ArtRoster | Mount Shasta Atelier Autumn 2016 Pence Gallery
Cover: Lou Wandro, detail of Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn’s Girl at a Window
ArtRoster | Mount Shasta Atelier Autumn 2016 Pence Gallery
ArtRoster | Mount Shasta Atelier is a group of Northern California artists who reside at the base of Mt. Shasta. Most of the group has enjoyed artmaking in a variety of media for many years, and within the last few years their love of painting has brought them together creating, exploring and exhibiting. Meeting weekly, they draw inspiration from art history, their natural environment, and each other. The artists utilize techniques from the Old Masters atelier system of the great European academic and impressionistic painting schools of the 18th and 19th centuries like that of Jacques-Louis David, as well as more contemporary methods. Here is a lineage of painters whose painting method we follow: Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825) Antoine-Jean Gros (1771–1835) Paul Delaroche (1797–1856) Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904) William McGregor Paxon (1869–1941) R.H. Ives Gammell (1893–1981) Richard F. Lack (1928–2009) Bruno Surdo (1962)
Jenny Purtle and Marga Filip, details of Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci 1
The Forgery Show is an annual art exhibit in Mount Shasta, California, which showcases expertly-executed reproductions in oil of world-renown masterworks. The Forgery Show began in 2013 when eleven separate reproductions of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa were displayed at a local gallery in the city of Mount Shasta. Since then the number of participating artists has increased, as well as the variety of masterworks represented. In the days of Jacques-Louis David and Jean-Léon Gérôme, artists who entered into apprenticeship with an artist-teacher would first learn skills of paint mixing and brush-making, then would copy the paintings of the master teacher and other accomplished artists. Copying the works of established artists was a common, if not the only possible, method available for an aspiring artist to learn painting technique in an age without cameras and digital reproduction capabilities.
First Forgery Show (2013), featured 11 reproductions of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa
Artist Judy Hester’s drawing Georges de La Tour ‘s Joseph the Carpenter
About Our Painting Process Step One: Drawing To ensure proportional accuracy when drawing the image onto the work surface, we utilize a grid method. The grid method involves first drawing a grid over the reference image (in our case, an image of the original painting of which we are making a forgery), and then drawing a grid of equal ratio directly onto the blank work surface – canvas, linen, wood panel, etc. The grid consists of equal-sided squares, one square on the blank work surface to match each square from the reference image. The artist then begins to draw directly onto the work surface, focusing on one square at a time, until the entire reference image has been transferred. Once complete, the artist simply erases or paints over the grid lines of the work surface, and begins to apply the first layer of paint – the underpainting. The grid method has the added benefit of helping to improve the artist’s drawing and observational skills.
Ariel Morgan’s drawing
Janet Crittenden
Step Two: Underpainting After the outline drawing is complete, we begin the monochromatic value painting (often called underpainting), which is the most important stage in our process. Without a thorough knowledge and skillful execution of the underpainting – the thoughtful application of the initial layer of paint – the extraordinary pictorial unity which characterizes most realistic paintings cannot be achieved. The underpainting greatly facilitates the realization of a finely balanced composition, establishing accurate depictions of light, dark and in-between values. An underpainting is a monochrome version of the final painting. It allows the artist to fix the shapes of composition, give volume to the forms, soften edges between shapes, and distribute light and dark values to create the effect of illumination and shadow. All this is much easier to accurately accomplish at this initial stage, utilizing only a few neutral tones, rather than an infinite range of colors. Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Rubens, David and many other great realist painters utilized underpainting very effectively.
Step Three: Painting of Colors Once the monochromatic value painting (underpainting) is dry, the artist superimposes layers of colored paint – applying them in order from thin translucent glazy layers, to increasingly thick and more opaque layers. The accurate values of the underpainting help the artist to match the correct darkness or lightness when applying the subsequent layers of colored paint. The lighter areas are generally rendered with full-body color, whereas shadows are painted in very thin semi-transparent glazy layers. Warm and cool tones created by the newly-applied colored layers, are unified by the accurate values (light and dark) originally established by the monochromatic underpainting. During this step the main concern is to give everything its correct coloring, to render materials appropriately, and to fix the final soft contours of each shape/form. Each distinctive section of the painting is executed as a separate entity, or adjacent sections are executed together in bulk and finished in one or more sessions.
