A few paintings from a time when I first discovered the advantageous and beautiful qualities of alla prima techniques.
Alla Prima #1
Oil on linen
8" x 6"
Greetings fellow Steemians,
In today’s post I thought I’d share and discuss a few paintings I did during a time in my atelier training where I discovered and began to hone the advantageous and beautiful qualities of alla prima painting techniques.
As I still consider the traditional and methodical skills to be obtained from classical atelier training to be of vital importance, when I discovered the applicability of these relatively newer techniques I found them to be like breath of fresh air.
Alla Prima #3
Oil on linen
8" x 6"
Where as traditional methods are structured in such a way (almost as if in a scientific way) where it breaks down all of the components that make up a drawing or painting in simplified variables where if there are any problems that occur (of course which often do), they can be easily targeted, isolated, and remedied as directly as possible.
Alla Prima #2 (Teabox)
Oil on linen
8" x 6"
So when coming from an alla prima perspective (direct painting) you’re basically juggling all of the components (drawing/value/form/color/paint handling) at the same time.
While it can initially be perceived as something overwhelming and in opposition, it can actually be quite liberating in working in this way. It’s actually the opposite side of the same coin and can actually benefit the painter when going back to a more structured way of working.
When I first began working in this manner, it felt like a refinement of the senses.
Alla Prima #4
Oil on linen
8" x 10"
I hope you’ve enjoyed these as much as I enjoyed working on them :)
Please feel free to let me know what you think?
Thanks for reading Everyone!
-James Hansen
Great work, I love seeing more classical focused art here on steemit. I had a stint of studying at an Atelier, and fell in love with classical work. So thank you for sharing your work, and your thoughts and analysis of the process of working with Alla Prima. Keep creating, excited to see more work from you :)
Oh saw you studied at the Aristides atelier! I studied at Gage as well, down at the Georgetown Atelier, and my instructor was Tenaya Sims who studied under Julliete. Glad to meet another Seattleite here!
Wow, small world! :) Yeah I know Tenaya; he's a friend of mine. Likewise! ^__^
So beautiful! Thanks for sharing. You have no idea how encouraging it is to see beautiful work like this being done in our times. Thank you!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the compliment :)
If you're interested in seeing more of my work, please feel free to check out my website as I can assure you that it is constantly being updated with new work.
Alla prima techniques are things that I'm very interested to study about in the future. This reminds me of a Nathan Fowkes painting he did in 5-15 minutes in few brushstrokes. This one: http://www.nathanfowkesart.com/2007/06/blog-post_20.html?m=0
I believe it wasn't observed from life, however he's a great advocate of life studies and it shows how hard it is to tell this was made from a photo.
Great job, by the way! Not only these are very consistent, but I can sit here and admire the work you did with the edges all day long, and I can see the efficiency behind the brushstrokes!
Thank you so much! I never heard of him so I appreciate the reference. Yes, edges are everything! I remember continually hearing in the atelier that it is much easier to make a sharp edge than a soft edge. It is much more difficult to soften them so it is much better to sharpen edges later.
You're welcome! I also still haven't studied edges that much, so those tips are very helpful since it's something I struggle!
Lovely. That milk jug with the brown rim (is that was the original purpose was?) is so familir to me... I think my parents must have had one at our house growing up.
You’re very talented!
Thank you so much for the compliment :) Yeah, I presume that was the case. When I was studying at the atelier, they had several closets filled with random objects used for still lifes. There was a lot that was clearly very old.
This reminds me of something that my teacher always told me. She use to say that ultimately subject matter had very little to do with what makes a great work of art. You can take what would appear to be just some random object or moment, and when placed under the right kind of light can appear to be something that is timeless.
This is true in creative writing as well; one of my aims is always to illuminate the mundane.
This post has received a 24.18% upvote from
thanks to: @jameszenartist.
For more information, click here!!!!
Try the new Minnowhelper Bots for more information here
Help support @minnowhelper and the bot tracker by voting for @yabapmatt for Steem witness! To vote, click the button below or go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses and find @yabapmatt in the list and click the upvote icon. Thank you.
Voting for @yabapmatt
You got a 2.64% upvote from @buildawhale courtesy of @jameszenartist!
If you believe this post is spam or abuse, please report it to our Discord #abuse channel.
If you want to support our Curation Digest or our Spam & Abuse prevention efforts, please vote @themarkymark as witness.
You got a 1.75% upvote from @postpromoter courtesy of @jameszenartist!
Want to promote your posts too? Check out the Steem Bot Tracker website for more info. If you would like to support the development of @postpromoter and the bot tracker please vote for @yabapmatt for witness!
You got a 1.97% upvote from @mercurybot courtesy of @jameszenartist!
You got a 8.07% upvote from @inciter courtesy of @jameszenartist!
Release the Kraken! You got a 1.44% upvote from @seakraken courtesy of @jameszenartist!
Thank you for collaborating with me to promote this post as explained at https://steemit.com/steemit/@jerrybanfield/10-ways-to-fund-a-steem-growth-project.