Fans of Art and Architecture you have got to see this 'beyond belief' home of the Gilded Age! 

I visited The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina for the first time and I was blown away!  It was amazing! 

                                      

G.W.Vanderbilt  by John Singer Sargent 

The Biltmore Estate was finished in 1895, by George Washington Vanderbilt III at the age of 34. From his inheritance he would set out to build the largest private home in the United States.  In many ways George Vanderbilt defined what Mark Twain would call the 'Gilded Age' of our country.

This is one of my favorite rooms in the Biltmore--out of the 250 of them!
It showcases Vanderbilt's passion for knowledge. There are more than 10,000 books
selected by him personally, attesting to the 1900 quote from a New York journalist
that Vanderbilt was "the best read man in the country".

   

 The Library's Pellegrini ceiling painting,

The Chariot of Aurora

came from the Pisani palace in Venice

Vanderbilt was a fascinating and eccentric character.  To say that he was a great collector of art is an understatement.  The collection he amassed is legendary.

I was able to see....

Six John Singer Sargent paintings, 

Two Renoir paintings, 

Works by Whistler, Monet, Boldini, Durer, 

Flemish 15th century tapestries and 

an incredible Italian ceiling painting by Pellegrini in the two story library.    Just incredible to see!

Edith Vanderbilt  by Giovanni Boldini

This portrait is a life-size, very striking, portrait, of Mrs.George Washington

 Vanderbilt hanging in the Biltmore near her husband's portrait.

The Biltmore House spiral staircase reaches four floors with 102 steps. 
Through its center is an iron chandelier with 72 lights.

The side porch view

Visiting the Biltmore in Spring

was beautiful! 

OA Gallery Opening Art Reception

OA Gallery Opening Reception 

Friday, April 4th 6-9 pm

Stop by and say hello, have a glass of wine-  

See the beautiful and intriguing photographs

 of new guest artist photographer, 

Mark Appling Fisher. 

Also view all the artwork of the gallery artists and myself! 

There is a lot to see! And it is always a lot of fun!

OA Art Gallery

If you missed the fun evening we had at the OA Gallery, I would

like to invite you to sign up for my Email Newsletter in order to 

get gallery news for future openings, announcements, and a 

chance to win my FREE Art giveaways.  Just sign-up right here

on this blog page

in the Newsletter Sign-up Box at the right. 

New Gallery Representation!

Great news!  

I am happy to announce that I have been invited to join the beautiful OA Gallery.  They will be representing my artwork and I am delighted to be a part of such an esteemed group of artists!

invitation below

Friday Favorites


William Merritt Chase 1849 - 1916

William Merritt Chase was fluent in many mediums; using oil, pastel, watercolor, and printmaking methods.  He was especially fluent in oil and pastel.  I have been enjoying reading about this American Impressionist in a beautiful book that includes his many pastel paintings, written by Ronald G. Pisano.                
                        

A native of Indiana, his family later moved to St. Louis, where he became active in the St. Louis art community, winning prizes for his paintings at local exhibition. Chase's talent elicited the interest of wealthy St. Louis collectors who arranged for him to study in Europe.  He returned to the United states in 1878 to live in New York.  He was a highly skilled artist representing the new wave of European-educated American talent.

Meditation

pastel on canvas

20 x 16

His pastels are amazing! They are so painterly....you almost seem to see the brushstrokes!  This pastel is one of Chase's most exhibited and reproduced pastels. His wife was the model.

One of the most bizarre happenings associated with this pastel was reported in an article, New York Mail and Express 1893

"...'I never before realized,' said the artist, 'that a mental shock could cause physical pain.  But I learned it the other day when I found some vandal in Chicago had RUBBED OUT THE FACE of my pastel portrait of my wife.  The canvas is well known here, and has been frequently exhibited.  I had been offered $1,500 ($40,000 in today's dollars) but refused.  I sent the work to the (1893) Chicago World's Fair and found that someone had rubbed out the face, probably thinking it was done in oil. I don't know how it was done, but the news of it made me ill.' "

Wow! Can you imagine that happening to your artwork in a public display? No wonder he was upset!

