Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Hans Heysen

Hans Heysen (1877 - 1968) was an Australian artist who painted the arid landscape of the Australian bush country, the cattlemen and drovers. He is remembered for many paintings of the native gum tree. We call them eucalyptus in California. The light in his paintings is full of atmosphere and color. More of his work can be seen here and here.




The first painting is in oil and the second in watercolor, but the color and value choices are similar. Both are high key, light drenched paintings.













The three pencil sketches are a reminder that underneath a painting with loose brushwork, is a careful plan and accurate decisions about what each stroke means.



I am assuming this is a plein air sketch. I like the spontaneity of the brushwork and color choices. He's gathering information. Heyson controls the design and values much more tightly in his studio pieces.