You’d think one would get lost on a street or in a crowd but I literally got lost in a forest — I mean forest painting.
Meeting the youngest artist Frederique Tonnerre in Pont-Aven, Brittany, France, a small port packed with tourists and art galleries, I follow his thoughts, ideas and creations about his art & work.
Frederique usually paints with pastels, oils and charcoal and is passionate about his region, so he paints it so as to share his enthusiasm with his contemporaries.
I am immediately drawn to one of his “wood paintings”. I quizz Frederique and learn that his partciular art work was created on a wooden panel, or glacis. In Brittany you can only find three such artists, and Frederique being one of them.
Most surviving panel paintings are from the 13th to the early 16th century. The most important artist to use this method was Leonardo da Vinci. On wooden panels you can not allow for any mistakes thus working on linnen is much easier and preferred.
I am surprised to learn that he uses metallic colors, such as light and dark golds, bronze, copper, silver, pewter, flake white and 27 different kinds of Greens! I love green colors, forests and walking. No wonder as I listen to Frederique my perception of it totally tuned out the world around me as I got lost on a walk through the forest he painted. Fascinating.
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