"Giving Pause"

5 x 7"

oil on panel
sold

My ongoing attention to James McNeill Whistler inspired this new painting - a woman pausing before Whistler's 'Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room', which hangs in the Freer Gallery of Art - a commonly missed museum in Washington, DC.

"Mother Figure"

8 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

Naturally I began obsessing about James Abbott McNeill Whistler after finishing my recent painting - an artist best known for his large, iconic oil painting 'Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 1', widely known and referred to as 'Whistler's Mother'.  It's permanent home is in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.

In America's museums, you can see stunning portraits by Whistler - like 'The White Girl' in DC's National Gallery of Art among others.  I love his moody, low-tone color, landscapes.

There's several stories about the portrait of Anna McNeill Whistler.  One is Anna stood in for a scheduled model who was a no-show.  It's been told that Whistler originally envisioned the pose standing up, but his mother preferred to sit if it were to be a lengthy pose.

What may surprise many is the painting is huge - about 64" x 57" without the wide, original frame that Whistler designed himself.  And the pure, beautiful details really are stunning, especially the delicate headdress and her hands and hankerchief.  

I loved studying it more and painting it - I broke out every tube of Torrit Grey I had and really noticed the subtle differences in Whistler's painting - the cold vs. warm greys throughout are a great lesson in mixing paints.  My next larger piece will be of this scene and his painting,  I'm very excited.

"Dandy"

5 x 7"

oil on panel
sold

Here's one of my favorite paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City - a large portrait of the artist 'James McNeill Whistler' by the friend and fellow artist William Merritt Chase.  I've read when the two painters met, they became instant friends and both agreed to paint a portrait of each other.  They probably were trying to hone their portrait skills to compete with fellow painter John Singer Sargent who was all the rage at the time.

Chase presented Whistler with this finished painting, even inscribing in the upper left corner the words 'To my friend Whistler, Wm. M. Chase, London 1885'.  Chase painted this portrait honoring Whistler's low-key palette and painterly style - only Whistler was apparently offended, exclaiming it a 'monstrous lampoon' which started a rift between the two men for a long time.  It is believed Whistler destroyed his painting of Chase, never to be seen.

"How Bourgeois"

9 x 10"

oil on panel
sold

I painted this new piece during our snowstorm this past week - what a treat it was.  I know some of you are moaning and can't imagine snow being a treat at this point, but it's so rare here in the south.

I love this painting because of my favorite combo of colors - golds, blacks, greys and browns.  And I love the shadows.

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, William Merritt Chase's portrait of the artists 'James Abbott McNeill Whistler' (left) and John Singer Sargent's portrait of the artist 'William M. Chase' (right) are seemingly looking down at the couple before them.

Please click here for a larger view.