villeneuve Loubet

Saturday 19 June yours truly participated in an exhibition meant for business people of "our" Silicon Valley, Sophia Antipolis - the high-tech area of the Côte d'Azur. This one-day activity was organized by my agents from Ambre international and held in the Citadel of Villeneuve Loubet, the property of  Marquis De Panisse.

The location was stunning! It is built in the 12th century and completely renovated in 1900. It is all perfect and inspiring and these pictures do not do the place justice... It is actually quite a romantic place! And not open for visitors... it was quite an opportunity for artists and invitees alike.

 From the remparts there is a 360° view on the sea, the villages, Nice and the mountains.

And around the citadelle is a very well-kept forest that has all kinds of interesting medicinal and rare plants.

We had put up our artwork (paintings and sculptures) outside in the courtyard, the sun was shining and we were giving demonstrations and telling the interested visitors about our work...

And then it started to rain!

I was lucky to have brought lots of plastic, I could cover my precious aquarelles and lend some to my neighbour Michel who makes Japanese-style ink drawings - on paper...

An hour latere the sun came back and stayed for the day. I thought my work looked good in the evening sun with the shadows of the palmtrees!

New Website for Marina Kulik

Just wanted to let you know that I have a new website, that has more functionality and looks better and more modern than the one I used to have... Take a look and let me know what you think, comments are very welcome...
http://www.marinakulik.com/ (click to check it out!)

And scroll down for the regular post!

Last part of the Triptych

Before we start again with the Aquarellista group I'd like to use this space to tell about a long (literally!) aquarelle project: I finally (after over10 years) finished it! Up to last month it existed of two parts that (typical for a lot of my abstract work) in itself was divided in parts. It was one of the first "DNA" paintings... every ribbon is symbolic for a "life"...

Those "lives" of course are pure imagination, they come out of my fantasy - but for me they are real and happening, some happy, others sad, some short, long, shallow, deep, colourful, monochrome, dancing, moving, still... all influenced by external events (water, the background, each other...). The 3 paintings are 1.50 meter high, I worked on loose sheets 300 grams torchon of  38 x 50 cm . Working on different pages has many advantages, for example, it is easier to take distance, when you work on several parts at the same time. No problem to work on a tiny coffee table if necessary, the size is manageable. Don't worry about making mistakes, you can start over and keep the other sheets that you were happy with. You can make better versions and, very interestingly, be inspired by your own work!

Anyway - I have been thinking about that final part of the triptych for a long time and finally last december I started -and finished it. Of course I have changed and made other choices while painting, the difference is very visible I think and even that gives inspiration (I might go back to that simpler way of working sometime)? Life, growth, development, combining, selecting, that is what the DNA paintings are about too. The work of an artist should be like that: constant learning, researching and developing... And it is very possible that this triptych will develop into 2 or three others! Or that left and right stay together and middle gets new neighbours... I'll keep you posted!

A great 2010 for all Aquarellista's!!

From the sunny (and cold) South of France I wish all aquarellista's and other readers
A VERY GOOD, BEAUTIFUL & CREATIVE NEW YEAR!!

"Les petits formats" in Valbonne

As mentioned in the post below, I am working on a couple of new ideas, and some of the studies for that are in the "petits formats" show in Valbonne.

"Perles" - a serie of studies inspired by the designs I am making for a dutch jewelry maker

"Solitaire" - not sure what this is going to develop into, but for now it is quite symbolic - silhouettes of women alone, with the wide wide world in front of, next and behind them

"Roses" as you may know them from me - only smaller sizes...

It is an exhibition organized by the Artothèque: fifteen of "their" artists show small size work, paintings, prints, sculptures, drawings, collages, raku -and aquarelles- for very attractive prices. It is very well visited and I have already sold 3 aquarelles- but there are still a lot left and the Christmas sales haven't started...

If you have time, make sure you go there and have a look, because apart from my petites aquarelles, there are also the necklaces that I design for the dutch brand Merrl TM (cost price!) and of course work of the other artists of the artothèque, amongst them well known ones like Sally Ducrow, Noël Monmarson and Daï from Nice.

There has already been a lot of publicity, two articles in Nice Matin, announcements on Riviera Radio and lots of attention in the local magazines.

"Fingerprint"

Anyway - whether you are just interested in what local artists create, want to invest in art or buy unique Christmas presents for your loved ones - you shouldn't miss this!! Go have a look in Valbonne, the expo is in the Salle Saint Esprit, next to the church. I will be there and happy to meet you all on Wednesday and off and on on the other days.

Free entrance from 10AM until 6PM every day until 24 December. NB: The famous Valbonne Christmas market starts the 22nd...

Exhibition in Chateauneuf III

Coming Monday the show opens - with a vernissage that starts 6 PM in the Salles Pontis, in the old center of Chateauneuf de Grasse... One more Aquarellista shows work in that expo, Marina Teding van Berkhout. This young artist paints in a soft and light, pleasant style and often chooses subjects like children, animals and flowers.

Lately Marina is experimenting with a more contrasting choice of colours, a different brushstroke and other techniques and subjects (horses, abstract) - a very interesting development that you'll definitely see more of. In this blog - or on her future website...
As for the exhibition - it opens its doors on Monday the 31st of August 10AM - and that same day we also have the vernissage - starting 6PM! After that it opens every day including weekends from 10 - 12.30 and from 2 - 5.30PM. It finishes on Sunday the 13th of September.

