Facing the Modern, and Scented Beauty, daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Scented Beauty, 2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

oil on board, 5"x7"

 

When deciding what art exhibitions I could fit in on a recent visit short visit to London, I found a great tool to let me know what was available.  At the top of Katherine Tyrrell's terrific art blog, Making a Mark, among many other useful categories was one for major exhibitions in London for 2013. 

 

My first choice was Facing the Modern, The Portrait in Vienna, 1900, at the National Gallery.  You might think it an odd choice for a landscape painter, but I found the exhibition well worth the visit.  To my knowledge I had not seen an original painting by artist Egon Schiele.  I found the brushwork vigorous and exciting on the surface of the canvas, impossible to appreciate fully in a flat image.  I also wanted to see another painting by artist Gustav Klimt and was rewarded with a portrait of Amalie Zuckerandl.  It was a great lesson in delightful and useful pattern that so beautifully set off the figure. 

 

I took away a sense of history, an appreciation for both line and color in portraits, and an awareness that seeing this exhibition will enrich my own work in ways that I could not have anticipated. 

 

Could Scented Beauty, painted before I left, be considered a portrait of a rose?