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Inspiration from Artists Wk159 Featuring Artists : Erin Hanson ant Thirry Bruet
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Message
Posted
ERIN HANSON (born 1981) is an American Oregon-based artist known for her ‘Open Impressionism’ style, a blend of Impressionism and Modern Expressionism characterised by minimal brush strokes and an alla prima technique where oil paint is applied wet on wet and is not layered or thinned with turpentine. She works to get each paint stroke ‘right first time’. Her style typically consists of a limited palette of four or five colours, and she takes dozens of photos for reference.
She began painting as a child, learning oils, watercolour, pen and ink and pastels, and by the age of 12 was employed after school by a mural studio and learned the techniques of acrylics on the grand scale of 40 ft. canvases. She has said that her first encounter with the Vincent Van Gogh painting ‘Irises’ in elementary school was decisive and marked the beginning of her appreciation for Impressionism. After constantly being told that it was too hard to make a living as an artist, she took a degree in Bio-engineering and after college became a talented rock climber at Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, where the vibrant landscapes she encountered reignited her passion for painting. Her artwork depicts the natural beauty of the US and the American West, transforming these landscapes into mosaics of colour and texture, her impasto application of paint lending a sculptural effect to her art.
She was in 2022 one of several professional artists who learned their technique was included without their permission in a dataset used to train a text-to-image AI computer programme.
Edited
by Jenny Harris
Posted
In general, such bright abstract colours don't work for me, too garish. I looked on line to see if I could find some less 'garish' ones and was surprised to find the two that stood out in a page full of her works were already covered by Jenny (her 1 and 3 above). Which I guess shows how subjective one's reactions can be. Then I saw a third, which goes against what I have just claimed about my own preferences, but somehow it works. Maybe there is hope for me yet.
Edited
by Tony Auffret
Posted
This is extremely appealing to me, I think these works are wonderful - of course I wouldn't want to paint that way, if anything I aim for desaturation, but - well, I could change, having seen these! There are other painters who have tried this colourist approach, including a couple from Scotland, who have in my opinion failed disastrously because they exaggerate for the sake of it, lack this artist's judgement, and have jumped on a bandwagon because such highly-coloured work sells (at the moment). Erin Hanson's work should always sell - it captures the strong light and huge open spaces of her own land, it retains and enhances form, it's just bursting with life and growth.
It's interesting to read that Hanson uses a limited palette - you wouldn't think so, would you? I would think there's a total absence of earth colours, and heavy reliance on the primaries and opaque white: well there you are, I've told you how it's done, now off we all go and try it.... it really wouldn't be easy for more traditional painters; and it might even pall over time - not everything can be depicted in full, rich colour. But it would be exciting!
Thanks Jenny for this great discovery.
Posted
I would like to know what colours she uses! Her work is very attractive and I like the impression of wind in the trees, also the impasto style. I have been using palette knives myself more recently so am interested in the results achieved here. Some of her work is a bit over colourful for me, but perhaps she is one of those artists where this seems to stand out seeing a lot of her work together.
I am away from home til this evening so will look again later. It would be interesting to know the size of these. The thought of 40ft canvases has lodged in my brain!
Thanks Jenny for this choice and info.
Edited
by Tessa Gwynne
