a snowlife with a Forelle pear (Pyrus communis 'Forelle') atop plowed snow in a snowfield behind my home on February 11, 2025, painted February 26, 2025, 12" x 9" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$300
Friday, February 28, 2025
Me (Forelle) and My Shadow
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
One Two One Pear Pair
$300
Monday, February 24, 2025
Winter at Home 2025
Winter at Home 2025
in an orange and blue color theme on the afternoon of February 18, 2025, painted February 22, 2025, 12" x 9" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
NFS
Orange and Blue Six Art Auction Essay
Orange and Blue
Color Theme Art
Auction Six Essay
Montmartre, rue de l'Abreuvoir /
Montmartre, Abreuvoir Street
Jean Dufy (1888-1964), French (brother to Raoul)
Watercolor and gouache on paper,
17" x 25" (w x h), circa 1936-1938
Sotheby's 2025 auction estimate
15,000-20,000 GBP / $19,000- 25,000 USD
2
Le Theatre grec a Taormina /
The Greek Theatre in Taormina
Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) French (brother to Jean)
Oil on canvas, 22" x 18" (w x h), 1922
Sotheby's 2025 auction estimate
$30,000 - $50,000 USD
3
Study for Landscape; Orange and Blue
Graham Sutherland, O.M. (Order of Merit), (1903-1980), British
Watercolor, gouache, pen and ink,
ink wash and pencil, 7" x 9" (w x h), 1971
Sotheby's 2010 auction sold £6,000 GBP / $7,580 USD
4
Writing
Howard Hodgkin (1932-2017), British
Oil on wood, 55" x 46" (w x h), 1991-1993
Christie's 2025 auction estimate
£500,000 - £800,000 GBP /
$630,000 - $1,012,000 USD
5
Squares and Discs Disintegrating,
Orange and Maroon in Blues
Patrick Heron (1920-1999), British
Gouache, 31" x 23" (w x h), 11969
Christie's 2015 auction sold
£21,250 GBP / $26,900 USD
6
Arch Blue with Orange, Red, Blue
Kenneth Noland (1924-2010) American
Acrylic on shaped canvas, 40" x 18" (w x h), 1980
Sotheby's 2016 auction sold $100,000 USD
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Apples in Snow Space
...under sky blue space
where unseen stars hide, planets,
Cosmic Crisps, space out.
By Bruce McMillan ©2025
a snowlife with Cosmic Crisp apples (Malus domestica 'Cosmic Crisp') in a snow-hole my yard's snowfield, February 10, 2025, painted February 15, 2025, 12" x 9" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$500
Monday, February 17, 2025
Snowlife Portrait of a Family of Pears
a Family of Pears
all in these pears in the Rosaceae (rose family) as Pyrus communis (Genus species), painted as a snowlife of a D'Anjou pear (Pyrus communis 'D'Anjou') , a Forelle pear (Pyrus communis 'Forelle'), and a Bartlett pear (Pyrus communis 'Williams') in my yard's snowfield, February 10, 2025, painted February 15, 2025, 12" x 9" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$400
Sunday, February 16, 2025
Pears Chatting Pair
an afternoon snowlife of D'Anjou pears (Pyrus communis) painted February 14, 2025 in my yard's snowfield by the woods, 12" x 9" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$400
Friday, February 14, 2025
Minneolas at the Edge
a snowlife painted February 4, 2025, 12" x 9" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, wax resist and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$400
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Snowlife Forelle Pears Chat
painted February 9, 2025, 12" x 9" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, wax resist, toothbrush splatter, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$400
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Snowlife Portrait of Forelle
Out and About
by Bruce McMillan © 2025
On a bright winter
day, basking in the sun, cool
snow all around, aaaah.
painted February 10, 2025, 9" x 12" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$400
Saturday, February 8, 2025
Mandarin Orange Snow Solitude
I pondered why a
Mandarin orange
could strike a pose
outside on snow.
All was still. I watched.
It came to me. It's
not a still life.
