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.

pigments

Challenges

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Many attempts and many methods were tried and aborted before this beautiful surface was achieved on my painting, shown above. Initially, I used a wet on wet technique by applying a mixture of yellow ochre, red iron oxide, and white to replicate the actual color of the clay on the Greek vessel. Then, atop the wet surface I applied a mixture of black … [Read more...] about Challenges

Hemlock and Lead White

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One of the most important events that took place at the very end of the 5th century BCE was the death of Socrates. I wanted to incorporate this into the composition of the painting without actually painting the flowers. The white flowering plant above is the blossom of the hemlock which I replicated across the surface of the focal piece of white … [Read more...] about Hemlock and Lead White

Cleopatra’s Garden

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Lessons from the Pharaoh's Tomb, Part Two  Cleopatra's Garden, shown above, evolved over a period of time with a "cultural blending" of ideas. My artistic license is used liberally throughout the process with many differing objects from various cultures in the composition. The "garden" is from imagination depicting favorite flowers and found … [Read more...] about Cleopatra’s Garden

Kom Ombo

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Kom Ombo 8x10   Oil on Gold Leaf © Margret E. Short 2011 Lessons from the Pharaoh's Tomb, Part Two It seems perfectly fitting to use gold leaf as a base support for the ancient Egyptian pigment project paintings, especially considering so many antiquities are made of precious metals such as gold. First I applied twenty three carat gold … [Read more...] about Kom Ombo

Feluccas on the Nile

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 Feluccas on the Nile © Margret E. Short 2011, 12x5 Oil on panel Lessons from the Pharaoh's Tomb, Part Two Feluccas on the Nile, is inspired by a lovely warm January afternoon sailing around an island near Aswan while watching the sun create long dark shadows across the dunes. As far as the eye can see the feluccas elegantly glide over the water … [Read more...] about Feluccas on the Nile