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Gurney Journey

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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Childe Hassam's World's Fair Gouaches

Childe Hassam was an eyewitness to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  

Childe Hassam's World's Fair Gouaches

Childe Hassam, World's Fair, Chicago, gouache on paper laid on board, 11 x 14 inches. Heritage Auctions, Nov. 4, 2022

Hassam "added backgrounds and figures to a group of existing architectural drawings by other artists which were then reproduced as a series of chromolithographs entitled Gems of the White City." (Source of quote below.)

Childe Hassam's World's Fair Gouaches

The perspective structure of the buildings is carefully measured. The vertical lines are executed with white gouache over a light gray base color using the paint in a ruling pen.

Childe Hassam's World's Fair Gouaches

The style or mindset seems quite different from the chaotic and casual approach to the figures and distant areas.

Childe Hassam's World's Fair Gouaches

Hassam painted several views of the Exposition buildings and its visitors using watercolor and gouache. In some of them he allowed the brown paper to show through, creating a warm and cool effect.

Childe Hassam's World's Fair Gouaches

The fair was visited by 27 million people in a time when the US population was 50 million. The exposure was a big boost to Hassam's career.

*Source of quote: Barbara Weinberg.
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Childe Hassam's World's Fair Gouaches
The auction includes classic illustrators such as JC Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell and American landscape painters such as William Trost Richards and Thomas Moran.




Laloue's Dots and Lines

Eugène Galien-Laloue painted boulevards in Paris using gouache. 

Laloue's Dots and Lines
Eugène Galien-Laloue The Statue Of Étienne Marcel, Outside The Hôtel De Ville, Paris
Gouache, 7.5 x 11.12 inches (18.5 x 30.5 cm.)

His way of painting was relaxed but precise, alternating big shapes with small impressionistic dots and lines that suggest detail rather than delineating it.

Laloue's Dots and Lines

According to Wikipedia, "Galien-Laloue was in exclusive contract with one gallery and used other names: 'L.Dupuy', 'Juliany', 'E.Galiany', 'Lievin', 'G.L' 'Dumoutier' and 'P.Mattig'".

Zorn and the Rain Storm

American painter Edward Simmons (1852-1931) was an eyewitness to how Anders Zorn painted in watercolor:

"Zorn was one of those artists who are always showing much originality in the use of their materials and combining this with a sense of humor, which often produces fine results. I went into his back yard one day, and he had a six-foot water color leaning against the house, and was throwing pails of water on it—“bringing it together.” 

Zorn and the Rain Storm
Anders Zorn, Fish Market in St. Ives, watercolor and gouache, 100 x 76cm, 1888

"He had a great success at the Grosvenor Gallery with a picture of boats, sails, masts, and the seashore sand, with a fat fish-wife walking toward one. (In those days he thought the only beautiful women
were fat ones.) He laid this on a box hedge in the garden when a thunderstorm came up. We all rushed out and it seemed to me ruined."

Zorn and the Rain Storm
Anders Zorn, Fish Market in St. Ives, detail

"'Now I can make a fine picture,' he said. He painted out the smudges from the sails and fixed the dirty sky, but in the foreground, in the sands, were large spots of raindrops. These he turned into footprints, and their naturalness has been commented upon more than once."
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Books
From Seven to Seventy, a memoir by Edward Simmons (1852-1931)

Using Historical Reference Photos for Sci-Fi Paintings

Blog reader Jeff Jordan asks: "I was wondering if you're using gouache strictly as a sketching medium, or if you've done or are doing finished works, illustrations, whatever, in gouache?"

Jeff, yes, I love using gouache for illustrations of vehicles, robots, and architecture. For example, this small (about 6x12") painting: "The Sinking of the Hagfish" shows a giant fish-like ship, burning and sinking, with its survivors standing along the top, hoping to be rescued.

Using Historical Reference Photos for Sci-Fi Paintings
It's part of Dinotopia backstory development, documenting dramatic events thousands of years ago in Dinotopia's Age of Heroes, when humans and saurians defended Dinotopia from an invasion of drones and mech dinos from Poseidos.

Using Historical Reference Photos for Sci-Fi Paintings

The inspiration for this composition came from this historic World War II photo of the burning carrier "Franklin" off the coast of Japan after it was struck by two bombs. Over 772 of the crew were lost, but the ship returned to port on its own steam.

In my composition, I kept the figures on the far left watching the unfolding drama. The feeling that we're among those watching adds a sense of vérité to the science fiction image.

The painting appears in the expanded edition of Dinotopia: First Flight.

International Artist #144: Problems with Gouache (and How to Solve Them)



International Artist #144: Problems with Gouache (and How to Solve Them)

Gouache presents at least five difficulties: it freezes, it dries fast, it reactivates, it looks chalky, and it shifts values when it dries. The April/May 2022 issue of International Magazine explains all the challenges and the remedies.

International Artist #144: Problems with Gouache (and How to Solve Them)
The magazine has other features on Kim Casebeer, Warren Chang, Claudia Hartley, Sandra Bartels, John Lovett, Tanvi Pathare, Michael King and Erika Stearly.

You can get a signed copy of the magazine or the video for download and streaming.

Childe Hassam's World's Fair GouachesFlying Over AdairStaying Focused During a Plein-Air SessionLaloue's Dots and LinesZorn and the Rain StormUsing Historical Reference Photos for Sci-Fi PaintingsInternational Artist #144: Problems with Gouache (and How to Solve Them)Shout Me a Question About Problems With Gouache Grisaille Portrait Video Now on YouTubePainting Jobsen Swamp

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