Step Four: Glazing Glazing is the final step in the painting process. Although in theory it seems rather simple, in practice glazing technique can be a very complex undertaking. In the simplest terms, glazing consists of applying – usually with a soft-bristled brush – a transparent and thin layer of paint, mixed with a glazing medium, over another thoroughly dried layer of paint. The glazing layer creates an optical color shift without disturbing the dried layer below. Glazing is similar to placing a sheet of colored glass over a monochrome photograph, creating a unique “shine through” stained-glass effect that is not obtainable by direct mixture of paint or by any other painting process.
Janet Crittenden, The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Forgeries in progress
Paintings in alphabetical order by artist’s ďŹ rst name: Adrienne van Summern Aleksander Balos Ariel Morgan Dustin Bonivert Janet Crittenden Jenny Purtle Judy Hester Karen Copsey Kit Bertolucci Leonard Brown Lezlie Graebel Lou Wandro Linda Vivas Lynda Hardy Margaret Britton Michael Wecksler Shery Larson Suzanne van Summern
Adrienne van Summern The Exile by Thomas Cooper Gotch
Aleksander Balos, Betty by Gerhard Richter
Aleksander Balos, Black Bashi-Bazouk by Jean-Léon Gérôme
Ariel Morgan The Lanterns by Charles Courtney Curran
Dustin Bonivert The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis by Jacques–Louis David
Janet Crittenden, Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse
Janet Crittenden, The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Janet Crittenden The Art of Painting by Johannes Vermeer
Jenny Purtle Hope by Frederic Watts
Judy Hester Joseph the Carpenter by Georges de La Tour
Karen Copsey Self Portrait as a Lute Player by Artemisia Gentileschi
Kit Bertolucci GoldďŹ nch by Carel Fabritius
Leonard Brown The Desperate Man (Self-Portrait) by Gustave Courbet
Lezlie Graebel Equestrian Portrait Of Carmen Bordiu-Franco by Salvador Dali
Linda Vivas Jupiter and Io, Assumption of the Virgin by Antonio Allegri da Correggio
Lou Wandro American Gothic by Grant Wood
Lynda Hardy Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer
Margaret Britton Veronica Veronese by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Michael Wecksler Chaim Soutine by Amedeo Modigliani
Shery Larson Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David
Suzanne van Summern Kimono with Iris Pattern by Okada Saburosuke
Additional Forgeries not included in this show
Paintings in alphabetical order by artist’s ďŹ rst name: Anne McTavish Ariel Morgan Cynthia Henderson Dustin Bonivert Jenny Purtle Judy Hester Kit Bertolucci Leonard Brown Lezlie Graebel Lou Wandro Linda Vivas Lucinda Macy Marga Filip Margaret Britton Michael Wecksler Shery Larson
Anne McTavish Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries by Vincent van Gogh
Ariel Morgan, The Mermaid by Howard Pyle
Ariel Morgan, Midsummer Eve by Robert Hughes
Cynthia Henderson Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose by Mark Rothko
Dustin Bonivert Expectations by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Jenny Purtle Apple Tree with Red Fruit by Paul Ranson
Jenny Purtle, Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer
Jenny Purtle, Maria,The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer
Judy Hester The Lacemaker by Johannes Vermeer
Kit Bertolucci Gerda and the Reindeer by Edmund Dulac
Leonard Brown Clairvoyant by Gustave Courbet
Lezlie Graebel Tadpoles in Cedar Lake by Eiko Jones
Lou Wandro, Portrait of a Young Woman by Giuliano Bugiardini
Lou Wandro, Girl at a Window by Rembrandt van Rijn
Linda Vivas, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso
Linda Vivas, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso
Linda Vivas, Aurora (triptych) by Guido Reni
Lucinda Macy Winter Landscape with Fox by Bruno Liljefors
Marga Filip, The Cyclops by Odilon Redon
Marga Filip, Almond Blossoms by Vincent van Gogh
Margaret Britton Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May by John William Waterhouse
Michael Wecksler Nighthawks by Edward Hopper
Shery Larson The Incredulity of St. Thomas by Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio
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