HARBRON Plein air

  Spotlighting great examples of plein air art ____________ Here is a painting by one of the principle founders of impressionism and the most dedicated plein air  painter of his time, Alfred Sisley (1839-1899). Let's take a mindful moment to enjoy it shall we. I say 'mindful' because whenever I view a painting by Sisley, I find myself slipping into the sort of meditative state I usually experience when out for a country stroll.  We could take the path that splits the frost-static grass. Perhaps Sisley had just walked it, labouring under the weight of his easel and paints, his weathered boots crunching upon the frozen earth. He walked a lot of miles beside rivers, did Sisley; The Oise, The Liong, The Thames, and here, The Seine. He painted the water sparkling in sunlight, brooding under pregnant clouds, and even when it had breached the bankside and crept right up to doorsteps. Here though, the water is calm, reflective. You see? we are in meditation!   Perhaps S...

  "The ink on the printed page has been magically transformed into paint and brush marks which retain the expressive energy of the original paintings"   ★★★★★ It arrived with a great sense of occasion. A doorbell chimed, humorous banter with the delivery man, large box smothered in foreign postmarks and documentation of another country. Two hands were needed to manoeuvre its heavy weight through the house and land it on the kitchen table.  'What's that?' asked my young niece after I called her over to share the excitement of the unboxing. 'This has come all the way from America' I explained '..and features an artist I'm sure you're going to like' There followed 'oohs' and 'aahs' as a large book emerged from the box, its cover ablaze with fiery oranges, hot pinks, warm blues and mellow greens - Aspen Trail  (2015). We had arrived in Erin Hanson's world, of Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California, places of her homeland and p...