Simple florals
Week Eight is Dusty Pink, Vermillion, Parchment & Mud
For this week’s #coloricombo I’m featuring a simple floral sketch by an artist loved and revered in her native Finland but not that well known outside of it.
Back in 2019 I went to see a large retrospective of Helene Schjerfbeck’s work at the Royal Academy in London. The exhibition focussed on her portraits, in particular a series of self-portraits that she’s most recognised for. I would like to do a more in depth post where I will feature Schjerfbeck as part of a month long focus on self portraits later in the year.
Last Saturday, I did a live workshop with Windowsill Workshops, hosted by Margo Tantau titled Imaginary Florals in Mixed Media. The workshop is around two and a half hours long with a focus on using simple materials to create unusual florals. If you missed it, you can still signup for the recording here.
Helene Schjerfbeck (1862–1946) was born just outside Helsinki, then an autonomous part of the Russian Empire, her life story is quite poignant.
She was just four when a bad fall left her with a permanent limp. At age eleven she enrolled at the Finnish Art Society School of Drawing. She went on to study and exhibit in Paris and was awarded numerous scholarships that allowed her to explore the artists communities of Brittany, France and St. Ives, England.
It was there that she painted The Convalescent which was described by the New York Times as reportedly the single most famous painting in Finland. She exhibited across Europe and taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki before stepping back from the wider art world in 1902 to care for her ailing mother, who would live for another twenty one years!
During that time she painted still lives and landscape paintings alongside portraits of her mother, local school girls, women workers and self-portraits. Her work took on a unique character: simplified forms, muted palettes and underpainting all with a Modernist twist.
A major retrospective in Helsinki in the 1930s kept her in the public eye and today her work hangs in the Finnish National Gallery and collections internationally with an exhibition at the Metropolitan in New York having just opened. Her birthday, 10 July, is celebrated in Finland as the National Day for the Painted Arts.
Watch a video from the recent Schjerfbeck exhibition titled Seeing Silence at The Met above and read more about her here. I’ve included an article about the Royal Academy exhibition I attended here.
“Small Lillies”, gouache on paper, Helene Schjerfbeck, 1942
Colour Combination
The colours this week are Dusty Pink, Vermillion, Parchment & Mud. Use them along with a contrasting dark and neutral light colour to create an artwork in any medium or style. Know someone who might enjoy a weekly dollop of colour and creativity? Why not share this post with them?
Shapes
Along with the colour prompt I am including some shapes inspired by the artwork which you can download as a PDF and print out to use as you wish.
Yes! A new artist to me! Looking forward to the self portrait!