Watercolor: Bulkhead (& a book on Degas)

Save for later & Share!

 

Bulkhead (New England) 6 x10.25 Watercolor on paper sold

art in process

This painting (framed dimensions: 12×15) is available in my Etsy Shop.

It’s time for an art book give-away. I have this fabulous little book from Abrams Discovery series called Degas – The Man and His Art, and it’s my favorite on Degas (of the four on my shelves) because it’s packed with wonderful imagery and details I’ve never seen or read before. Would you like a copy of this great little book?

It’s small (7 x 5, 190 pages), but it’s *packed* with excerpts from his letters, intimate snippets from the life of his family, friends, his career, the cities he lived in and details about his personal life. More than any other book, this one gives a real sense of Degas, the person, as well as beautiful, glossy paged reproductions of sketches, preparatory drawings next to the final paintings, sculptures, close ups of details on his art, & later, his reference photos. Every single page is filled with images. I really love this book and I wish it was still in print because its a lovely gift for any artist who enjoys Degas or a close up on the evolution of a gifted artist before the turn of the century. See some open page snapshots below.

Degas – The Man and his Art

The story behind this family portrait (his Aunt Laura) painted when he was 33, and a close up of the beautiful way he painted her hand.

Beginning to paint woman from all walks of life; laundresses, cabaret performers, ballet dancers, etc.

The story of Degas’ friend – an opera bassoonist – sketched and then painted with an orchestra of faces re-arranged from their actual positions, capped with dancers on the stage above, and filled in with friends & musicians he posed for this painting just before the outbreak of war.

If you’d like this book, let’s share a little social media love; simply follow me on instagram, or twitter or facebook, and then leave your instagram, twitter, or facebook name in the blog comments here, so I can follow you back.

For each follow or facebook like, I’ll put your name in the hat for this great Degas book. You can follow one, or all three accounts to increase your chances of winning. Drawing a winner will take place Monday night, May 26th at 8:30pm (Pacific time).

If you’d like, go ahead & follow the folks who leave their handles in the blog comments here too. (Group hug!)

This is open to all of you nice blog readers – domestic and international, so Good Luck to everyone!
____________________________________________________________
Art Quote
Degas still so beautiful (at 79). That semi-absence of the mind that precedes death. But the moment someone speaks to him, that presence, that energy, that clearness of eye and voice.
“Bravo Degas!” Mme. Ganderax said to him in front of his picture. “That is the Degas people love, not the Degas of the [Dreyfuss] affair.”
“Madame, it is the whole Degas I want people to love.”
Someone asked him, “All the same, you’re not unhappy with this picture, are you?”
“I’m fairly certain that whoever painted it is no moron; but I’m quite certain that whoever paid so much for it is a bloody fool.”
Someone congratulated him on the price. He shrugged his shoulders.  “I am a racehorse,” he said, “I run the big races, but I am satisfied with my ration of oats.”
Daniel Halevy 1960 (from the chapter on letters & correspondence in the book Degas, The Man and his Art)

Save for later & Share!