Saturday Salon: A Painting I Love

Click on the painting to see a larger view. Source.

A painting I came across on my internet 'travels'. I'd never heard of the artist, Evelyn Dunbar until recently, and as you know, I'm always on the look-out for little known artists whose work needs another good look. I am especially fond of British war time paintings. This is one I'd definitely love to own.

A 1944 Pastoral - Land Girls Pruning in East Malling is such an evocative work, saying so much about the time in England's past when women had to step in and do 'men's work' while the men were off fighting WWII.  They all saw their duty and they did it. I love the women's singular purpose, the painting's border, the clothing - especially the head gear, the tools, the idea of readying an orchard for the next year's harvest in the midst of war. Sanguinity.

Read more about this painting, here at this Fruit Forum link which usually, I suppose, has more to do with fruit than painting, but Ian Harrison does a wonderful job of examining the work and the artist.

Also discovered this dedicated blog, Evelyn Dunbar, A Series of Commentaries on Her Paintings by Christopher Campbell-Howes, which has many details about Dunbar's work and life.

source

source
More about the Women's Land Army.

Saturday Salon: Messing About in Boats

French painter Raoul du Gardier  (1871 - 1952) - source

American painter Scott Burdick - source

British painter Harry Leith Ross (1886 - 1973) - source

French painter Claude Monet  (1840 - 1926)- source

American painter Scott Burdick - source

French painter Raoul du Gardier - source

Irish painter Sir John Lavery (1856 - 1941) - source

Colliers cover art: Walter Appleton Clark (1876 - 1906)

American painter Victor C. Anderson (1882 - 1937) - source

French painter Raoul du Gardier - source

American painter William J. Aylward (1875 - 1956) - source

British painter Thomas Henslow Barnard (1898 - 1992) - source

Austrian painter Egon Schiele (1890 - 1918) - source

American painter Edward Alfred Cucuel (1875 - 1954) - source

American painter Julius LeBlanc Stewart (1855 - 1919) - source

Uruguayan born American painter Francis Luis Mora - source

"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

Saturday Salon: The Paintings of Melissa Scott-Miller

Melissa Scott-Miller / source

Melissa Scott-Miller / source

Melissa Scott-Miller / source

Melissa Scott-Miller / source

Melissa Scott-Miller / Source

Recently I've discovered a congenial bunch of English artists whose paintings and prints have enchanted me in various ways. It's probably coincidence that they're all Brits though I'm wondering if that hasn't also influenced my latest reading material as well. Maybe just synchronicity but whatever it is, I'm enjoying it.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be featuring a few more of these painters whose work - at least for me - could not have originated anywhere but Great Britain, a setting I love. Today it's five of Melissa Scott-Miller's gorgeous-in-detail paintings primarily of London. Scott-Miller is also known for her portraits, but it was her landscapes/cityscapes that captured my attention the moment I stumbled across them online. I'm completely fascinated by the charming warmth and detail of this work.

To read about Melissa Scott-Miller's work and see a few more of her paintings, please use the link to her page at Mall Artists / Federation of British Artists.

Saturday Salon: The bright, tantalizingly weird and stylized world of Robert LaDuke

I love Robert LaDuke's paintings even if sometimes I'm thinking 'what on earth does this man mean by this?' That's half the fun.

I suppose this is an art deco type style, if it must be categorized. I'm taken by the flatness, the odd perspectives, the bright colors, behind the stylized stillness, the almost constant sense of desperate motion, the occasionally bizarre situations and even the portents of disaster. There's something excruciatingly silent about Robert Laduke's world - I simply can't imagine what music might accompany it. Or for that matter, what actual noises. Everything that is happening I'm imagining happening in total silence. Even those plane and cars falling out of the sky. But I don't seem to mind it. That's the odd effect the work has on me.

I couldn't find much biography of the artist, except that he was born in 1961 in Massachusetts and attended the Art Institute of Chicago. I wish there were more. If you find any, please let me know so I can update.

Link to see more of Robert LaDuke's work here and here.

Fortunately many of the paintings are available as posters online.

I've culled the paintings in my post from various sources online in the interest of education, enlightenment and just the sheer joy of sharing art that I love. All the paintings are copyrighted by Robert LaDuke and no infringement is intended.

Saturday Salon: 11 Still Life Paintings I Would Love to Own

American Realist Painter,William Glackens (1870 - 1938)

Dutch Painter, Kenne Gregoire (Born 1951 - )

 American Realist, Janet Fish (Born 1938 - )

French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841 - 1919)

Belgian Contemporary Painter, Jan De Vliegher (Born 1964 -)

Contemporary American Realist Painter, Andrew Lattimore

French Painter and Lithographer, Henri Fantin-Latour (1836 - 1904)

American Contemporary Painter Jeffrey Larson (Born 1962-)

French Painter Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954)

Contemporary American Realist, Andrew Lattimore

Contemporary American Painter Christine Lafuente (Born 1968 - )

I could get to really like these 10 Of posts. (Yeah, I know today it's 11, but pretend you don't notice.) The fun is in the research. I'm mad about still life paintings and here's my chance to post some favorites. You know me, my tastes are definitely eclectic. And of course, there are so many more where these came from.

Next week: Landscapes.

Saturday Salon: Louise Camille Fenne

Painter Louise Camille Fenne was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1972. She studied in France and Denmark before enrolling at The Florence Academy of Arts in 1995. Since 1999, she has lived in Denmark and shared a studio with her partner and fellow painter, Charles Weed.

I am intrigued by her paintings, most especially the bird ones. There's something essentially mysterious about Fenne's work. Something we can only guess at. The way she uses color is part of it, but also the way she sees. Her sense of design is excellent as well.

To see more of contemporary artist, Louise Camille Fenne's work, please utilize her website.

There's also this short video on youtube.