Beach Life, 200 Years of Improvisation

J.M.W. Turner found beach life with its ships, waves and theatrical weather an infinite source for inspiration and improvisation. Like other artists he began with the standard model, a soft declining triangle on a horizon pointing into the picture. But, he breaks away from relying on land masses to fill that role. He subtly uses the sky (example 1)  in 1810 in his painting of a fish market on the beach. Even the great innovator, Claude Monet 40 years later will still resort to a triangular land mass on the horizon as a compositional foundation for his seascapes (example 2). Fifteen years following Turner’s seashore fish market  Richard Parks Bonington, another English landscape painter tries his hand at the same subject (example 3).

example 1. J.M.W. Turner, 1810, fish market on sand.

example 2. Claude Monet, The shore at Honfleur.

example 3. R. Bonington’s Fish market at the shore.

In Bonington’s beach painting we see how he used a pale (almost ghostly, like Turner’s use of clouds) triangular land mass on the left then, he builds a triangular design out of ship sails and a gathering crowd.  As Turner aged he converted his seascapes into evocative, ambiguous atmospheres yet, still grounded in historical design. The triangular land mass feels almost insubstantial in this painting from 1845, 35 years after his fish market on the beach (example 4, Europa and the Bull). Apart from Turner’s fondness for mythological themes he also stayed at the Europa Hotel when in Venice. The view from the hotel’s wharf is the same direction as his painting here.

example 4. J.M.W. Turner, 1845.

Today, photography aides our memories and compositions. Turner predicted with envy that artists would turn to cameras. I want to show you how I crop out and scavenge pictorial remnants from my photos as well as rework them in Photoshop and in  paint.

I begin with a couple of snap shots from New York beaches. I  circled in pink the areas which I  cropped out (example 5 and 6). The excised area from example 5 gets Photoshopped (example 7) with intentional blurring and color amplifications. Next, I redesigned the image into a horizontal composition. Example 8  presents the image at an early stage and example 9 presents the image as it appears now. It awaits further inventions.

example 5 first photo before cropping

example 6 second photo before cropping

example 7. first photo after  manipulations

example 8. Step one of the painting

example 9. step two of the painting

I cropped and manipulated the second photo. Example 10 presents the recomposed ( horizontally stretched) painted version, an oil on anodized aluminum, 24×48. This painting also awaits further invention. I will work on others while these dry.

example 10. step one of the painting.

Last week I presented a mixed media work, part photo inks from my Epson printer and part oil paint (example 11). I manipulated with fingers, squeegees, and brushwork. I revisited the composition this week and tried it again to see if I could discover another direction (example 12).

example 11 from last week.

example 12, a new and alternate version.

Next week I will be in Hickory, North Carolina for a workshop sponsored by The Three Sisters and, later in the week I will be in Charlotte, NC for workshop sponsored by Nancy Couick. If you have questions about these workshops please visit the classes and workshops page here at this website.

Also Find a description of my upcoming workshop in Sun Valley, Idaho the first days in October. I  invite you to join me Sun Valley, the workshop is called “Techniques of the Masters” Thursday-Sunday October 1-4 with a maximum of 12 students, $675. contact Sarah Kolash at skolash@sunvalleycenter.org or call at 208 726 9491 x121 .

On August 22    I exhibit with my son, artist Max Dunlop. Our exhibition  of collaborative and solo works opens at the White Gallery (whitegalleryart.com) 342 Main Street, Lakeville, Ct. The opening reception will be on August 22nd, 5-7 pm. I hope to see you.