Inner Space Inner Peace

I'm enjoying the challenge of painting interiors lately. And it just so happens that I'm also enjoying staying in a beautiful interior so that works out pretty well for me!

Below is the sitting room area of a beautiful Victorian bedroom. It's not quite finished (missing knobs on doors and drawers). Maybe some other minor tweaking but you can see where it's going.

My Victorian Vacation @2014 Dorothy Lorenze

Why do I find this so challenging? Because I need to work looser than my usual level of realism in still life paintings. So the challenge is to imply patterns rather than paint every petal of the carpets cabbage roses! In theory, that's fine because it's meant to be a glimpse into a space evoking a feeling... whether it's comfort or solitude, warmth or desolation. It's usually the light, windows or doors that begin to tell a story or create a mood. Not the actual details, like botanical prints. (I had to squint hard to not paint those herb prints!)

To remind myself that looser interiors can be beautiful, emotional and fulfilling I go back to some of my favorites, which maybe more abstracted, but just luscious with light and color. Works like these by Édouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard inspire me. Simply gorgeous! (well, maybe not quite so simple!)



Thanks for joining me on my painting journey!

Édouard Vuillard's Woman Before a Window

Pierre Bonnard's Interieur