March Notes - 2024
I have just returned from seeing Bonnard’s World, an exhibition at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. It was after a visit to a large Bonnard show years ago that I was inspired to cover the walls of my apartment with murals based on Bonnard, fulfilling a childhood dream of living inside a painting. Below are photographs of the apartment recently taken by Cecilia Lagerman Rias.
Here is a taste of the Bonnard exhibition. Seeing it at the Phillips, which houses Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party, made me wonder if they had been friends. I know that Matisse was friends with Renoir and they all lived near to one another. I wonder because while Bonnard is a wildly more interesting painter to me than Renoir, both of them took advantage of the transparent qualities of oil paint to create their colors. I was struck by how a spare application of paint could create such radiant color. I have included many painting details below to illustrate this.
HISTORY SPOTLIGHT: PAIRINGS - ROTHKO AND BONNARD
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at the National Gallery. Rothko’s paintings on paper have greater depth, resonance, and luminosity than his work on canvas. Rothko plays with ink, oil paint, and acrylic, using each to optimal effect. He depends on layering to create his color and different mediums to create varying degrees of matte and gloss finishes.
It seemed to me that Rothko and Bonnard both used transparent paint and layering to create their color.
FROM THE LIBRARY : OTHERS WHO WANTED TO LIVE INSIDE A PAINTING
I couldn’t help myself. Here are just a few of the books that inspired me while transforming my apartment. I particularly love Charleston, The home of Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf’s sister) and painter Duncan Grant. A myriad of other members of the Bloomsbury Group were in and out of the house, but for all of those relationships, you will have to read the book.
BLOG POSTS ABOUT INSPIRED LIVING
ART SPOTLIGHT: CACOON
Cacoon, 10 inches x 10 inches, oil paint and acrylic markers on panel
Cacoon, is a recent small painting that is also creating color by layering. I finished this painting before seeing the Bonnard and Rothko exhibitions, and I wonder how I will be able to incorpoarate what I learned there into my new work.
See more recent small paintings here.