The paintings that are hung on these virtual walls, range from completed work, to works-in-progress. The process is a bit like fly fishing, as I work to push the paint and composition toward an abstract direction - only to reel it back in again, to find the sweet spot for detail and clarity.

A Painter's Palette - Artist: Andrejs Treibergs


Photo (above) of the "Little Corona" cove


Little Corona Afternoon
By Andrejs Treibergs
Oil on Canvas Panel
12" X 16"
Palette: Titanium white, cadmium red light, alizarin crimson, ultramartine blue,
cerulean blue, cad yellow light



Little Corona Morning
By Andrejs Treibergs

Oil on Canvas Panel
12" X 16"
Palette: Titanium white, ultramarine blue, cad yellow light, Rembrandt's
proprietary red, and viridian


A couple of weekends ago, I was painting with a plein air group of artists. I was so captivated by Andrejs' canvas, that I nearly fell off the sidewalk curb, as I approached his easel. I am always intrigued, by an artist's choice of color palette. Studying palette choices, often yields a better understanding for pigment underpinnings, in some of my favorite pieces. I am particularly fond of some of the color palettes used by John Singer Sargent, Trevor Chamberlain, Morgan Weistling, and Apelles of Kos(Greek painter, 370 b.c.), just to name a few. I confess to going a bit overboard, by creating a spreadsheet that allows me to compare the subtle difference between these important color palettes.

Back to Andrejs' canvas...
Once in a while, I come across an artist's work, that compels me to stop, and drink in that first stunning impression of their work. When this happens, I become completely inarticulate in my ability to communicate my appreciation, and find myself saying out loud, "Man, this is really good!". And then I cower with embarrassment, knowing that I sounded more like a school kid watching someone wail on a skateboard, rather than an artist who appreciates another artist's work. There is something so extraordinary about Andrejs' brush stroke and color palette. Truthfully, these are not really two distinctly separate aspects of his work; in the sense that one would not want to separate a violin's strings, from a chord that is masterfully articulated by the musician.

Andrejs does not merely scoop up paint from his palette, and lay it down discretely with a brush. He appears to gather up carefully chosen "notes" of pigment and lays down something that resembles a musical
chord, rather than a single brush stroke. And upon hearing this chord, it compels you to stop - needing to quiet all else - so that you can listen. It's like those power chords in dropped-D tuning, that are played by the killer guitar players.

In short, Andrejs' brush work and color palette, is stunning, powerful, evocative and confident. Andrejs was gracious enough to let me impose upon him, and I took a quick camera photo of his canvas. I wanted to remember his powerful use of color. I am able to see it, even in a bad camera photo, of a 2-inch square part of his canvas. Even in the abstract, it is stunning. I won't post this camera photo, as it does not really do his work justice. But I will beg via email, for a photo of Andrejs's work. Look for his work. It's killer.
[update: Andrejs graciously provided photos of these plein air works. To really get a feel for his brush stroke, click on each photo to enlarge the work].


References: glitch with blog. Will convert these to "links" asap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apelles
http://www.halsgrove.co.uk/chamberlainintro.php
http://www.morganweistling.com/