My only question is, why would this pastel on canvas not have been protected under glass?  Was that typical in that day? If I can find more info on this incident I'll let you know.  If anyone out there would know additional information, I'd like to learn more.

Here is another beautiful work of his, once again a pastel.  Amazing!

Back of Nude

Pastel

18 x 13

In the 1890s, John Singer Sargent averaged fourteen portrait commissions per year, none more beautiful than the genteel Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, 1892!  I still remember when I first saw this amazing work--sadly not in person but in a lovely book, 'Sargent' by Carter Ratliffe.  I was awestruck...still am!  Maybe someday I will be fortunate enough to see this lovely painting in person!

It now resides in the National Galleries of Scotland.  Andrew Noel Agnew, a barrister who had inherited the baronetcy and estates of Lochnaw in Galloway, Scotland, commissioned this painting of his young wife, Gertrude Vernon (1865-1932), in 1892.  The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London, and made Sargent's name.  Portrait commissions poured in and Sargent enjoyed something of a cult following in Edwardian society.

John Singer Sargent
'Lady Agnew'
oil on canvas

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Portrait Drawing HOW TO, A Step-By-Step Drawing Demonstration - 4 Essentials Steps!

This portrait drawing was done for the art challenge in September and I promised to show 

my drawing demo steps to you.

So here below, are photos of the 4 essential steps in my portrait drawing. 

Step 1) Geometric Shapes and Angle of the Gesture: 

Here I have lightly sketched the oval shape for the head, and the overall angle of the body moving diagonally from upper left to lower right of the page. --The diagonal provides strength to the composition.
Once I felt good about all the shape relationships I continued to progress

from large shapes to the smaller shapes

and blocked in the facial features, more clearly, now .

Step 2) Vertical and Horizontal Checks: 

 In this step, it is critical to get the largest shapes possible decided upon
 and to slowly get the proportions correct.

 A helpful tip is to check how things line up vertically as well as horizontally. 

What I mean is, if you put a vertical imaginary line along the hairline,

 it would be in line with the outside of the arm and shadow shapes of the skirt.  

And an example of lining up horizontally, would be the top of the shoulder lines up with the outside corner of the eye.

Step 3)  In the Beginning Soft and Loose:  

 So in the beginning there is a lot of checking relationships back and forth, erasing, correcting and making sure the foundation of the drawing is correct. 

But in this stage I kept the lines very soft and loose, and easy to erase. Many of the extra lines just get covered up in the shading. So the drawing, at this time, is a very loose and changing sketch before the shading is started. Once I have decided for sure on the correct proportions and lines, then I can darken those lines and pursue the shading more seriously.

Step 4) Darks are Key!: 

 Next I block in the values or shading and try to find the darkest darks.

Here I am progressing with the shading and paying close attention to seeing the value shapes of darks and lights.  Working on the values and keeping the darks consistent throughout the drawing is key.

More shading is put in and I deepen the dark values where they need it. Then finally

much attention is given to the edges of the value shapes. I ask myself, are the edges crisp and hard or fuzzy and soft?  So a lot of sensitive adjusting to the edges happens at this time. Generally, most of the focused or crisper edges are at the focal point, which is the face and the diagonal created by the arm and legs. 

And the portrait is finished!


So there it is!  I hope you found this demo helpful. Would you like to see more step-by -step demos?
Don't hesitate to drop me a line.....
Thank you for visiting!

Day 28, Day 29, Day 30 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Art Challenge

Yay! I did it!

As I scroll down and look at the work of the last month

I feel very good about my 26 drawings and paintings!  I certainly forced myself to speed up 

in order to complete the work by the deadline each day,

and I learned a whole lot more about blogging and photographing my work... which is tremendous! 

Here is a portrait demo from Day 28, 29, 30 of the Art Challenge. I was able to work on it a little  these last few days.  This portrait completes the challenge.  I hope you enjoyed seeing my daily art work!  

My goal is to continue posting work and future progressions so that you may see what's going on at my drawing table......after the challenge! 

Thank you for visiting!

I started this portrait study by loosely blocking-in large shapes and values.  As I worked, I adjusted the angle of the head. 