Exhibition in Chateauneuf II

Dewdrop by Brenda Moorehouse

A couple of days ago I showed you some work of the Swedish aquarellista's, that you can see "live" in Chateauneuf de Grasse from the 31st of August onwards. Also exhibiting beautiful as well as interesting aquarelles will be 3 members of the Manx/Australian/UK subgroup, Brenda Moorehouse,Cathie van der Stel and Sandra Seymour-Dale.

Brenda will show acrylics in the Chateauneuf exhibition, but I still had this great "dewdrop" of hers in my possession that I will treat you to! She is developing her style into a more clear, almost cartoonlike brushstroke, but her older, poetic aquerelles are also worthwhile...

Cathie van der Stel is not only a very talented but also a diligent aquarellista, and she has so much excellent work that it was difficult to choose what to show on the exhibition... The painting of the peonies is a classic and it shows her mastery of the medium as well as her patience! Cathie is able to work for a very (really) long time on one piece of work and still preserve the light! That combined with her great feel for composition and subjects, all of her paintings are more than worthwhile. In the exhibition she will show a couple of portraits, pebbles and more.

Cathie van der Stel

And last but not least Sandra - with yet another style and vision! She uses dark tones as well as light ones, uses the contrast, with a big brush and on quite a large scale... and in general her work is interesting and full of character...Sandra Seymour-Dale

If you are in the neighbourhood of Chateauneuf de Grasse the first two weeks of September, I can recommend you have a look at this quality work! And then I haven't shown you the paintings of the Dutch and Italian aquarellista's! I'll post about them shortly...

We're on Holiday!

Even the Aquarellista society has to go on holiday from time to time... Some of us are traveling far, some stay home and clean up their atelier! But last week, in between a fabulous lunch and goodbye champagne, we still did some painting...

Brenda Moorehouse, who by the way has recently developed a very interesting, cartoonlike style - created this "doodle" that has so many interesting bits!
Ann Edwards toyed with the deep sea theme

Lies Timmermans' "View through" from last week

and this is also from her hand! I have a feeling she likes bright colours

Brenda Moorehouse - doodles 2

And Doodles 3 from Brenda Moorehouse

I probably have said it before - this "doodling" is a GREAT way to discover what you like, what's there inside your brain and to get your inspiration back! And if you don't like it, just throw it away....

Next post about our upcoming show in Châteauneuf de Grasse!

Painting a real stone Chateau

We did have an aquarellista session last week - we painted "view-through" - a landscape or something happening, seen through a window or an archway or a couple of pillars. It was very inspiring and there were some truly interesting results... But I forgot to take pictures... That's why you get a report on this week's painting of the Chateau de Castellaras (a commission). And because I often get the question "how do I do stones" I'll try to explain that here: there were a bloody lot of them in that painting...

I always start my paintings from the right hand side! Not the most efficient as I am right handed and have to be careful not to smudge parts that are still wet. I have tried to start left - but it just feels less good. Funny isn't it! Habits -even the wrong ones- are hard to break...

The finished product, 70X50 cm of hard work with a tiny brush. (click on it to enlarge)

One way of painting stones: just "hint" them. In the castle stones I could clearly detect the horizontal, irregular lines, and much less the vertical ones. So that was exactly what I painted in the sunny parts, like the tower. Note that it is important to take your time to observe what "the character" is of the stones. Where does the light come from, how do you see the shadows, how are they shaped, what is their colour, is the shadow and light very clear... The stones under the pillars are regular and square. I vary slightly in colour and paint them on top of each other, so that the rims of the aquarelle form natural shadow lines, and here and there I leave a small line unpainted (white)
Other stones are hopelessly irregular - but most of the time rectangular-ish. And because the light comes from above, the shadow will usually be under the stone.
Above the most varied piece of stone wall. Irregular, in size, colour, material, shadow and shade... I must admit that I "simplified" it a bit. I do that often, also with tiled roofs. (The brain still accepts it as a roof - although the tiles are much bigger than in real life...)

Next post about your work on "deep sea" and then we're on summer vacation!!

Swapping II

Cathie van der Stel and Marina Teding -together responsible for this interesting "fruit"

Forest and mist - Brenda Moorehouse and ....

The second swapping afternoon was fun (of course: who wouldn't love to just experiment for the experiment and without any result obligation...). We started out the same as last time, one starts with the background, another chooses and finishes it -

Chagall - Marianne van Wijngaarden & Helene van der Kroft

but this time after the foreground was done, we sometimes let a third person put in the details. Like with this one below, a joint effort of Cathie (background vaguely resembling a face) Brenda (clearly recognized Cleopatra) and Marina (put eye make up and lipstick on her) o well - we had fun Here below is my favourite - it looks so graphical and the colours enhance each other. But the other aquarellista's don't agree!! We left the (white) masking fluid on - the effect is interesting! (I think)

Lies Timmermans en Cathie van der Stel

and then some lovely initiatives like this one by Hélène

We won't get together coming week - I'll post about another aquarellista subject!