Pirogh Hesse

Exhibition at l'ESAD, 3, rue Federico Garcia Lorca, Grenoble, from Wednesday 16 June and until Wednesday 23 June 2023. This is a collective exhibition of all the students of the school of fine arts of Grenoble (l'ESAD). Access map here.

I present three paintings and two drawings for this exhibition.

This painting is inspirated by the roman Pêcheur d'Islande by Pierre Loti (1886). More precisely, this painting illustrates a paragraph of chapter 8 in part 5 of this book: "Elle s'en allait toute seule à l'extrême pointe de ce pays de Ploubazlanec qui se découpe en corne de renne sur la Manche grise, et s'asseyait là tout le jour aux pieds d'une croix isolée qui domine les lointains immenses des eaux... Il y en a ainsi partout, de ces croix de granit, qui se dressent sur les falaises avancées de cette terre des marins, comme pour demander grâce ; comme pour apaiser la grande chose mouvante, mystérieuse, qui attire les hommes et ne les rend plus, et garde de préférence les plus vaillants, les plus beaux. [...] Et Gaud, assise au pied de sa croix, restait là, au milieu de ces tranquillités regardant toujours, jusqu'à la nuit tombée, jusqu'à ne plus rien voir". The full text of this roman could be freely downloaded in various format here.

Acrylic, 50x65cm, painted at l'ESAD.

J'organise une exposition à l'Apéricerie, 83 cours Jean Jaurès à Grenoble, à partir du vendredi 9 juin 2023 et jusqu'à fin août. Soirée de vernissage le vendredi 9 juin à partir de 20h. Il s'agit d'une exposition collective d'une vingtaine d'élèves de l'école des beaux-arts de Grenoble (l'ESAD), sur le thème d'une nature morte aux fromages. Plan d'accès ici.

I organize an exhibition at l'Apéricerie, 83 cours Jean Jaurès à Grenoble, from Wednesday 9 June 2023 and until the end of August. Opening Wednesday 9 June at 20h. This is a collective exhibition of about twenty students of the school of fine arts of Grenoble (l'ESAD), on the theme of still life with cheeses. Access map here.

Acrylic and oil, about 50x65cm.

Back from a family meal on mother’s day, I stop my travel at the Bourget lake to swim and make a quick watercolor, just before the storm begins.

My wife recovered and restored an old safe in bad condition. After painting and cleaning, it looked better. I painted some acrylic flowers in the decorative style of Alsatian furniture.

Acrylic, 80x50x40cm.

The reference of the first painting, the nude, is nu lisant by Isaac Israëls (near 1900). The reference of the second painting, the portrait, is la liseuse by Auguste Renoir (1876): the original painting could be observed at Orsay museum in Paris. Here is my interpretations of thsese famous paintings with acrylics, as studied at l'ESAD.

Acrylic, 50x65cm.

To mix my acrylic colors as I want, I must have a basic and well balanced set of pigments, and I must know what will happen when I mix them together. So, during a long weekend, I decided to paint a color-chart for better understanding and mastering colors. I first defined my palette with twelve colors:

In the second column, I indicated the official pigment symbol. The number in the last column is the index in the Winsor Newton acrylic catalog. I then started my first color-chart: I followed the book Alla prima by Richard Schmid, page 130. Note that this book is now feely available for downloading

In each column of the color-chart, I first used each color as it came from the rube, and then lightened by adding some titanium white. I first observed that there was redundancies in my first palette: the cerulean blue is very close to the …

At the end of April, Clematis opened on my balcony: I was so happy that I did a painting of one flower. Next, I did a travel to Lovagny, close to Annecy in Savoy, and visited the family. I also painted a chalet.

Watercolor, about 21x30cm.

In April, I did a travel a week long in Corsica. I first visited Bonifacio in the south of the island. I painted a view of its famous houses above the sea with watercolor in a small A4 sketch book that I've done myself, as described in my previous blog post Travel by bike.

Next, I went to the north of the Corsica island in L'Île Rousse. These watercolors are about 21x30cm and took about 1 hour each. I also prepared some postal cards, about 10x15cm, that I sanded to family and friends:

When walking in the maquis shrubland, I also draw quick sketches with a fineliner-pen, about 15x21cm and about 10' each of them. I visited a small portion of the GR 20 footpath that started in Conca crosses the island. I also walked in the Agriate, with scenic views over the sea and smell of flowering maquis in spring.

Here is a cheese platter studied at l'ESAD.

Acrylic, about 50x32cm.