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.

Peek Performance

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Painting_9_detail_ink_bottle_3Posted here is a detail of painting number 9. The source catalog painting by Rembrandt is a very limited palette and includes many of the friendly colors described in Intimidations below. In spite of the limited range of hues used by Rembrandt, vermilion reds were prominent. I have attempted to capitalize on the chiaroscuro technique here by contrasting the lights of the sheet music against the darks of the pitcher, and the same with the ink bottle stopper.

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.