It's a snow life.
posing in this still life snow life, painted February 7, 2025, 10" x 8" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$300
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Orange and Green Fine Art Essay
Fine Art by Noted Artists
Visual Essay
1
Green Pears
Milton Clark Avery (1885-1965), American
Oil on board, 13" x 5" (w x h), 1959
Grogan & Company, Boston 2023 auction, sold $18,750
Two Panels: Green Orange
Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015), American
Oil on canvas, 107" x 70" (w x h), 1970
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Chinese Evergreen
Leonard Havens (1914-1973), American
Color woodcut, #1 of 12, 8" x 12" (w x h), 1941
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Summer in the Garden
Roger Fry (1866-1934), British
Oil on panel, 22" x 18" (w x h), 1911
The Rollins Museum of Art, Orlando, FL
This is a painting of Vanessa Bell, an English painter and one of the most celebrated painters of the Bloomsbury Group, who was also the sister of Virginia Woolf. Vanessa Bell had intimate relationships with art critic Roger Fry and with bisexual painter Duncan Grant. See another oil study of Vanessa Bell wearing the same sweater and dress painted the following year HERE.
Roger Eliot Fry (1866-1934) was an English painter and critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. As a painter Fry was experimental (his work included a few abstracts), but his best pictures were straightforward naturalistic portraits. He didn't consider himself a great artist, "only a serious artist with some sensibility and taste". Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of the recent developments in French painting, to which he gave the name Post-Impressionism. He was the first figure to raise public awareness of modern art in Britain. He was described by the art historian Kenneth Clark as "incomparably the greatest influence on taste since Ruskin ... In so far as taste can be changed by one man, it was changed by Roger Fry". His success lay largely in alerting an educated public to a compelling version of recent artistic developments of the Parisian avant-garde.
Day Lily 2
Alex Katz (1927- ), American
Lithograph, #75/90, 28" x 21" (w x h), 1969
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase
Since 1951, Alex Katz's work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions and nearly 500 group exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally. This vibrant illustration of a large, orange lily with yellow highlights and dark spots on its petals, set against a dark green background has a stylized, almost abstract quality, with visible brush strokes.
Seated Woman in a Green Robe /
Femme assise dans une robe verte
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), French
Oil on canvas, circa 1890
Private Collection
Renoir captured the transient effects of light and color, which is evident in this particular piece. The green of her robe contrasts to the warm, reddish-brown background, isolating and emphasizing her figure. Renoir's technique, characterized by the Impressionist movement, showcases his ability to capture the interplay of light and color, as well as the spontaneity of the moment. The brush strokes are visible and dynamic, giving the painting a sense of life and movement.
Entrance I / Sisaantulo I
Juhana Blomstedt (1937- ), Finnish
Serigraph, #58/100, 8" x 14" (w x h), 2001
Ateneum Art Museum, Property of the Finnish State
Lady in a Green Jacket /
Dame in gruner Jacke
August Macke (1887-1914), German
Oil on canvas, 17" x 18" (w x h), 1913
Haubrich Collection,
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
August Macke (1887-1914) was one of the leading members of the German Expressionist group The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter). He traveled to Tunisia in April 1914 with Paul Klee and Louis Moilliet. It was fundamental for the creation of the luminist approach of his final period, during which he produced a series of works now considered masterpieces. Unfortunately, he was one of the young German artists who died in the First World War.
This painting was one of the first paintings created by Macke, after he moved to Hilterfingen, in Switzerland. Macke had developed this favorite motif, a walk in the park, since the beginning of his career. Macke said: "The generally accepted attribute of men is bowler hats, and I put bowlers on them. Women with slender necks and hips hold umbrellas in their hands to protect them from light." The woman in a green jacket at the center of the composition, presented half-turned, divides his canvas into two vertical parts. The branches of the trees extend from each other almost at right angles; their drawing was borrowed from A Treatise on Painting, compiled from the theoretical works of Leonardo da Vinci. Macke studied the book during his stay in Berlin in 1907-1908. The houses on both banks of the river are conceived in simplified forms, and the mountains in the distance are represented in the form of triangles. His reduction of familiar objects to simple geometric shapes was characteristic of early Cubism.
See his pencil sketch study for this painting at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany HERE.
Orange Minneola Green D'Anjou Pear...
Green D'Anjou Pear
Snowlife Study 1
painted February 2, 2025, 12" x 9" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed
$400
Sunday, February 2, 2025
Some Washed Way Away
painted January 30, 2025, 14" x 11" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed
$600
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Art Group Julie Nude Studies 1-3
painted January 10, 2025, 8" x 10" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, all selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$300
painted January 10, 2025, 5" x 7" (w x h)
$150
painted January 10, 2025, 8" x 10" (w x h)
$300
The Beaverbrook Art Gallery Figures...
