Jeanne Sturim
Blue Canton II
Blue Canton II
pastel
September 30 through October 19, 2007
Jeanne Sturim: Painting in Pastel
Artist StatementJeanne Sturim: Painting in Pastel
The starting point in my painting is the visual idea and this idea or concept is the framework of the composition, the value and the color. To achieve the visual effects of my idea, I work very deliberately on the preliminary sketches, defining as clearly as possible the relationship between the values (the lights and the darks) that create the structure of the composition.
My style of work is realistic, but when painting I think abstractly. For example, objects in a still life are lights against darks and I take inspiration from the Dutch masters and their mastery of chiaroscuro (light and shadow). Likewise, I par my landscapes down to planes of light and dark values and warm and cool colors, eliminating all extraneous elements that don’t relate to the visual idea of the painting.