Monday, July 19, 2021

Signac paints Clafoutis

 

                                       Photo by Jill Colonna
When you waste time on Instagram dreaming of Capri, you can also get ideas for the next Paris letterJill Colonna showed her easy cherry clafoutis

Jill made me want to paint it. And July is always cherry time 🍒 in France.
                 I was going to bake a clafouti but I ran out of eggs and had the wrong pan. Instead I mailed your letters💌📮
Luckily Gerard Mulot had individual clafoutis. I got 3 to paint, of course. 
Don’t they make you think of dots and Pointillism? And of Damien Hirst’s cherry blossoms?
It seemed like a good idea to go see the Pointillist Signac exhibition at Musee Jacquemart-Andre. And its been extended to July 26th🎉 🤸🏾‍♀️
Leçon/lesson time: We are going to have to talk about neo-Impressionnismes.
Signac was influenced by Impressionnists Monet (who wasn’t). But even more so by Seurat, who started Pointillism.  Here’s a nice simple video explaining DIY Pointillism. Why should you care? Because more than Impressionism, Pointillismes  took painting much further and influenced painters like Mondrian, Damien Hurst, Chuck Close, Alex Katz. Not to forget Matisse. 

Its all about Optical color. Instead of mixing 2 colors on your palette or on the canvas or paper, you put separate dots of color down next to each other. Your eye and brain will mix them together and INTENSIFY the color in a nutshell.


Granted this is a rather laborious way to paint. A lot of planning and science is involved…knowing the color wheel, color theory and planning ahead! The Neo-Impressionists did not go outside and paint ‘en pleine air’ like the outdoorsy Impressionists in their sunhats. They wasted away in their studios. But they got tremendous color effects and changed painting forever.

Later years Signac discovered the joy and ease of watercolor. He got to travel often every summer to Saint Tropez, plus visit Venice. 
He was sponsored by Monoprix’s owner, Gaston Levy to paint all the French ports. 
What was supposed to be a 3 month project, became 3 years. 

By the way if you want dotty glasses to get in the right frame of mind Galerie Lafayette has them.
I came home from the Signac show and thought I’d try my hand at a bit of cherry watercolor Pointillism. Easier than baking a cake. Please stay safe and cool Western and Canadian PBers🙏 Here’s a rainbow🌈  song I just discovered this weekend. If you’re not into art history 🎨 just play the song and go buy a letter ☺️❤️🍒🤸🏾‍♀️🐻🌸🌈🎨📮✏️🇫🇷💌💋🗺


16 comments:

  1. le beau temps des cerises:)

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  2. Ah…c’est vrai Nna
    Mille merci 🍒🍒

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  3. Carol, Along with being fun your posts are educational & encourage further research. I knew nothing about Signac but now I know something..
    Your cherry water color is great. I am going to dive into a bowl of cherries now🍒

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  4. Oh how I would love to see that exhibit. I remember standing in front of a pointillist painting for the first time at Musee D’Orsay and being fascinated by the artist’s vision…did he continuously have to step back to see what it looked like from afar?? That video is very interesting.

    Love your cherry clafoutis letter. I’ve made Jill’s strawberry clafoutis from her YouTube video. She makes it very easy! Off to snap up one of your clafoutis watercolors…much lower in calories.

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  5. Cherry diving is better than sky diving Imho 🍒🍒🍒

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  6. To tell you the truth I never understood the difference between Neo-Impressionnistes and Pointillism not to forget Divisionism invented by Signac. But Optical Color is always good to understand. My watercolor teacher David Dewey was always talking about it. Confused the hell out if me. Now not so much 🎨🌈

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  7. Sybille9:43 AM

    Cherry clafoutis and pointillism…only you could connect the two…I learn so much from you.

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  8. I loved today’s post and all the info about Paul Signac. Just a small correction on the spelling of Damien Hirst, not Hurst.

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  9. Thanks Vida,
    I’m dyslexic. Spellig errors are my specialty.

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  10. I always learn so much from these posts. I never really appreciated pointillism (thought it was a lazy way to paint) but now understand a lot more and am looking at it in a new way. Cherries have been very good this year and I've been eating them by the bowl full every day for the past month.

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  11. Cute blog post.
    Thanks for theme- not ready to bake - do it another way!
    Whee

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  12. Raw ia very popular these days…or is it Keto ot IF?

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  13. Love that you were inspired by my clafoutis to paint cherries and desserts, Carol. Your artwork is always inspiring! Beautiful dotty pointillism too - I must get to this Signac expo soon. Looks great!

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  14. Thank you Jill 🍒
    Your beautiful pastry adventures are the best ❤️
    You are always an inspiration 🎨

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  15. Beverly2:01 PM

    Oh dear, Carol! And you are such an excellent writer.

    Thanks; I’m guessing not that many know of Damian Hirst. I didn’t until this past year when one of my cousins in Boston and I have been sharing photos of all the baking and cooking we do in the pandemic. His cakes were always on a gorgeous plate that is Hirst’s

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  16. Dear Beverly,
    Thank you for the plate picture! Love it.
    Considering my previous post was on Hirst I should know better, but I ‘can’t’ see errors often being a tad dyslexic.
    And there were so many links and videos in Signac!! Its always hellish getting the posts done and now that they arrive in minutes so I’m rushing to get things up on Etsy.
    Ach…You can look forward to more errors ☺️

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