Female Nudes
in the Collection of
The Beaverbrook Art Gallery,
Musee des Beaux Arts Beaverton,
the provincial art gallery of New Brunswick,
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
In creating a world-class collection for the gallery, Sir Max consulted with international art experts to advise him on key acquisitions and encouraged colleagues and acquaintances to donate paintings. The original collection included works by J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, Edwin Henry Landseer, and works by modern artists such as Augustus John, William Orpen, Graham Sutherland, and Lucian Freud. Famous Canadian artists such as Cornelius Krieghoff, Emily Carr, and members of the Group of Seven were among the collection, as were works by Salvador Dali. In 1994, the Beaverbrook was officially designated the provincial art gallery of New Brunswick.
The Museum's website is HERE.
Reclining Female Nude #1
Matthew Arnold Bracy Smith (1879-1959), British
Oil on canvas, 29" x 20" (w x h), circa 1925
Gift of The Beaverbrook Foundation
During World War I, Smith was wounded at the Battle of Passchendaele. Early in the twenties the normal shortcomings of his health allied plus the sense of something unfulfilled in his personal life produced a serious breakdown. It wasn't until he found Vera Cuningham, the ideal model for his art, that he recovered and redoubled his ability to work. His first one-person show was at Tooth's Gallery, London, in 1926. His work reflects use of color in a bold manner echoing the Fauves. He had shows at London Group, the Carnegie International Exhibition, Lefevre Gallery, and Mayor Gallery. His works were bought by Roger Fry and the Tate Gallery. In 1944, The Penguin Modern Painters paperback series printed an illustrated biography written by Philip Hendy which included his works. In 1949, Smith was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He was knighted in 1954. Smith lived, worked, and exhibited in England and France.
Model at Rest
Moe Reinblatt (1917-1979), Canadian
Oil on canvas, 27" x 36" (w x h), 1957
Gift of Lillian Reinblatt
A retrospective of Reinblatt's work was exhibited at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal Gallery in 1990. His paintings are represented in numerous museums across Canada, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian War Museum, the Musee National des beaux-arts du Quebec, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the McCord Museum, and the New Brunswick Museum, as well as the Bezalel Museum in Israel. Reinblatt won the Rolph-Clarke-Stone Award for the most distinguished print in the 1947 Canadian Society of Graphic Art Annual Exhibition, for his drypoint The Drinker. He won the Adrian Seguin Memorial Award for his work Girl's Head with Bow in 1958, and the C. W. Jefferys Award for his work Acrobats in 1962. He received the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1968.
Fisher's Maid
Christopher Pratt (1935-2022), Canadian
Serigraph on paper, 15" x 12" (w x h), 1978
Gift of Jim Coutts in memory of Peter McCain
Night Nude: At Shediac
(Parlee Beach in the town of Shediac, New Brunswick)
Christopher Pratt (1935-2022), Canadian
Oil on board, 17" x 16" (w x h), circa 1970-2010
Gift of the Artist
Seated Nude on Beach
Jack Humphrey (1901-1967), Canadian
Oil on paper, 40" x 33" (w x h), circa 1965-1966
The Leslie B. Marcus Collection
Nudes on Shore
Alex Colville (1920-2013), Canadian
Tempera on Masonite, 38" x 24" (w x h), 1950
Gift of Lord Beaverbrook
He left teaching to devote himself to painting and print-making full-time from a studio in his home in Sackville, New Brunswick on York Street; this building is now named Colville House. The house was donated to Mount Allison by the Colville family. It now serves as a museum and gallery dedicated to Alex Colville's life and work under the auspice of the Owens Art Gallery. A 1965 acrylic on Masonite painting To Prince Edward Island is one of his most well-known paintings, now held at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. See if HERE.
In 1963 his painting Man on Verandah sold at auction for $1,287,000 setting a record for a work by a living Canadian artist at that time. See it HERE.
Monday, January 27, 2025
Swiss Artist Gustave Buchet
Swiss Artist Gustave Buchet (1888-1963)
Buchet evolved in the 1920s towards a flat geometrical painting style, verging on abstraction. Living in Paris during the interwar years, he soon adopted the principles of Purism which Le Corbusier was championing. In painting he developed a personal palette of both forthright and muted colors, and compositions that were remarkably constructed and arranged. He expanded to sculpture and decorative arts, turning out designs for the fashion world and the theater.
