The Macchiaioli of Tuscany, James Whistler, Georges Seurat and the Australian Impressionists all like to sketch in oil on cigar boxes.
Seurat
Modern and mixed media such as wax crayons, pencils, oil pastels, oil sticks and oil bars have become increasingly popular, although many age poorly and most have to be kept under glass.
Derived from the dull yellow-green of chromium oxide, it was widely used by Impressionists, and well into the 20th century. Less toxic, but an environmental hazard.
At the ballet with Degas,Sargent’s Spanish dancer, entertainment in North Africa, an Ionian dance, the Can-Can, Salome and the Dance of the Seven Veils.
The horse in chivalry, carrying Mazeppa or Haidamak insurgent, in the circus, racing riderless through Rome, and in Vernet’s studio.
Degas’ Miss La La, a clown feeding a baby, cruelty to performers and animals, the misery of the Saltimbanques, and the melancholy of clowns.
From the Circus Maximus with its crowd of 150,000 to those walking the tightrope under the canvas of the Big Top.
The forgotten French Impressionist Félix Cals, Neo-Impressionist Georges Seurat, and two former Nabis, Félix Vallotton and Édouard Vuillard also painted this coastal town.
As he continued to paint history and other narrative works, and turn his watercolours from North Africa into finished oil paintings, he started decorative painting for the State.
How to paint a landscape with faithful and coherent cast shadows, why most painters don’t do so, and a few get it wrong.
The Eclectic Light Company 