Sunday, November 7, 2010

Paul Henry, Irish landscape painter

Paul Henry (1876 -- 1958) was an Irish painter who specialized in paintings of the west of Ireland and who was popular during his lifetime. We had one of his paintings at home and I used to love looking at it. I still love his work, the way he saw and painted the greys which are so characteristic of Ireland's rainy landscapes, his "pale view of hills".  To me he is a painter who had something to say. He studied art in Belfast and Paris and is described as a Post-Impressionist on the Encyclopedia of Irish and world Art. I made this little gouache copy of  Rain on the Bog and while doing it marvelled at how economically he achieved his effects. Then again he painted landscapes like this over and over during his working life and must have known them off by heart in the end. 

After Paul Henry, Rain on the Bog (a fair copy though I say so myself).
The original of Rain on the Bog is an oil on canvas, 35.5 x 40.5 cm or 12 x 16" approx.


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3 comments:

Claire said...

pic 1 looks like a big, lincolnshire skyline - tho' not the cottages :)

Unknown said...

Interesting use of a limited pallet. Very atmospheric. It is such a good exercise painting in the style of another painter it teaches one so much.

Unknown said...

I've tried to copy Henry with watercolour