Margret E. Short Fine Arts

Portland, Oregon artist Margret Short - a modern day master of 17th Century Dutch art using the chiaroscuro technique to create still life and floral paintings.

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THE PHARAOH’S BLING CAPTIVATES FOR NEW PROJECT


Well, it has happened again. I have been captivated by bling. This time however, it is not Rembrandt’s bling, or the Dutch Masters’ bling. It’s the bling of the Pharaoh. For the past many months, I have been dreaming, imagining, planning, and laboring side-by-side with the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt. This new pigment research project was inspired by a recent trip to Egypt where I saw, first hand, fragments of colors that remain on the walls, ceilings, and columns of tombs and temples, some dating from 3500 BC.


Lessons from the Pharaoh’s Tomb will be the second project in my Lessons Series. In particular, I will be studying the historical pigments of the ancient Egyptians and incorporating those colors into a new collection of paintings. Never content with modern paints, I will hand grind each color as before in the previous Lessons from the Low Countries pigment project. Many of the new paintings will feature Egyptian imagery. Not content with the ordinary, I will paint on canvas and even papyrus.


Findings in my research so far reveal that many of the same pigments used in the 17th century Dutch project were used many many centuries ago; and in Egypt since antiquity. There are a few significant differences, which I will be researching and documenting along the way. Thus far, my research led to an unexpected finding that one of the magical colors was never used as a pigment in ancient Egypt. It was used solely in decorative art and lavishly by King Tut.


Through the coming months I will be documenting the research and the progress of the new paintings at my blog at: www.margretshort.com I hope you will follow along with the stories about this very amazing culture of so long ago. Please forward to anyone you think might be interested in this “Middle East meets West“ collection of twelve new paintings to be presented at Lawrence Gallery, Pearl Location, in the fall of 2009.


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Chiaroscuro Painting

Oil painting with the chiaroscuro technique illuminates the focus area with a strong light. All other areas are painted with less detail, lower values, and intensity of color giving a mysterious appearance. By putting one or two objects in the important focus area, a strong but simple composition will emerge. Combining these oil painting techniques with a selection of superior natural pigments and oil paints result in the beautiful and evocative quality known as Chiaroscuro Painting.

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  1. Hi Margret, you continue to be insightful and clever in creating your work around the exploration of historical pigments. I’m sure you will make some marvelous discoveries. I look forward to your Egyptian Blues especially. It’s hard to know who to trust when it comes to modern producers of these mysterious glass frit based blues and violets other than Natural Pigments and Kremer. Best mulling around to you.