Inspiration from Artists Wk 130 Bonus artist : Charles William Bartlett.

What I should call a traditional illustrator - and it's made me think about the differences between illustrators and painters generally today, and back then, when Bartlett was working.   I'll risk a generalization, and be warned - it's a big one. In the past - say from around 1860 to 1950 - very random dates, but they fit in with Bartlett's life and career while going a bit further - painters did not necessarily eschew strong colours, but had a more limited range available to them; for anyone brought up in the 19th century, certainly anyone who learned their craft at that time, the cadmium colours would have been either unavailable, or a bit of a shock - nor would they necessarily have been trusted; those who tried the chrome reds and yellows would have been well aware that they faded, and might have assumed that cadmiums were too much of a good promise, which they didn't trust. So - and there would have been sound aesthetic reasons too - painters used subtler, less vibrant colours in which subsequent generations might have revelled.   This is what gives older prints and watercolours their "period" appeal and charm (combined with their generally exquisite draughtsmanship).  We may be fortunate to have bright, strong, opaque colours today, but I suspect a lot of subtlety has been sacrificed along the way; because we have these colours, of course we use them; but not always with the restraint that makes a lot of older work attractive to me. There are those who advocate the use of the strongest colour imaginable, and decry desaturated colour as conservative, even reactionary, boring, dull, lacking the "wow factor" (if I could outlaw that idiotic phrase and thrust all who use it into a damp dungeon with a calculated degree of verminous infestation, I would - "wow" might be an appropiate reaction to firework displays - if you like that sort of thing: paintings require a touch more consideration).   Anyway, that's my theory for today.  I like desaturated colour, and restraint; I'm bored by the brash - this is why Corot is my favourite artist of all time - if yours is Scott Naismith, or the "colour hugs" woman, well: our opinions differ.  

There's a strong Japanese influence on some of his work.  I can see Hiroshige in the last one.  And Bartlett seems to have created his own Japanese style stamp in some of them.

Picking up on Jenny's comment, when I looked on line much of his work was described as 'Japanese Woodblock Print', for example the first one below.  What struck me about the images Dixie posted was the variety of styles.  The second and third paintings below are described as watercolours.