21.12.12

Water Color Artists Of Note

By Celia Hall


Water color artists are noted for their skill because they use methods that are difficult. Colors that are dissolved in water are applied to paper or some other surface such as vellum, fabric or wood. The pigments dry quite quickly and are usually inexpensive. However, considerable skill is required in applying them to good effect. This means that the final works are the products of admirable skill.

Westerners are not always aware of the great works of Chinese art produced well before the most famous western water colors. Two main techniques of 'gong-bi' and ink and wash painting use brush strokes, often very meticulously. Although oriental art is usually in a very different style to western art and is influenced by calligraphy exquisite works exist, often painted on silk. Traditionally they tend to be flat.

Traditionally Chinese works tend to be more flat. In the West greater use is made of perspective. Contemporary Eastern painters in the twenty-first century adapt easily to water color techniques from the West. As techniques evolve some are tending to introduce more perspective into their works, drawing from western traditions but retaining the precision and calligraphic effects of the East.

Thomas Gainsborough was a famous eighteenth century painter. In those times the major demand was for portraits but Gainsborough preferred to paint landscapes and works such as 'The Watering Place' illustrate his easy brush strokes and love of light colors. He is said to have painted portraits to put bread on the table but landscapes out of love. It was not usual in his time for people to love landscapes so much because nature was often seen as being hostile.

Between 1775 and 1851 J. M. W Turner lived and contributed hundreds of great paintings, earning himself an important place in the world history of art. A prolific artists, he produced works which form important parts of many great collections. He worked in oils and water colors. He is said to have laid the way open for Impressionism through his skillful use of light.

Turner enjoyed steady patronage throughout his life. This enabled him to develop his talent unhindered by the problems that afflict some other artists, such as poverty. An important work was exhibited by the Royal Academy when he was only fifteen, in 1790. He continued to work steadily throughout a long and productive life.

As he developed Turner was able to extend his use of light. He often painted violent events such as storms and shipwrecks. His landscapes often illustrate the destructive power of nature through shimmering light effects. During his time the environment was not thought of as being benign and vulnerable but as powerful and threatening. Despite this his works evoke a sense of admiration rather than fear of natural forces.

In the twenty first century many water color artists continue to work around the Globe. Beautiful paintings are produced by artists like Cheng-Khee Chee who draws from both East and Western traditions, melding them into works that are globally significant and exhibited in both terrestrial and online galleries.




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