Wednesday 13 April 2011

Long Shadows - Provence


This gorgeous oil painting by Maryanne Jacobsen is called Long Shadows - Provence. The scene with its subtle and skilled use of blue and orange arrested me as soon as I glimpsed it unexpectedly – for it depicts the side of our property and the track that leads up towards the road into the village.

There, on the right is the fountain and what was once a drinking trough for horses and other animals; to the left is the side of the main farmhouse. It is astonishingly true to life, but what Maryanne has captured better than any photograph is the depth of colour and the way the flames of sunset in the west are thrown against the rising land. The contrast deepens the indigo and purple as evening sinks into darkness.

An ex-dancer and artistic director of a ballet company, Maryanne Jacobsen lives in Florida and is rapidly building a reputation as an artist. Her work has been juried into the annual exhibition of The American Impressionist Society, and she received the People’s Choice Award in the Venice Art Center’s fall exhibition, among many other accomplishments.

One of the wonders of the world now is the way we can all connect, across continents and seas, at the click of a mouse or keyboard. I discovered Maryanne’s enchanting art blog Paint Dance a while ago when I was searching for paintings of Provence.

We corresponded with a view to featuring one of her pictures on this blog. She asked me to wait a while. Meanwhile, she watched the three-minute film I made with family and friends last summer - and here, wonderfully achieved, is one of the scenes in that film. For somehow, she has read the true atmosphere from the patterns of light in a few frames of video.


With a true artist’s eye she brings a mysterious and romantic quality to the perspective through superb mastery of colour. The bumpy track seems to lead the eye up the path. Flecks of bright light suggest that even now there are still patches of heat on the dust.

Is writing or art more effective if you already know the place that the painter or writer describes? Possibly, that issue is double-edged both for reader and writer. How disappointing if the creative work failed to capture the very essence of a place! Alternately, when a portrait in paint or words succeeds – or exceeds expectation - the place in life will always glow with an extra dimension of understanding.

To find out more about Maryanne Jacobsen’s art, click here for her Paint Dance blog and here to see Long Shadows - Provence in the context of her site.


21 comments:

Victoria said...

Breathtaking and gorgeous..such a beautiful painting..and such a very talented artist! Wonderful! Thanks for sharing this marvelous work and the story behind it..
Wishing you a wonderful day and wkd ahead!
Victoria~

Danièle said...

And really in the Van Gogh tradition.l Love it. :-)

Cheryl Hart said...

Lovely! Now I want to go to Provence. :)

Bunched Undies said...

Wonderful impressionistic style, and to visualize it from a few frames of video is a special talent

Samantha Sotto said...

Beautiful! I love this painting style. Each time you look at it, you find a new little corner to get lost in. :D

Anonymous said...

Comme pour moi, la peinture de ton amie appartient au style "nouvel impressionnisme". J'aime beaucoup.
Bravo à l'artiste!

;) said...

J'avais aperçu ce matin le petit carré de couleur sur mon blog et il me tardait de venir voir de quel tableau il s'agissait. Je te remercie donc, une fois encore, pour la découverte de cette artiste "complète" qu'est Maryanne Jacobsen. Ses jeux d'ombre et de lumière sont étonnant et j'ai beaucoup d'émotions en les contemplant !

Muriel said...

She lives in Florida but paints sceneries from Provence? It is a small world! I love the "effets de matieres". Oh, and hello from St Tropez, Deborah...

Robyn Ryle said...

Beautiful painting, and your post raises all kinds of questions. I took a painting class a few months ago, and it really made me think about the parallels between painting and writing. I wrote a post about it, and part of what I realized is that as with writing, in oil painting you just have to get some paint on the canvas and let go. With writing, you have to get some words on the page. Really interesting to think about the ability of the two art forms to convey a sense of place.

Paintdancer said...

Deborah,

Thank-you so much for this beautifully written post about my painting! Your wonderful blog, outstanding writing and that beautiful film about your farmhouse provided the inspiration, so I can't take much credit! The light temperature in Provence is quite magical, and painting its soft, ethereal quality was such a welcome distraction from the harsh, bleached out contrasts of southern Florida.

I'll look forward to hopefully being given more opportunities for dramatic landscapes of Provence, come June, when you return with your camera;0)!

(Thanks so much to your friends for all the lovely comments, too!)

KalpanaS said...

part of the magic is how the particular place in writer or painter's mind translates into the eyes/mind of the viewer/reader.

Jill Kemerer said...

Maryanne's use of the color blue really speaks to me. Very beautiful. And Deborah, your website is a visual feast! So pretty!

James Kiester said...

"Is writing or art more effective if you already know the place that the painter or writer describes?"

Yes & no, I'd say. It's wonderful when an artist/writer captures the essence of a place, and the reader/viewer knows exactly what the artist/writer saw. On the other hand, James Fenimore Cooper used so much detail to describe every rock and branch that it distracted readers from the story.

Here though, Maryanne Jacobsen captured the details, but put enough of her self into it, by means of color choice and texture, to make it her own, and therefore interesting.

Unknown said...

What lovely paintings! It's amazing how much detail are in them despite not having small, detailed brush strokes. Gorgeous!

Adiante said...

J'apprécie beaucoup ta justesse d'interprétation de la peinture.

✿France✿ said...

Bravo je trouve que c'est magnifique et aimons les couleurs c'est la vie
BISE

Bluestocking Mum said...

Oh, I'm so pleased to have found you Deborah. Love your blog.

I like it when the writing and the art are together as in your lovely blog and then I am transported completely. I love art and the written word and have a vivid imagination so as long as one or the other are done well, I will let my imagination do the rest

warm wishes
Debbie
x

Unknown said...

I LOVE provence. I could easily live there. Maybe one day I will... :) Thanks for the great post, Deborah!

Leovi said...

They are really spectacular, amazing colors, pure Impressionism. Saludos.

Lisa Erin said...

Lovely use of color. I also like the textures she sculpted into the paint.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful paintings. They remind me a little of Henrietta Stuart who lives in the Languedoc and has a similar style, although her colours are more muted. We have two of her lovely paintings hanging on our naked stone walls here. I think a sense of place is terribly important in writing and I always envy people who can transfer that sense to canvas or page.

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