A Change in the Weather
Hopefully this finds you well.
It seems as if life is trying to find its way back to normal.
Looking ahead to the summer months, this is just a quick update on some New Work as well as information on a couple of up and coming summer plein air Workshops that will be available.
As well as a little insight on the fascinating color Violet.
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Summer Workshops 2022
There will be a regular 4 Day Plein Air Workshop with a 10 student limit as well as a 4 Day Advanced Plein Air Workshop with an 8 student limit.
My apologies but at this point I am still actively seeking a “home base” in case of inclement weather, a meeting place so to speak.
When I get it finalized I will let those of you know who are interested in the class. With that said the workshop will still run out of the midcoast area be it Rockport, Camden, Rockland, Thomaston, and possibly Tenants Harbor.
Also working on having a box lunch meal available for those who are interested. More details to follow.
Information is posted on my website, link provided here and I will handle all inquiries based on a first come first serve basis.
www.kendewaard.com/workshops
Again my apologies for not having all of the pieces in place at this time but will send out updated info when it is available.
There may also be a 4 day class that would be run through the Inn in Tenants Harbor, possibly in September.
Discussing Room availability and timing.
Thank you for your time and patience!
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Violet
As an artist I have often found myself trying to figure out and understand what it is my eyes are actually seeing.
Violet is a fascinating color and has weighed heavily on me for some time.
Upon further research I see why it is such an important element in painting.
“With all of its excesses, the modern impressionistic movement has given us one discovery, the color violet. It is the only discovery of importance in the art world since Velazquez." — Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida
Violet is the color of light at the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum, between blue and invisible ultraviolet. It is one of the seven colors that Isaac Newton labeled when dividing the spectrum of visible light in 1672. Violet light has a wavelength between approximately 380 and 435 nanometers.The color's name is derived from the violet flower.
Violet is closely associated with purple. In optics, violet is a spectral color (referring to the color of different single wavelengths of light), whereas purple is the color of various combinations of red and blue (or violet) light,some of which humans perceive as similar to violet. In common usage, both terms are used to refer to a variety of colors between blue and red in hue.
Violet has a long history of association with royalty, originally because Tyrian purple dye was extremely expensive in antiquity. The emperors of Rome wore purple togas, as did the Byzantine emperors. During the Middle Ages, violet was worn by bishops and university professors and was often used in art as the color of the robes of the Virgin Mary. In Chinese painting, the color violet represents the "unity transcending the duality of Yin and yang" and "the ultimate harmony of the universe". In Hinduism and Buddhism purple and/or violet is associated with the Crown Chakra. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, purple and/or violet is the color people most often associate with extravagance and individualism, the unconventional, the artificial, and ambiguity.
In humans, the L (red) cone in the eye is primarily sensitive to long wavelength light in the yellow-red region of the spectrum, but is also somewhat sensitive to the shorter wavelength violet light that primarily stimulates the S (blue) cone. As a result, when violet light strikes the eye, the S-cone is stimulated strongly and the L-cone is stimulated weakly. Accordingly, strong blue light mixed with weaker red light can mimic this pattern of stimulation, causing humans to perceive colors that have the same hue as violet, but with lower saturation. Computer and television screens rely on this phenomenon. Because they use the RGB color model, they cannot produce violet light and instead substitute purple, combining blue light at high intensity with red light of approximately half the intensity.
The first cobalt violet, the intensely red-violet cobalt arsenate, was highly toxic. Although it persisted in some paint lines into the twentieth-century, it was displaced by less toxic cobalt compounds such as cobalt phosphate. Cobalt violet appeared in the second half of the 19th century, broadening the palette of artists with its range of purple colors. Cobalt violet was used by Paul Signac (1863–1935), Claude Monet (1840–1926), and Georges Seurat (1859–1891).
In the 1860s, the popularity of using violet colors suddenly rose among painters and other artists. For example, Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) was an avid student of color theory. He used violet in many of his paintings of the 1880s, including his paintings of irises and the swirling and mysterious skies of his starry night paintings, and often combined it with its complementary color, yellow. In his painting of his bedroom in Arles (1888), he used several sets of complementary colors; violet and yellow, red and green, and orange and blue. In a letter about the painting to his brother Theo, he wrote, "The color here...should be suggestive of sleep and repose in general....The walls are a pale violet. The floor is of red tiles. The wood of the bed and the chairs are fresh butter yellow, the sheet and the pillows light lemon green. The bedspread bright scarlet. The window green. The bed table orange. The bowl blue. The doors lilac....The painting should rest the head or the imagination."
His exaggerated push also created a physiological optical vibration within the eye called “simultaneous contrast in hue,” an effect exploited to its fullest extent by the French Impressionists after advances in mid-nineteenth-century chemistry began producing new intense exciting hues to paint with, such as today’s cadmiums, chromiums, cobalts, and more. As a result, simultaneous contrast in hue became another founding principle for the Impressionists.
Violet is obviously a huge part of our ability to suggest and portray the play of light.
“I hate darkness. Claude Monet once said that painting in general did not have light enough in it. I agree with him. We painters, however, can never reproduce sunlight as it really is. I can only approach the truth of it.” — Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida
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New Work
Since last fall I’ve been busy finishing up numerous pieces from last year.
I got in the bad habit of beginning a painting, almost finishing it, but starting a new one the following day. Just way too many things around here that continue to inspire me. Then repeating this process time and time again easily over a hundred times. So now the task of finishing up, as well as pursuing a few larger pieces that have been in the back of my mind, has taken over my winter months.
Here are a few pieces that have found their way to finish line. Many more to follow.
Please feel free to follow me on Instagram seeing how that is more fluent than this quarterly newsletter.
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New Work
A Beautiful Spring Morning 8" x 16" Oil on Linen - $1200
A Beautiful Day on the Water 16" x 20" Oil on Linen - $2400
The Portland Headlight 18" x 24" Oil on Linen - $3200
New England Charm 16" x 20" Oil on Linen - $2400
The Colors of a Winter Day 12" x 16" Oil on Linen Panel - $1600
A Mistress Morning 18" x 24" Oil on Linen - $3200
An Afternoon with the Chickens 18" x 24" Oil on Linen - $3200
Victory Chimes Drying her Sails 18" x 24" Oil on Linen - $3200
Off to Sea 30" x 40" Oil on Linen - $5400
The Studio Window 16" x 12" Oil on Linen Panel - $1600
Colorful Day in the Cove 20" x 24" Oil on Linen - $3400
A Morning with the Olad 20" x 16" Oil on Linen - $2400
Life in Tenants Harbor 24" x 18" Oil on Linen - $3200 - SOLD
Winter Morning 8" x 16" Oil on Linen Panel - $1200
Quiet Winter Evening 18" x 24" Oil on Linen - $3400
Spring Hope 12" x 16" Oil on Linen Panel - $1600
Thank you for your time!
Warm regards~
Ken
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