Tuesday, December 1, 2009

That old black magic.

The devil is an optimist if he thinks he can make people worse than they are.
Author Karl Kraus

I sat down the other night trying to paint a picture of the forest, but something was wrong and after about two hours, I gave up sloshed some white over it and turned the paper upside down. I looked in astonishment because I could see shapes and colours which looked very like a picture in my library book.A painting by Cezanne, The Chateau Noir!

Link to an image of the Chateau Noir by Cezanne HERE

So I set work again, and finished with a picture that had the same feeling to the image in the book, I later found brighter images on the internet than the colours in my library book.

Une Grande confusion coloree. Cezanne produced many paintings of the château which was built in the 18th century by an industrialist from Marseilles, who manufactured lampblack paint. Apparantly the interior walls and furniture of the château were painted black. As a result, the house was associated with black magic among the local people, who believed that the château was also home to the devil.


The house of the devil!

The unkept grounds were full of pine trees and the house was empty for most the year.

Link to Wikipedia about Cezanne HERE.

You could use the French word négligé for unkept or uncared for.

The word for devil is Diable!

9 comments:

Ken Devine said...

Hi Cezanne Blu...it's very good!
One of my favourite artists once said..."It may not have worked yesterday, but today it will". He got up and started painting every day at 7:00am and was never disillusioned by the disasters of the previous day.
I've always managed to save a canvas by overpainting sometimes years later and never get upset with 'mud' at the end of the day.

You've inspired me to show my efforts each Friday evening as a post.
Keep painting Blu!

bindu said...

It's very good! Keep painting.

Clive said...

Absolutely, keep on painting!

ArtPropelled said...

Blu, you've been hiding your talents for far too long. You are really good! I'm so thrilled you are sharing your art. Love the tree painting in your sidebar too.

claire p said...

I'm so envious of those of you who can paint! I love art, and have artist friends, but am rubbish myself. You painting is beautiful.

LadyFi said...

What a fabulous painting of yours - you're a talented woman! I love the way the painting was created out of something you perceived as a mistake at first...

DAB said...

Ah my arty farty friend, I like , for life without colour would be very dull indeed :-) TFxx

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French Fancy... said...

I love your picture and how funny that it worked once you turned it upside down. I wish I could paint as well as you

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