Aaron Holland Fine Art

I will be offering a one-day workshop:

"Winter Painting" at The Clearing of Door County
January 29, 2009 1-4pm

The cost is $20. All proceeds will be going to support The Clearing.
Follow the link above to see more info. or to register.

This class is made available for anyone who would like to try "Plein Air" oil painting in winter, but need some encouragement. We will be painting the Landscape in Winter (yes, outside) on the campus grounds. It will be fun, and hot chocolate and coffee will be provided in the warming hut.

Isaac Ilich Levitan
Golden Autumn
1895
oil on canvas
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Isaac Levitan loved nature, people, his country, and he also loved to paint.

To the undiscerning eye his work may belie the skill, and his uncanny ability to capture the 'essence of a scene' in a fresh and melodious painting. Levitan was primarily a landscape painter, but chose to paint it as a reflection of the human spirit- this was his great contribution to Russian painting. He painted mood. Landscape painting has always held a place of high regard in the Russian culture, but Levitan lived also during times of political oppression, which made his paintings especially poignant and vibrant.

Most artists go through stages of exploration and discovery during their lifetime. Some bloom early and some later (if they live long enough). This painting was painted a few years after Levitan had gone through a series of doubts and depressions, as well as some good years, and had come to a point of self realization. This 'realization' helped him to know what he wanted to convey through his paintings, as well as the manner in which he wished to do so. The paintings that followed this time in his life brought him fame and success as an artist, as well as a personal calm and peace that is reflected in his later paintings.

This painting "Golden Autumn", painted 5 years before Levitan's death, demonstrates his refined approach, his regard for the Imressionist painters, as well as a respect for the Naturalist painters.

Chekov ( the novelist, and close friend of Levitan) was noted as saying that Levitan was the best Russian Landscape painter of their time. He said of him after his death, "In his later years, Levitan attained a wonderful simplicity and clarity of motif, such as no one had ever reached before, and I doubt will ever reach again."

This is an imaginary scene that takes place in Whitefish Dunes State Park, overlooking Lake Michigan. By imaginary, I mean to say that it was created, and the models were posed, specifically for this painting; to illustrate a concept.

(detail)-W.C. on Rag- 18x24"- HOLLAND

painting by Paul Strisik

"Consider Literature: Not being a writer, I might need ten pages to describe Rockport Harbor. I'd list all the details of the scene and hope that these pieces would give the reader a sense of the place. Tolstoy, on the other hand, could do the same thing in a paragraph. He would describe only the characteristic aspects of the scene. We don't expect him to tell us everything; if he did, we'd find his writing tiresome.

...the writer's statement will be more effective [ if ] its personal.

When you paint things exactly as they are, you don't show people anything they couldn't see for themselves; you're telling them what they already know. The viewer, however...wants you to help them. As Charles Hawthorne said years ago, the painter 'must show people more- more than they already see, and he must do so with so much sympathy and understanding that they will recognize it as if they themselves had seen the beauty and the glory.'."

Paul Strisik

(from his book "Capturing Light in Oils")

This bustling little harbor in northerly Ephraim was resplendant with wind-surfers, beach-goers, and vacationers. My wife Deb dropped me off near the beach so that she and Emma (our 19 mo. old) could go have an ice cream at Wilson's while I sketched.

I was fortunate to be able to find a small place to set up that was "relatively quiet". Although there was still the small boy who found it enjoyable to run all around me and jump from rock to rock, and visitors standing behind me that seemed to come out of nowhere, and about fifty people lounging on the beach just next to me, I acted all the while as if it was the most natural thing in the world to be seated amongst all the chaos!

I have noticed that the artist who sets up out-of-doors has become 'public domain', and would do well to resign themselves to this idea. People do not seem to feel it is necessary to introduce themselves, or even say hello, but start midstream into their thoughts about the world. It is also interesting because many of the people I meet talk as if we have known each other for years. It is an interesting phenomena, and mostly enjoyable... but I come home a little more exhausted than usual!

"Evening Waters"

oil on linen, 8x10" HOLLAND

"Study direct from nature. Study to feel, to know something of her visible functionings. Nature, to the thoughtful, will always remain a vast and delightful storehouse, [a] fountain of inspiration...It is the artist's privelege and prerogative to capture these miracles and transmute them into an expressive form."

-John F. Carlson

(from his book Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting)