This painting was my first full-scale piece done with Royal Talens Cobra water-soluble oils. I was challenged to recreate Paul Signac's 1907 painting "La Baie (Saint-Tropez)" using only white, black, cerulean, and burnt sienna. Matching the light lights and the dark darks was the most challenging part of this piece, but the lack of color made it easier to focus on the painting's composition and brushstrokes.
Paul Signac, "La Baie (Saint-Tropez), oil on canvas, 1907
(left) Vivienne Westwood, Jim French, and Malcolm McLaren, "Two Cowboys handkerchief", 1974-75. Image from metmuseum.org. This design directly inspired my jacket.
Erin Hanson is one of my favorite modern painters. She is considered to be the origin of the "open impressionism" painting style. She depicts the landscapes of the American southwest with such attention to the colors within highlight and shadow. This piece is a master copy of her 2016 piece "Fins at Dawn" and it hardly scratches the surface of her masterful handiwork. Regardless, I enjoyed recreating this work because her impasto wet-on-wet technique creates unique textures that are fun, if not impossible, to replicate.
(left) Erin Hanson, "Fins at Dawn", 2016