While post-cubism was petering out across Europe, Buchet shifted to a moderate abstraction, going figurative. Shortly before his return to Lausanne in 1939, transparency and supple forms prevailed over fragmentation and pictorial planes. Buchet's late work abandoned the dictates of line in favor of a quest for color.
He writes: "In 1951 I judge that my laboratory work, my research, is complete and that I can begin to truly paint. . . My sources are diverse and infinite: I find escape as much in a landscape as in a nude or a simple flower . . ."
Galleries and museums such as Museum Franz Gertsch have featured Gustave Buchet's work. Gustave Buchet's work has been offered at auction selling at prices from $56 USD to $136,550 USD. His record price for a work at auction, $136,550 USD, was for Body in Movement (#7 below), sold at Sotheby's Zurich in 2010.
Ruines
Gustave Buchet (1888-1963), Swiss
Watercolor on paper, 10" x 15" (w x h), 1946
Christies 2001 auction sold $10,275 USD
(9,400 Swiss francs, CHF)
2
Nude from the Back / Nu de dos
Gustave Buchet (1888-1963), Swiss
Oil on board, 15" x 18" (w x h), 1937
3
Marine
Gustave Buchet (1888-1963), Swiss
Oil on canvas, 21" 18" (w x h), 1951
4
Naked at the Lake / Nu au bord du lac
Gustave Buchet (1888-1963), Swiss
Oil on canvas, 91" x 36" (w x h), 1941
Note the familiar use of orange and blue
by so many artists by Gustave Buchet
in the next two paintings.
Fabulous Painting...
5
Apples and Blue Vase / Pommes et vase bleu
Gustave Buchet (1888-1963), Swiss
Oil on canvas, 28" x 36" (w x h), 1932
6
Nude / Nu
Gustave Buchet (1888-1963), Swiss
Oil on cardboard, 15" x 21" (w x h), 1945
7
Body in Movement / Corps en mouvement
Gustave Buchet (1888-1963), Swiss
Oil on canvas, 29" x 36" (w x h), 1918
This painting is the record price for a work
of his at auction. It was sold at Sotheby's Zurich
in 2010 for $136,550 USD.
8
Nude Redhead from Behind, Arm Raised /
Rousse nue de dos, bras leve
Gustave Buchet (1888-1963), Swiss
Oil on paper on wood, 13" x 18" (w x h), 1951
Swiss Artist Felix Vallotton
Swiss Artist Felix Vallotton
He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut. Like many artists of his generation, he was influenced by the Japanese woodcuts which were then being noticed in Europe. His unique and innovative style, large areas of pure black and white, emphasizing outline and shapes, without using hatching for shading or modelling, led the way for others.
He painted portraits, landscapes, nudes, still lifes, and other subjects in a less than emotional, realistic style. Vallotton was also active as a writer. He published art criticism during the 1890s, and his novel La Vie meurtriere (The Murderous Life) was published posthumously. By the end of his life he had completed over 1,700 paintings and about 200 prints, in addition to hundreds of drawings and several sculptures.
Rocamadour Landscape /
Paysage de Rocamadour
Felix Vallotton (1865-1925), Swiss
Oil on canvas, 1925
2
The White and the Black /
La Blanche et la Noire
Felix Vallotton (1865-1925), Swiss
Oil on canvas, 58" x 45" (w x h), 1913
Fondation Hahnloser, Winterthour
3
La paresse / Lazy
Felix Vallotton (1865-1925), Swiss
Woodcut on wove paper, 9" x 7" (w x h), 1896
#40 of an edition of (circa) 180
Sold at Sotheby's 2017 Zurich auction for $85,500 USD
4
Evening on the Loire / Soiree sur la Loire
Felix Vallotton (1865-1925), Swiss
Oil on canvas, 1923
Private Collection
5
The Purple Hat / Le chapeau violet
Felix Vallotton (1865-1925), Swiss
Oil on cardboard, 32" x 36" (w x h), 1907
6
Verdun
Felix Vallotton (1865-1925), Swiss
Oil on canvas, 57" x 45" (w x h), 1917
7
Le Rayon
Felix Vallotton (1865-1925), Swiss
Oil on canvas, 39" x 29" (w x h), 1909
Private collection
8
Le Bibliophile / The Bibliophile
Felix Vallotton (1865-1925), Swiss
Woodcut, 7" x 9" (w x h), 1911

















