During the progression, I made adjustments and refined the features of the face.

Here is the completed graphite portrait.

Day 26 30 Paintings in 30 Days Art Challenge

'Rolling Cumulus'

Pastel on Canson

8" x 12"

Through this cloud series I have been hoping to capture the ever changing
tremendous art of the skies.
It also has been fun to create the skies in color these last few posts. Either way graphite or pastel, I enjoy creating them! 

Day 25 "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

Summer Cirrus 

Pastel on Wallis Sanded Paper 

9" x 12"

As I was working on this sky, I couldn't help but think about wonderful 

summers growing up. It would be so much fun to lay in the grass

and look up to a beautiful sky filled with wispy Cirrus Clouds.  Ahhh....

We are on Day 25 of the challenge.  This piece gets me current!
 Five more to go!

Day 24 "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

'Breakup'

Pastel on Canson 

8" x 12"

Here is my Day 24 Art!

 I've been experimenting with different papers: sanded, unsanded, white and tinted.
 This is smooth white Canson Paper. If you like to blend, this paper will allow easy blending. 

Looks like I have a cloud series going.

 I am enjoying working on them.

Hope you are enjoying them too!

Day 23 "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

'September Clouds'

Pastel on white Wallis sanded paper

9" x 10"

I have been having fun drawing and painting cloudscapes lately.  I have so many photos of clouds and skies that I have photographed--it is fun to use some from my accumulation!  I even had a chance to photograph some great Cumulus Clouds this evening. They were huge and amazing!  They looked like whipped cream!

Today, I was cheered on by one of my art students!  Thank you Nancy for the kind encouragement -- this post is for you! 

Horse Drawing Day 22 30 Paintings in 30 Days Art Challenge

'Early Light'

Horse Study

Graphite/Charcoal

9" x 9"

There is something so beckoning in the eyes of a horse. I love to paint or draw 

their soulful expressions. My recent exhibit at the Naperville Riverwalk show in Illinois included several equestrian works.

You can see some of them on my website, mariedonato.com 

Thought maybe by working on a cropped image yesterday that I might get it finished and posted a little earlier. Nope.

And here it is Monday already. Whew!

 This challenge is making the month fly by!

Day 21 Art Challenge

Graphite/

charcoal Study

10" x 10"

Returning to a figure study again. Started late this evening and now it's 

  time to say good-night.

Six o'clock will be here too soon! 

Day 20 "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

Cloudscape

Pastel

8" x 10"

Working on clouds and sky is an opportunity to really work abstractly.  

As I put down color shapes

it was very calming and relaxing and.... of course I was imagining being near the water!

This piece was done very quickly as a color study. 

Almost as if it were done on site,

where I was putting down basic color notes and then it started to rain....

Day 19 "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

Blue Waterscape

12" x 15"

Pastel

Today I thought I'd take a break from my pencil drawings and try something in color.

It is a pastel with three of my most favorite things together: clouds, water and the

     color blue!

Day 18 "30 in 30 Challenge"

Figure Gesture Drawing

Graphite/Charcoal/Watercolor

14" x 12"

This gesture drawing is on a smoother paper than I typically use..it was a little more slick than I'm used to. 

 I usually use Strathmore Bristol -Vellum finish.  This paper may have been a Plate finish.

A little unplanned experiment and the Vellum finish wins, it has more tooth. 

Day 17 "30 in 30"

White Dress Figure Study

Graphite/Charcoal

15" x 12"

This challenge has helped me in so many ways. My goal was to improve my blogging

and computer skills,
and having this challenge has given me a reason to practice,
 by posting a lot more often. So much more than I ever would have on my own!!

Also a secondary goal has been to try loosening up a little in my technique. 

By giving myself a set time

to finish,
 I'm forced to loosen up, instead of dwelling too long on details. 

Day 16 "30 in 30"

White Horse Study

Here is Day 16's art for the day.  Sorry there were some missed days--but I'm back.  Had a great show over the weekend in Naperville, Illinois--a suburb of Chicago. It was good to enjoy some time away.  So back to my schedule and "30 in 30"!